No Corporate Separateness between CUs and Association

Eli Lilly FCU (Indianapolis, IN) and Inova FCU (Elkhart, IN) are using an association, Tru Direction, to evade field of membership limitations.

While Inova includes Tru Direction in its list of organizations that allow you to join the credit union, Eli Lilly FCU is blatantly advertising that this association can be used to qualify people for credit union membership, who otherwise are not able to join the credit union.

On Eli Lilly FCU's website, the credit union writes:

"If you are not affiliated with any of the above organizations, you can STILL become a member by joining Tru Direction, a non-profit association dedicated to financial literacy."

You can join Tru Direction by making a one-time payment of $5.

But there does not appear to be any corporate separateness between Tru Direction and these two credit unions.

The Board of Directors of Tru Direction is totally comprised of employees from the two credit unions.

• Matt Snively, Board Chair, is a SVP, Wealth Mgmt & Strategic Projects at Eli Liily FCU;          
• Vicki Spicher, Vice Chair, is VP of Operations at Inova FCU;
• Lisa Markland, Treasurer, works in Human Resources at Eli Lilly FCU; and
• Claire Kellems, Secretary, is an Executive Assistant at Inova FCU.

Googling the street address for Tru Direction indciates that the association is housed in the same building as an Eli Lilly FCU branch -- 225 South East Street. Indianapolis. In fact, the mailing address for Eli Lilly FCU is same as Tru Direction.

A further indication that there is a lack of corporate separateness between the credit unions and the association is that the only membership benefit listed on Tru Direction's website is being eligible to join any of our affiliate credit unions.