Credit Union Times Magazine December 7, 2011

Mortgages: Variety of Products and Approaches to Help Borrowers

By David Morrison

Greater financial education, a greater variety of loan products and different lending strategies have all been techniques credit unions have begun to use to help borrowers meet more stringent housing finance requirements, according to executives from credit unions and mortgage CUSOs.

Exam Appeals Proffered by New Bill in House

By Claude R. Marx

If you’ve ever wanted to appeal the results of your credit union’s NCUA examination to someone outside the agency, a bill moving through the House of Representatives would allow you to do that.

Retailers Sue Fed Over Swipe Fees

By Claude R. Marx

Saying that the debit card swipe fees set by the Federal Reserve were neither reasonable nor proportional, the National Retail Federation and other groups have sued the agency.

Debit Card Steering Charge Likely a False Alarm

By David Morrison

A California credit union's concerns that Los Angeles retailers may be steering their members away from using their credit union-issued debit cards appeared unfounded last week.

PMI Group Files for Bankruptcy

By David Morrison

The ongoing saga involving PMI Mortgage Insurance and CUNA Mutual Group Mortgage Insurance entered into a new stage on Thanksgiving Eve when the PMI Group, PMI MI's holding company, filed for bankruptcy in federal court.

Microloans May Be a Sweet Territory for Credit Unions

By Michelle A. Samaad

There are members who want to strike out on their own but just need a little start-up capital to get a small lawn care business going or market an electrical repair shop.

Texas Dow Employees CU’s New Holding Company Seeks Best Practices

By Michelle A. Samaad

Over the next five years, Texas Dow Employees Credit Union is expecting all of its CUSOs to continue to represent a significant portion of the cooperative’s overall earnings.

Mobile Banking Can Pave the Way for NFC

By Robert McGarvey

Google, Visa, MasterCard, Sprint, and even Pentagon Federal Credit Union. The list of early proponents of innovative near field communication tap and pay mobile technology keeps growing. But that brings two questions into sharp focus.

Listerhill CU’s New Website Pitches I Heart My Credit Union

By Myriam DiGiovanni

Listerhill Credit Union has literally taken its members’ requests to heart. Sparked by members constantly asking for promotional swag to share with friends and family, the Muscle Shoals, Ala.-based credit union has launched an I Heart My Credit Union campaign.

NCUA Sues Wachovia Securities Over Corporate Losses

By Claude R Marx

Saying that it failed to disclose the risks to two now-defunct corporate credit unions, the NCUA is suing the company formerly known as Wachovia Securities.

Bank Transfer Day Surge Continues

By Marc Rapport

Record numbers of member enrollments are continuing among California credit unions, according to the California Credit Union League, and at Maryland’s largest credit union.

League, Bank Chief Clash on TV Show

By Jim Rubenstein

The topic for a morning Salt Lake City talk show may have been the impact of Bank Transfer Day, but the head of the Utah Bankers Association quickly converted the pre-Thanksgiving broadcast to an assault on the credit union tax exemption.

Small Bankers Eye New Technology

By Natasha Chilingerian

Implementing new branch technologies, such as in-branch iPads for forms and signatures, could soon be a leading strategy for community banks looking to improve their commercial lending lines of business.

Editor’s Column: Lots to Be Thankful For

By Sarah Snell Cooke

Credit unions have a lot to feel good about, and this time of year makes it easier to recognize even when times are tough in general. Credit unions are beginning to distribute member dividends and new membership signups are rolling in at a pace credit unions have not experienced in...

Trailblazer 40 Below: Jeff Russell Backs Investments in the Future

By Myriam DiGiovanni

Jeff Russell may have started working with credit unions as a college freshman simply because the position at The Members Group paid better than food service, but the president/CEO of TMG Financial Services has since become credit unions' biggest advocate.

Billionaire’s Club: Fort Knox FCU CEO Does It ‘the Old-Fashioned Way’

By Eileen Courter

About five years ago, Fort Knox Federal Credit Union moved about $180 million into investments paying just over 5%, and locked that money in for five years.

Charter Change to a Bank Does Not Have to Change Service

By Henry Wirz

I enjoyed reading the letter from Robert J Larison, who was the CEO of Atlantic Coast FCU and then converted to a mutual savings bank [Nov. 9 issue, page 10]. His letter reminds me of Flip Wilson's character Geraldine, who always said, “The devil made me do it.”

Letter: Too Big to Fail Corporates Will Lead to Industry Troubles

By Douglas C. Wolf

I have read with great interest recent articles on corporate credit union mergers and NCUA’s seemingly reversal of its “too big to fail” stance.

Letter: TDR Reporting, Tracking Can Be Improved

By Dan Price

I am writing in response to both your article on TDR reporting (Nov. 2, page 1) and Michael Poulos’ response (Nov. 23, page 15). I wanted to offer some opinions on how to improve on a few of the issues imposed by TDR reporting and tracking.

Crash Network: Transfer Day Aftermath: What Now?

By Jessica Perschon-Rhodes

What do we do now that Bank Transfer Day has come and gone? How do we show what makes credit unions relevant to consumers today? Industry folks can clearly define the difference between a bank and a credit union. But if you ask the average consumer, what might their response...

Guest Opinion: Minimize Strategy Implementation Barriers

By Jim Cardwell

There are numerous factors in improving a credit union's performance today: adding to the membership base, increasing products and services per household, improving productivity by adding new technology, and many more. The challenge for a credit union executive is to minimize the many barriers faced on a daily basis to...

Gen Y Back Talk: Leveraging Black Friday

By Natasha Chilingerian

I’ve never been one of those Black Friday shoppers, but this year I jumped on the bandwagon. I just moved to a new city and will be starting from scratch in a new apartment soon, so I figured, what better day to snag a great deal on a TV and...

Another PAT for American Heritage FCU

By Marc Rapport

The headquarters of a major SEG is host for the fourth personal automated teller machine being deployed by the $1.1 billion, 113,000-member American Heritage Federal Credit Union in Philadelphia.

NAFCU Adds Compliance Attorneys

By Marc Rapport

Two Washington, D.C.-area credit union attorneys have joined NAFCU as new members of its compliance team.

South Carolina Adopts Bank Transfer Day Rallying Cry

By Myriam DiGiovanni

South Carolina Federal Credit Union and the South Carolina Credit Union League may have the workaround for a national credit union brand awareness campaign.

Meriwest CU Expands Mobile Offering

New mobile banking apps for iPhones and Androids were downloaded more than 2,500 times in the four weeks after they were launched by the $1.1 billion Meriwest Credit Union in San Jose, Calif.

Island FCU CEO to Retire

By Marc Rapport

Island Federal Credit Union has announced the retirement of its President/CEO Robert J. Dethlefsen, effective Nov. 30.

Remote Deposit Security Remains a Priority

By Marc Rapport

Some of the same tech advancements that credit unions are leveraging to attract and retain members are proving just as attractive to a less savory element.

Desert Schools FCU Launches Voice Biometrics

By Marc Rapport, Credit Union Times

Speak and be recognized. Sounds like a parliamentary procedure but it’s also becoming a way for members of Desert Schools Federal Credit Union to be authenticated by their financial institution.

Guest Opinion: Security Training’s Ten Commandments

By Joe Ferrara

A year of historic breaches at RSA, Epsilon, Lockheed Martin and even the Sony PlayStation Network, demonstrates how ineffective the best security technologies can be when people are involved.

Akcelerant Announces Two Partnerships

By Marc Rapport

Two new integration partnerships with Allied Solutions and GRANT & WEBER have been announced by Akcelerant Software LLC.

MDT Adds Four New Symitar Service Bureau Customers

By Marc Rapport

Four more credit unions are now running on the Symitar Episys core processing platform through the Member Driven Technologies service bureau, the suburban Detroit CUSO said.

Chevron West CU Upgrades Core Processing

By Marc Rapport

Open Solutions Inc. said the $82 million, 6,300-member Chevron West Credit Union of Woods Cross, Utah, will be upgrading its core processing system to the Glastonbury, Conn., company’s CUnify platform.

Mailroom Capture Added by Bluepoint

By Marc Rapport

A Web-based mailroom item processing solution has been added to the Check 21 product lineup at Bluepoint Solutions, the company said.

Geezeo Adds Four CUs

By Marc Rapport

Four more credit unions have committed to the online personal financial management solution from Geezeo, the company said.

Security Service FCU Adding New CRM

By Marc Rapport

A new customer relationship management system is being implemented in phases at the $6.5 billion Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio.

Open Solutions, Yodlee Partner

By Marc Rapport

Open Solutions Inc. will be the first channel partner for the Yodlee Platform with Fin App Center, according to Yodlee Inc.

Datatrac Data Sold to SNL Financial

By Marc Rapport

The interest rate data products operation of Datatrac Corp. in Milwaukee has been sold to SNL Financial of Charlottesville, Va., the companies said.

MoneyDesktop Buys MyJibe

By Marc Rapport

Personal financial management specialist MoneyDesktop has acquired another PFM provider, Indiana-based MyJibe, the companies said.

Canadians’ Mobile Banking Expectations

By Marc Rapport

A new survey shows that nearly half, or 49%, of Canadian smartphone users expect to bank from their device in the next 12 to 24 months.

Profile: Devin Selte Embraces Leadership Training

By Myriam DiGiovanni

It’s been a pretty good year for Devin Selte, senior relationship manager and team leader with $11 billion Servus Credit Union, Edmonton, Alberta.