Credit Union Times Magazine February 6, 2013

Featured Story

CFPB Rules Overturn Seen as Unlikely

Although the District of Columbia Circuit Appeals Court invalidated President Barack Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board and potentially overturned the board’s decisions since early 2012, credit unions shouldn’t assume the ruling means the CFPB will meet the same fate, said NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker.

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Featured Story

Credit Unions Urged to Ply Big Data

By David Morrison

Card management consultants working with a payment processing CUSO and association are working to convince credit unions to look more deeply into their card members data to help the credit unions improve their card portfolio management decisions.

Front Page News

Cyber Fighters’ DDoS Hits Two Credit Unions

By Robert McGarvey

The bland name hides the lethal intent of DDoS when aimed at financial institutions, an event that has become increasingly common as dozens of large banks have recently found their online operations crippled, sometimes for days by highly skilled cyber-attackers.
Against the Grain ESOP

By Michelle A. Samaad

At a time when some companies are skittish about paying out stored-up pension plans for longtime employees, Lending Solutions Inc. recently went in the other direction.
Red Tape Snarls Canadian Businesses

By Michelle A. Samaad

Their stories of red tape run the gamut from confusion to utter frustration and anger. Even though a check for the government wasn’t due until the end of October, a business owner sent it end on Oct. 12. However, the government waited until Nov. 11 to cash the check...

News

Purchase-Money Lending May Be Ready to Blast Off

By David Morrison

Credit unions may have their best opportunity ever to boost the portion of mortgage loans that actually go to purchase homes as opposed to loans that refinance previous notes.
Student Debt Relief Bill Floated in Congress

By Heather Anderson

A group of Democratic senators introduced a bill Jan. 23 that would allow privately issued student loans to be discharged along with other bankruptcy debt.
Credit Unions Now Getting the Hang of CDFI Grant Requests

By David Morrison

As some credit unions around the country gear up to apply for grant money from the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, there are indications that credit unions are gradually becoming more sophisticated about navigating the grant writing process.
Branch Automation Moves Closer to Teller Windows

By Natasha Chilingerian

Repetitive yet necessary tasks such as counting cash and scanning checks steal away precious time that branch employees could be devoting to servicing their members.
VyStar Tweaks Recovery Plans for Worst-Case Scenarios

By Natasha Chilingerian

As many credit unions learned recently during Hurricane Sandy, disasters can happen. Especially in storm-prone coastal areas, it’s important for credit unions to have reliable back-up plans for their data should a weather-related catastrophe strike.
University FCU Catches Scams Early With New System

By Natasha Chilingerian

Reducing deposit fraud cases is an important goal at any credit union. At University Federal Credit Union, one incident in particular triggered the need for a new solution that would allow it to take a preventative approach against this common form of fraud.
What Hath Fiserv Wrought?

By Robert McGarvey

The announcement last month by Fiserv that it would acquire Open Solutions Inc. for roughly $1 billion, most of that in debt assumption, has sent some shivers through the credit union core processing world.

Editor-in-Chief's Column

Quit Messing With Twitter and Stop DDoS Attacks: Editor/Publisher's Column

By Sarah Snell Cooke

DDoS attacks have been confirmed that have taken down two credit unions and several large banks’ websites. It’s been proven our entire financial system is vulnerable. While stealing personal information doesn’t seem to have been at play, this is a critical concern for the entire financial services industry.

People Feature

Basler Uses Creativity to Make the Complex Simple: Trailblazer 40 Below

By Myriam DiGiovanni

Unless the Milwaukee Brewers come calling for him to play as shortstop, Patrick Basler, president/CEO of Chicago-based First Financial Credit Union has found his niche by helping consumers change their perceptions of credit unions.

Opinion

Human-Generated Big Data Could Make Us Rich: Guest Opinion

By Rob Sobers

Human generated content is comprised of all the files and emails that we create every day including all the presentations, word processing documents, spread sheets, audio files and other documents our employers ask us to produce hour by hour.
Branches: Multichannel to Omnichannel

By Jason Bettinger

Credit union members today are often interacting with more technology at home than at the branch, due to the mobile explosion and increased ability to connect to anyone nearly anywhere. Now that members have more choices when it comes to how they prefer to bank, their behavior is beginning to...

News Briefs

St. Mary’s CU Names New CEO

By Marc Rapport

St. Mary’s Credit Union last week announced the appointment of James C. Garvey as president/CEO. Prior to joining Marlborough, Mass.-based St. Mary’s Credit Union, Garvey was president/CEO of Borel Private Bank in San Mateo, Calif., and Charter Private Bank in Seattle. Both banks are subsidiaries of Boston Private Financial...
March Trial Date Set For St. Paul Croatian Suspect

By Peter Strozniak

A March 11 trial date has been set for Gezim Selgjekaj of Avon Lake, Ohio, who pleaded not guilty to a 28-count indictment on Jan. 17 that accused him of illegally receiving more than $11 million in the $70 million St. Paul Croatian Federal Credit Union fraud case.
Justice FCU Marches Into Georgia

By Staff Writer

Justice Federal Credit Union recently hosted two grand opening celebrations to commemorate the credit union’s official presence in Georgia with the merger of the Georgia Department of Public Safety Credit Union. The celebrations took place at branches in South East Atlanta and Forsyth. Both locations were the sites of the...
Deadlines for Golden Mirror Awards Set

By Staff Writer

Credit Union Executives Society announces a call to entry for the 2013 Golden Mirror Awards. CUES recognizes the credit union industry’s most creative and results-producing marketing efforts in this annual competition.
Arrowhead Reports Net Worth Jump

By Heather Anderson

The $700 million Arrowhead Credit Union, still under NCUA control after its June 2010 conservatorship, reported 10.53% net worth as of 2012 year end, the NCUA said last week.
NCUA Assessments to Edge Up in 2013

By Heather Anderson

A combination of growth in assets and a decrease in the overhead transfer rate means an 0.24% increase to the NCUA’s 2013 operating fee scale for federal credit unions with more than $1 million in assets, according to a Letter to Federal Credit Unions posted on the regulator’s website.