LAKE JACKSON, Texas — In a major field of membership expansion, the $1.3 billion Texas Dow Employees Credit Union has made application to add six counties, including Harris County, which encompasses all of Houston, to its field of membership.
Ed Speed, president/CEO, said the application filing with the Texas Credit Union Department underscores the CU's desire to firm up relationships with its member base in those counties as it strives to serve those "in the communities where they live and work."
The six applications, filed at the end of August for each county, could take several weeks or months depending on how long they take to wind through the process, according to TDECU.
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Aside from Harris, counties sought in the expansion include Brazoria, East Bend, Galveston, Matagorda and Wharton. The CU has existing branches in three of the counties, Brazoria, Galveston and Harris, as it operates in seven counties with 150 SEG groups TDECU noted that the state's comment period for the FOM bylaw change "continues through the month of September, at which time the department may ask for additional information or make a final decision. The timeline will ultimately be determined by this process."
Harold Feeney, the state's CU commissioner, said in Austin he could not recall in recent years "an application encompassing this large a geographic area."
TDECU, with 80,000 members in all six counties, said many "have expressed to us their desire to have a TDECU branch in their community, and thus we would like to honor this wish."
"Our members deserve to have a branch in their community to provide TDECU's signature personal service," the CU concluded.
Mobile Banking Lands 1,600 Users at CFE FCU
LAKE MARY, Fla. — CFE Federal Credit Union said it has signed up more than 1,600 members to its mobile banking service (www.mobile.mycfe.com) in the first two months of its launch.
"Members really like it," said Joseph Melbourne, the $1.2 billion CU's president/CEO. "People who live out of their cell phones are excited about the convenience and instant accessibility to their accounts from anywhere, at any time."
The free service uses the mobile banking platform from MShift Inc. of San Jose, Calif., to allow members using cell phones, smart phones and PDAs to check balances, make transfers, pay bills and locate branches and ATMs.
CFE said it expects 4% of the online bankers among its 118,000 members to log on to mobile.mycfe.com by the end of the year.
Kern Schools FCU Launches Training Portal
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Kern Schools Federal Credit Union will be using a Web-based portal solution from TFactor Inc. to deliver a range of employee and member education services.
The $1.8 billion credit union will use the KnowledgePortal360 system from Las Vegas-based TFactor as the platform for its CULearn training initiative, aimed at its more than 600 employees and 170,000 members.
The platform includes prepackaged classes on compliance, sales and management issues, as well as Web conferencing, surveys, registration, testing and tracking capabilities, course authoring capabilities and integration with third-party training programs, the company said.
TFactor said its client list now includes 15 credit unions.
FHA Gives Latitude for Loan Modifications
WASHINGTON — The Federal Housing Administration has announced changes to its loan mediation program aimed at giving lending institutions latitude in preventing mortgage loan defaults.
FHA has set the maximum interest rate increase at 200 basis points above the 10-year Treasury rate, according to FHA mortgagee letter 2008-21.
The housing agency also announced that lenders can tack foreclosure-related costs and legal fees onto modified loans. That move was made because mortgage servicers and lending institutions told the federal agency that the costs and fees were shaping up to be impediments to successful loan modifications as borrowers rarely had the money to reimburse lenders separately for those funds.
Steve Donlin, vice president of operations for LoanSafe Solutions, a California-based loan modification firm, applauded the FHA ruling. He explained in a telephone interview that this is the first time that a federal agency has issued guidelines for loan modification–a necessity in an area where private and government lenders are handling the process by "the seat of their pants."
He said many lenders, inundated with requests from homeowners asking for help with their mortgage payments, are often unsure how to handle the modification process.
"This is the federal government overriding the banks, the pooling and servicing agreements and, possibly the investors, to modify loans," he said.
Mortgage servicers have pointed out that language in pooling servicing agreements related to mortgage-backed securities often restricts them from making loan modifications unless they receive permission from the investors holding the loan pool.
Conn. League Offers Compliance Tools
MERIDEN, Conn. — The Credit Union League of Connecticut (www.culct.coop) said it has provided its 146 league-affiliated credit unions with third-party vendor evaluation and due diligence software aimed at helping the CUs comply with NCUA regulations.
The software from Buckley Technology Group works in tandem with the league's new compliance software and includes vendor identification, monitoring, survey, risk assessment and reporting tools, the league said.
"It is imperative for the league to support our credit unions with this important tool to meet regulatory requirements," said Anthony Emerson, the league's president/CEO. Buckley Technology Group (www.buckleytechgroup.com) is a provider of business continuity, information security, e-commerce and Web site compliance and project management services to credit unions.
ALM Financial Forum Webcast Available Online
DALLAS — A Webcast recorded last month as part of the ALM First Annual Financial Forum, featuring credit union leaders, is now available online.
The Webcast is free and accessible through ALM First's Web site, www.almfirst.com.
The Webcast features a panel that includes: Jim Blaine, State Employees' Credit Union of North Carolina president/CEO; Diana Dykstra, San Francisco Fire Credit Union president/CEO and John Tippets, retired American Airlines Federal Credit Union president/CEO.
Paul Gentile, New Jersey Credit Union League president/CEO, moderated the event.
"These are challenging times for the economy and credit unions' bottom lines. Our free Webcast offers a great opportunity to hear these well-respected credit union leaders identify issues we all should keep an eye on. They share their perspectives about what keeps them up at night," said Emily Hollis, ALM First partner.
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