While it assured members three other monoline insurers will continue to meet future obligations, Southwest Corporate recorded OTTIs on securities guaranteed by two insurers.

Ratings agencies are no substitute for an investor's own due diligence, because their models are fallible and they don't have to suffer the consequences of their mistakes, said CNBS, LLC President/CEO Brian Hague.

First, the bad news: according to recently released audited 2008 financial statements, the $14 billion Western Corporate Federal Credit Union recorded a $7.6 billion OTTI. Of that, $6 billion are losses on Option ARM mortgage backed securities.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported today that fixed-rate mortgages made to prime borrowers accounted for nearly one-third of new foreclosures during the first quarter of 2009.

As most credit unions cut back on new initiatives, the $835 million Los Angeles Firemens Credit Union is moving forward with its wholly owned Pacific West Escrow, launching a new Web site for the company in early May (www.pacificwestescrow.org).

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate has held fairly steady, maintaining near record lows since December and sending most credit union originations straight to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Since U.S. Central Federal Credit Union released first-quarter financials that showed only a 23% impairment to member capital accounts, not 63% as reported two weeks earlier, financial managers have debated how to record the evolving losses.

Does passage of the Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund bill mean natural person credit unions can reverse the share insurance premium and impairment charges they took at year-end 2008 or first-quarter 2009 per accounting guidelines?