BISMARCK – North Dakota credit unions will receive more than $11.9 million in recovered assets that had previously been denied by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), according to the Dakota Credit Union Association.

The federal agency agreed to settle the dispute after a federal judge denied its request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the credit unions in April 2023 in U.S. District Court in Kansas. NCUA plans to return the assets by Jan. 18.

Over the past two years, the Dakota Credit Union Association has led the effort and assisted its North Dakota members in repeated attempts to recover the funds that were withheld following the financial collapse that began in 2008. NCUA had placed U.S. Central Federal Credit Union, which provided services to corporate credit unions, into conservatorship, eventually closing and placing it into liquidation in October 2010.

The civil lawsuit was filed by 25 North Dakota credit unions following repeated appeals to NCUA to return the recovered assets. The lawsuit maintained that when Bismarck-based Midwest Corporate Federal Credit Union was dissolved in 2011, its remaining assets became the property of the credit unions and that NCUA wrongfully denied payment of their share of those assets after appointing itself as liquidating agent. The judge agreed.

“The judge’s clear and concise statement of the court’s position was almost word for word the argument North Dakota credit unions made to the NCUA on day one,” said Jeff Olson, president/CEO of Dakota Credit Union Association. “We are extremely pleased with the decision to settle, and I enthusiastically applaud the NCUA for doing the right thing.”