NAFCU Names Winners, Board
ARLINGTON, Va.-NAFCU has named the winners of its annual awards competition. Among those who are being honored in their respective asset size categories are: Federal Credit Unions of the Year: URW Community FCU, Danville, Va., and United FCU, St. Joseph, Mich. Named as CEOs of the Year are C. Dana Rawlings of Pioneer West Virginia FCU, Paul Trylko of Amplify FCU, and Terry Laudick of new Mexico Educators FCU. Named as Professionals of the Year were Stormy Dean of Wyo Central FCU; Lisa Nicholas of Amplify FCU, and Joseph C. Anderson of AmeriCU. Named as Volunteers of the Year were Jack Hickey of Jersey Shore FCU, Richard Caccamise of First Atlantic FCU and J. Bradford Hines of GTE Financial.
All will be recognized at NAFCU's annual meeting in Boston in July.
Separately, NAFCU said that three people have been re-elected or elected to at-large seats on its board. Elected were Ed Templeton, president and CEO of SRP FCU in North Augusta, S.C., and current board vice chair, who was elected to his third three-year term; Jan Roche, president and CEO of State Department FCU, Alexandria, Va., was also elected to a three-year term, and Dan Weickenand, CEO of Orion FCU in Memphis. Both Roche and Weickenand will be joining as first-time NAFCU Board members.
40 People Earn DE Designation
MADISON, Wis.-Forty people have graduated from the National CU Foudnation's Credit Union Development Education (CUDE) program. The training took place at the Lowell Center on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, Wis. The CUDE program provides lessons in cooperative principles and credit union philosophy while incorporating challenges credit unions face today.
The new gradudates include Sam Adams, Linda Birt, Emma Boczar, Dean Borland, Tom Candell, Megan Carpenter, Holly Carter, Jama Dagenhart, Randall Dixon, Jamila Draper, Don Emmer, Lindsay Hanson, Chris Kemm, Karen Knowlton, Patrick La Pine, Becky LaFontaine, Tracy Lennox, Alana Listoe, Vanessa Lowe, Stacey Mills, Vanessa Molla, Jim Morrell, Graham Nesbitt, Amy Nigrelli, Lisett Olsen, David Paltza, Arna Reynolds, Carla Schrinner, Shirley Senn, Toni Silbernagel, Kim Stephenson, David Tuyo, Kathy Varese, Rudz Villanueva, Christine Walsh Rogers, Grant Weiland, Jamie Wenger, Adena Whitman, Tawna Wolfe, and Lisa Wyman.
Many Intro Card Rates At 0%
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-As credit unions turn a greater focus to credit cards, so too has the competition. Industry analysts report they are seeing a greater number of very attractive introductory offers, many at 0%. Credit card experts say the market is seeing the best promotions for plastic since the Great Recession. Analysts indicate credit card issuers are able to offer 0% rates to a significant group of consumers due to expectation that interest rates will remain low and the unemployment rate won't climb through the end of 2014.
Bill Hardekopf, CEO of Lowcards.com, says the lowball offers have been occurring since 2011. "You can receive 0% intro offers for anywhere from 12 to 18 months, but usually only if you have good or excellent credit scores. Those consumers present far less risk to issuers so the issuers are competing heavily for those consumers. We think that will remain in place as long as the economy continues to be good for people with those scores. In fact, if the economy continues to prosper, issuers may loosen their tight grip on approvals and slightly lower the bar on the credit score needed to be approved for these offers..."
