And then there were 16. That is the current count of corporate credit unions, after a year where all the institutions faced an Oct. 20 NCUA deadline to qualify as adequately capitalized per the regulators calculus.

It started simply enough. Bank of America announced, and later reversed, a decision to charge debit card users a $5 fee.

If credit unions were looking for a lending panacea in 2011, it was nowhere to be found.It wasnt for a lack of money to lend because many cooperatives were awash in funds, economists said over the course of the year.

In the ongoing pursuit to recover alleged mismanaged funds, another lawsuit tied to the collapse of New London Security Federal Credit Union has been dismissed.