Troubled Telesis Credit Union Out of Business

Chatsworth credit union Premier America this month purchased the financially defunct Telesis Community Credit Union, assuming its 37,600 members and assets valued at $301.3 million. The California Department of Financial Institutions decided June 1 to liquidate Chatsworth-based Telesis and discontinue its operations after determining the credit union was insolvent and had no prospect for restoring viable operations on its own. Premier America, which had been managing the credit union since April, immediately bought the assets. Telesis, founded in 1965, had branch locations in Canyon Country, Simi Valley and Westlake Village and employed 175 full-time workers. Its members included employer groups and individuals in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys and Ventura County. New Premier America Credit Union members will experience no interruption in services, the National Credit Union Administration said in a news release. Premier America Credit Union is a federally insured, state-chartered credit union with $1.3 billion in assets and nearly 64,000 members before the purchase. It had seven branches in Southern California and two in Texas, before the purchase. The accounts of new Premier America members remain federally insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund up to $250,000. Administered by NCUA, the fund is backed by the government. The state placed Telesis into conservatorship on March 23 following a period of continuous losses due to unpaid commercial real estate loans. Telesis suffered a 45 percent loss in its total assets in a three-year period. As of March 31, Telesis had delinquent loans totaling $22.5 million. Business loans to members and non-members that went unpaid for a year or more totaled about $6.4 million. Business loan charge-offs totaled $5.5 million as of March 31. Telesis is the fifth federally insured credit union liquidation in 2012.