How Healthy Was Women’s Southwest Federal Credit Union?
by Tom Glatt Jr
On October 31 2012 the National Credit Union Administration announced the liquidation of Women’s Southwest Federal Credit Union (WSFCU) of Dallas, Texas. NCUA states that it made the decision to liquidate WSFCU “after determining the credit union was insolvent and had no prospect for restoring viable operations.” A key question is whether the deteriorating health of this credit union was a recent phenomenon. Our analysis suggests it wasn’t.
According to the NCUA call report data and the agency’s publically-available statement, the “credit union served 743 members and had deposits of approximately $2 million. The credit union was originally chartered as Feminist Southwest Federal Credit Union in 1974, at the time of closure WSFCU served numerous select groups centered primarily on women’s advocacy, interest, and affiliation. The credit union also served an underserved area in Dallas and other affinity groups.”
After analyzing the health of this credit union using our HealthScore method, it would appear that it had persistent long-standing problems. The chart below, which compares ten years of credit union score calculations to the industry average, illustrates this conclusion.
