In Brief: Thrift Recoups $815,000 from Check Scam

HF Bancorp said Friday that it has recovered $815,000 in a potentially costly customer check-kiting scheme.

The $1 billion-asset Hemet, Calif.-based thrift company said it expects to take a pretax charge to current-quarter earnings of no more than $2.08 million.

When it discovered the scheme last week, HF Bancorp, the parent company of Hemet Federal Savings and Loan Association, estimated it would take a one-time charge of nearly $3 million.

The company "continues to investigate the matter and is taking additional steps to attempt to further reduce the remaining potential loss," it said.

The check kiting was discovered just days after Temple-Inland, a Texas paper and building products firm, announced a deal to purchase HF Bancorp.

Analysts predicted that an earnings charge due to the kiting would not kill the acquisition.

-Olaf de Senerpont Domis

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