Other area institutions plan to stay put for now

As Associated School Employees Credit Union absorbs small area credit unions, other credit unions don't have the urge to merge, officials say.

''We're doing OK,'' said Walter Nolan, manager of the 350-member Trumbull County Postal Employees Credit Union in Warren. ''We're a little slow, but business is starting to pick up.''

Founded in 1933, the credit union on High Street N.E., Warren, has a charter number of six, making it one of the state's oldest, Nolan said.

The credit union does a few mortgages, he said, but it does more vehicle loans, signature loans and share-secure loans. The business, which is open three days a week, doesn't offer credit cards.

Members are limited to Trumbull County postal workers, Nolan added.

The Steel Valley Credit Union on McMyler Street N.W., Warren, merged into the Thomas Steel Credit Union in 2001, but General Manager David Lawhun said he comes from the ''old school'' of lending that avoids speculative loans and mergers.

''Our decision was not to get into mortgage loans five to 10 years ago when the market was hot because I wasn't going to compete with zero percent down and derivatives,'' he said of the credit union founded for LTV Corp. steel workers. ''You put 20 percent down, and here's your fixed monthly payment for 30 years, and you have your mortgage paid off.''

As for mergers, Lawhun said the credit union will work with an institution that has problems and needs ''some mentoring. If they say they can't work their problems out, we'd like to be part of the discussion. We don't initiate talks because members should be active in keeping a credit union in place.''

Steel Valley has about 6,500 members, about 500 of them in the Warren area and the rest in Cleveland, where it's headquartered, Lawhun said. With 20 workers total, it has four offices in Cleveland and the one in Warren. It has about $26 million in assets.

The area's largest credit union, and third largest in the state - Seven Seventeen Credit Union - has taken on smaller players through the years but has no plans in the works, spokeswoman Karen deSalvo said.

Founded in 1957 by workers at then-General Motors auto parts maker Packard Electric, the credit union has nearly 77,000 members, making it the state's third largest. Wright-Patt Credit Union, founded in 1932 in the Dayton suburb Fairborn, has 180,000-plus members and more than $1.6 billion in assets.

lringler@tribtoday.com