A federal agency announced late Friday that it has taken over the Harbor-based Chetco Federal Credit Union “to resolve issues affecting the institution,” but assured CFCU’s 32,435 members that their money remained safe and services will continue uninterrupted.

CFCU is a community-chartered credit union serving Coos and Curry counties in Oregon, and Del Norte County, Calif. The main office is in Harbor, which oversees Oregon branches in Brookings, Gold Beach, Port Orford and Bandon, and California branches in Crescent City, Klamath, Smith River.

In a news release issued right before 5 p.m., the Virginia-based National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) said it had placed the credit union into conservatorship, assuming control of all services and operations.

Attempts by the Pilot to reach NCUA officials for comment Friday evening were unsuccessful.

Late Friday, CFCU chairman Jim Nelson said he had no knowledge of the NCUA decision.

“We have been under examination and dealing with them about this for a while, but I wasn’t expecting something like this,” Nelson said.

NCUA said deposits at CFCU remained federally protected and that the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) continues to insure individual accounts up to $250,000.

“The NCUSIF, like the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund, has the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government,” the NCUA said.

“Members can continue to conduct normal financial transactions — deposits and access funds, make loan payments and use shares,” the NCUA said.

In June, the credit union reported assets of $333 million.

CFCU board member John Zia said Friday he was also stunned by the NCUA action, but he wanted members to know that their money was safe.

“Our members have nothing to be frightened of,” Zia said. “Their money is safe. It’s insured. When they go to the bank on Monday, they will not notice anything different.”

Zia said the CFCU board had been working with NCUA examiners for up to 18 months on “course corrections.”

The NCUA main concern, Zia said, was CFCU’s ability to cover any loans that members may default on.

“Regulators are understandably paranoid about what’s going on in the bank world, but we don’t always agree with some of the strict measures they want to implement,” Zia said.

He said there has been no malfeasance on the part of the CFCU management or employees. “Absolutely not,” he said.

“This is like mom and dad stepping in to help the children, even if the children really don’t need their help,” Zia explained. “The examiners are just doing what they think is in the best interest of the members.”

He said effective Friday night, the NCUA has removed the current CEO and the board and will replace them.