Not Everyone Backs Bank's Plan To Help Black Farmers Start CU

The pledge of $25,000 plus technical aid to start the credit union comes in the wake of the bank's merger with First Union Corp. and the National Black Farmers Association (NBFAA) six-month boycott of the institution as they demanded more credit to minority farmers. An additional demand for a five-year, $81-million fund for minority business owners was rejected by the bank. [Gary Grant] said he was not supportive of the NBFAA, which claims 66,000 members, or its efforts to start a credit union. "We deal with reality here, that's why you can find us and some folks can't be found," he said, referring to The Credit Union Journal's unsuccessful attempts to contact the NBFAA and its president, John Boyd. "I'm not sure a credit union is going to help our farmers," Grant added. "We don't see why we need a new financial institution when we have folks that can modify their lending guidelines. We're going to run into the same problems at the credit union that we run into at the bank, and that is if you don't have a cash flow you don't get a loan."