Credit Union Times Magazine August 15, 2012

Featured Story

TDR Rule Brightens CUs Financials

Credit unions that have restructured loans for struggling members no longer have to pay the price on their financial performance reports. That’s because a final rule released in May by the NCUA, which applied GAAP standards to the reporting of delinquent restructured residential mortgage loans, included a provision that released...

View Past Issues | Subscribe

Featured Story

Iowa Weathered Recession, But Now Battles Drought

By Candice Reed

The financial crisis that ripped through most of the country during the past four years had left Iowa virtually unscathed. Earlier this summer, unemployment was relatively low, home prices were stable and farm incomes were on the rise. Iowa credit unions reported one of the nation’s highest return on...

Front Page News

Drought-Stricken Farmers Aided by Credit Unions

By Michelle A. Samaad

Longtime farmers are all too familiar with the outcomes when a drought moves in and takes over, killing crops and livestock.
Money Laundering Comes to the Fore After HSBC

By Robert McGarvey

Money laundering and the steps financial institutions have to take to monitor it and prevent it are back in the news thanks to well-publicized missteps by banking giant HSBC.
Obama Backs Low-Income CU Move

By Heather Anderson

NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz attended an Aug. 7 meeting in the White House’s Roosevelt Room in which President Barack Obama announced that low-income designated credit union lending would be included in the administration’s latest drought-relief package.

News

Mortgage Market Share: Leaders Call for a Push for More

By David Morrison

Executives from different parts of the credit union industry are hard at work to build credit unions’ share of the U.S. mortgage market even higher than the record 8% that credit union’s achieved in the first quarter of this year.
Vermont ‘Banking’ Dispute Prompts Industry Rally

By Jim Rubenstein

The Vermont clash over the words “bank” or “banking” widened last week as CUNA, two state leagues and credit union executives weighed in.
CFPB Remittance Rule Faces Trade Objections

By Heather Anderson

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released the final part of its new remittance rule Aug. 7, increasing the maximum number of annual transactions that qualify for safe harbor exemption to 100.
Hispanic Communities Are Largely an Untapped Market

By Natasha Chilingerian

Credit unions might believe they’re doing all they can to target valuable demographic groups, but there’s one market that many are neglecting, said one consulting firm and its credit union clients. Hispanics are a rapidly growing market, according to Des Moines, Iowa-based firm Coopera Consulting. And they are hungry for...

Editor-in-Chief's Column

ICBA Emits Bankrupt Howls After Low-Income CU Move

By Sarah Snell Cooke

As drought-stricken businesses across the country are in dire need of assistance, the Obama administration asked the regulators to find ways to provide aid. The NCUA responded by informing 1,003 credit unions of their eligibility for low-income designation and allowing them to opt-in rather than slogging through paperwork.

People Feature

Trailblazer 40 Below: Fernandez Takes Career Path Less Traveled

By Myriam DiGiovanni

As an electrical engineer, Fred Fernandez never imagined when he was just lending a hand at Bethex Federal Credit Union that it would lead to a permanent career.

Lending

San Antonio Credit Union Drives to $6 Billion in Loans

By Michelle A. Samaad

In Texas, it’s no secret that going big is the likely way to go in the Lone Star state. It’s here that one is more apt to find a cooperative such as the $6.7 billion Security Service Federal Credit Union that has a loan portfolio equal to the size of its...

Opinion

Auto Revival Wave Is There to Ride: Guest Opinion

By Caleb Cook

Auto lending has traditionally been the backbone of many credit union lending operations. Some lenders have recently benefited from the Cash for Clunkers program and from the rebound in auto sales since the recession.
Save Gen Y, One Intern at a Time: Guest Opinion

By Stuart R. Levine

It’s Sunday, and I’m reading the newspapers and watching the talk shows, trying to digest the political commentary that consumes all of us. My perception and conclusion is that based on the content and the harsh tones, the environment in this country is filled with incredible toxicity.
MBL Participations Can Help You Serve Members: Guest Opinion

By Harvey Johnson

In a recent nationwide survey of small businesses, nearly two-thirds said it has become significantly harder to get loans today than just a few years ago. Similarly, a National Federation of Independent Business survey found a nearly 10% increase in the number of small businesses trying to borrow but no...

Letters to the editor

Letter: Ed Speed’s Views Are ‘Just Plain Wrong’

By Henry Wirz

I read with great interest Edward Speed’s Guest Opinion [July 18 issue, page 12]. I appreciate Speed sharing his thoughts about regulators, trade associations, CUSOs and business lending. We need to dialog about the issues we face so that collectively we can make the right decisions.
NCUA Welcomes Your Input On Proposed Rule

By Michael Fryzel

One of the things I remember growing up was the monthly newsletter my parents would receive from our congressman, the late Edward J. Derwinski. He would end each correspondence with the saying, “Remember, no one wielded a scepter more powerful than a person who picks up a pencil to write...

News Briefs

Randolph-Brooks FCU Now 400,000 Members Strong

By Staff Writer

Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union, based in Live Oak, Texas, has increased membership rapidly during the past several years, culminating recently in a milestone.
Parkside CU Names CEO

By Staff Writer

Parkside Credit Union of Livonia, Mich., announced that Martin Carter will join the credit union as president and chief executive officer. Carter brings more than 30 years of credit union industry experience to this position.
Smart Card Alliance Launches EMV Forum

By David Morrison

The Smart Card Alliance, an industry group organized to promote wider use of cards enabled with computer chips, is starting a forum designed to facilitate the implementation of cards with chips in the U.S.
Interest Rate Risk Rule Spurs NCUA Q&A

By Heather Anderson

The NCUA has released a letter to credit unions and question-and-answer sheet regarding the new interest rate risk management rule, which takes effect Sept. 30, and posted it on the NCUA’s website.
NCUA Appoints New Risk Manager

By Staff Writer

NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz last week announced the appointment of JeanMarie Komyathy as director of risk management in the Office of Examination and Insurance. Komyathy assumes her new duties September 3.