As if credit unions don't have enough on their hands fighting off accelerated banker-led attacks at all levels that challenge the long standing credit union tax-exemption, along comes IRS' UBIT bubbling to the surface affecting state-chartered credit unions in at least three states (so far). A reported 20 credit unions...

In a recent letter from a reader, he opened with the phrase, "who controls the news," in a reference to the publisher of Credit Union Times. He couldn't be more wrong on several counts. Publishers of reputable publications like Credit Union Times do not "control the news." Real news just...

The controversy over whether all credit unions should be required to have federal insurance for their primary coverage, as advocated by first the NAFCU Board, and later the Consumer Federation of America Board, has apparently hit a very sensitive nerve. Only a couple of weeks after the two national groups...

A look at the steady barrage of interesting credit union news items surfacing recently has inspired these comments: * CUNA's low-income survey proved exactly what it was supposed to prove. Credit unions are reining in unprecedented numbers of low-income potential members and are having some initial success in replacing the...

It seems that many people deeply involved with credit unions have time for little else but to eat, sleep, and breathe credit unions. That observation caused Editor Paul Gentile to wonder out loud at an editorial meeting exactly what do busy credit union folks do beyond the job? They certainly...

The escalating effort by banking industry strategists to attack the long-standing credit union tax-exemption state-by-state (five to date) after repeated failures at the federal level, is a classic divide and conquer approach. So is disguising their motives. In each state where the state banking association has already played its hand,...

In between paralyzing snow and rain storms, the huge annual CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference in D.C. once again came off with a familiar sameness, but several differences too. Here are some random observations: * The record turnout of 3,000-plus again strained the conference facilities of the Washington Hilton Hotel. For...

Although the American Bankers Association is often very critical of NCUA, it appears that the head of one of the ABA's "branch offices," Howard Headlee, President of the Utah Bankers Association, has decided to become a big supporter of the federal credit union regulatory agency. Why else would he initiate...