WASHINGTON -- The National Credit Union Foundation will award its Wegner awards for 2009 to three pioneering credit union leaders. The NCUF makes the awards at a dinner tied to CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference....

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Instant messaging has gone well beyond simply a way for kids to stay in touch and share emoticons....

NEW YORK -- While trust services have been a mainstay for more than 100 years, the last 20 years have been a difficult period for profitability, according to a new report from Celent....

TEXARKANA, Texas -- Red River Credit Union is spreading the wealth--in this case, its sophisticated mesh of ATMs, phone service and computer networks that keep member service going even if a disaster strikes....

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- For his service to members, Gene Kelly was recently honored with CUSO Financial Services LP's 2007 Gold Pacesetter award....

NEW YORK -- The Wall Street Journal online columnist Brett Arends explained in his column last week that credit unions often offer better rates than banks....

TOPEKA, Kan. --Another bank failure, this one in Topeka, led Kansas credit unions to step up their safety and soundness campaigns....

ORLANDO, Fla. -- FAIRWINDS Credit Union is out to prove membership has its rewards....

SOMERVILLE, N.J. -- About a year and a half ago, Steve Morris found himself at a career crossroad....

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. -- City-County Federal Credit Union Education Specialist Tiffany Kirk is helping the credit union deliver what members want most--more financial education....

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- While mortgage originations are down at banks and brokers and headlines highlighting staff layoffs are the norm, credit unions are reporting increased mortgage loan applications and even adding staff to meet the demand. One North Carolina-based credit union said it's all a matter of trust....

WASHINGTON -- Down payment assistance--a controversial home purchasing practice that was eliminated under the massive housing bill recently signed into law--could be resuscitated....

CHICAGO -- The number of credit card offers from national credit card issuing banks have continued to drop, according to a market research firm....

WASHINGTON -- CUNA, NAFCU and NASCUS all urged NCUA to streamline the waiver process on member business loans....

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- The Identity Theft Resource Center recently released a report that showed the total number of breaches on its breach list so far for 2008 has surpassed the final total breaches reported for all of 2007....

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Ignore the balmy temperatures and late-summer sun. Card processors say this is the time credit unions should be preparing their card options for this year's holiday season....

WEST CHESTER, Pa. -- CorePROFIT Solutions has grown its client base by 50% so far this year, adding eight credit unions to the list of financial institutions using the company's hosted profitability information solutions....

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Credit Union Information Security Professionals Association is enhancing its alerts services and announcing a collaboration with the Association of Corporate Credit Unions....

WASHINGTON -- A new organization comprising subprime lenders and borrowers is concerned that Congress could go too far in its efforts to protect consumers from predatory lenders....

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Mobile banking has been added to the service lineup at $90 million Fort Worth City Credit Union....

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Members of Pentagon Federal Credit Union looking for one of the more than 41,000 branches and ATMs linked to the big CU now can find the nearest location without leaving www.penfed.org....

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Setting a precedent, the Missouri Credit Union Association said last week it will start this year making formal endorsements of political candidates for both state and federal office....

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Truliant Federal Credit Union is helping its members get more out of their cars and their loans by launching a fuel-efficient auto loan....

ATLANTA -- Those credit unions interested in or currently participating in the volunteer income tax assistance program are invited to attend a quarterly conference call hosted by the IRS....

APPLETON, Wis. -- Business Lending Services LLC, a joint venture between Business Lending Group and Corporate Central Credit Union, has hired Linda Kennedy as its new CEO....

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The latest data from NCUA indicates that credit union card portfolios have continued growing and analysts and CU executives credited better management and a struggling economy for the ongoing trend....

WASHINGTON -- To paraphrase the sage philosopher Mel Brooks, it's good to be the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, especially in an election year....

DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Dupaco Community Credit Union is overcoming the stereotype that credit unions are run by graying managers....

LANSING, Mich. -- NuUnion Credit Union will have a part in a Michigan Economic Development Corp.'s statewide initiative to help 15 companies grow, create and retain 9,495 new jobs and generate more than $658 million in new investments....

TORONTO, Ontario -- A startup credit union in Toronto has chosen Open Solutions' The Complete Credit Union Solution as its core processing platform, the company and credit union said....

In the U.S., automated clearinghouse origination volumes have been doubling every five years, resulting in significant growth of ACH fraud and network violations. As nearly 2,000 financial institutions originate and another 15,000 recipient institutions participate in more than 15 billion transactions annually, credit unions are sure to see the number of ACH fraud and compliance cases continue to rise....

LOS GATOS, Calif. -- Troubled times for lenders and borrowers alike means rising delinquency rates and increasing demand on the people and technology that credit unions are using....

BEDFORD, Mass. -- Credit unions were not quite as much the apple of phishers' eyes in June, according to RSA Security....

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- According to a Forrester Research survey of more than 10,000 U.S. consumers on how they research and purchase financial products, many shoppers have some idea of what they want but don't research before they buy and buy based on recommendations from friends and family. The Web, meanwhile, plays an important role in all this deciding but not the only role, the think firm said in a recent report, with the online role increasingly focused on search engines, comparison sites and aggregators....

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Beginning Sept. 1, Memphis Area Teachers' Credit Union has taken another key step toward its bid to be the financial institution of choice for the community and 400 SEGs it serves....

CUNA, the Colorado league and participating credit unions hit the ball out of the park with its Homes for Our Troops project. It was such a simple idea that must have been unbelievably complicated to execute but is bound to pay beaucoup dividends....

HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Callahan & Associates has released the latest credit union auto lending data. For total outstanding balances Callahan & Associates said, "Annual auto loan growth is slowing, although balances increased in the second quarter. Credit unions did, however, pick up momentum when compared to other financial institutions in this current market. As of June, credit unions captured market share of 15.5%, the highest market share levels since the first month of 2007."...

DENVER -- Not content to fight their battles in the halls of Congress, the courts and the pages of the Federal Register, banks and credit unions are also jockeying for favored positions in the platforms of the two major political parties....

DENVER -- John Dill is originally from Oklahoma, the home of the former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Perle Mesta, who was dubbed "the hostess with the mostest."...

DENVER -- After months of preparation and hard work, credit union representatives at the Democratic convention kicked back and relaxed....

GOLDEN, Colo. -- With two congressmen and a crowdful of volunteers looking on, CUNA and its partners last Wednesday presented a newly built home to Army Sgt. Travis Strong, an injured Iraq War veteran....

SEATTLE -- A 55-year-old veteran of the credit union industry and a 25-year-old marketing consultant see the world quite differently. Both, however, agree that credit unions need to be more aggressive in expanding their memberships....

SEATTLE -- Saying he wanted to provide both strong consumer protection and guarantee the safety and soundness of credit unions, NCUA Chairman Michael E. Fryzel told state regulators he wants to work closely with them during his tenure....

EAST...

AmeriCU Credit Union, Rome, N.Y., presented a check for $8,500 to the Warriors in Transition Unit at Fort Drum. AmeriCU staff raised the funds by hosting raffles, selling hot dogs, displaying fish bowl donation drops in the branches and offering a skip-a-pay program and receiving a grant of $1,500 by the Armed Forces Network. The funds will be used to assist the needs of the wounded soldiers on Fort Drum....

Credit unions are struggling to uncover what Generation Y wants and needs, and the Filene Research Institute has released a report that can help....