Navy Fed Makes Plans To Add 1,000 Staffers
VIENNA, Va.-In the biggest credit union expansion ever, Navy FCU said it plans to hire as many as 1,000 employees in 2010 to help fill vacancies in its growing call center operations and new branches.
The majority of the new jobs will be in entry level positions in the call centers or in branches, as Navy Fed looks to open new branches near Army posts and Air Force Bases, where the credit union giant expanded its field of membership last year to all services of the Armed Services, according to Estelle Allen, a public relations specialist at Navy Fed.
Navy Fed currently employs approximately 7,000 people.
The world's largest credit union has grown by almost $10-billion over the past two years to $41-billion in assets, while adding more than 68 new branches since 2007. Navy Fed added 34 branches in 2007, 24 in 2008 and 10 in 2009, giving it a total of 180 service centers. Another 10 are planned for 2010, Allen said.
Colorado CUs To Move Ahead With Merger
BOULDER, Colo.-Premier Members FCU and Colorado United Credit Union have received regulatory approval and a positive membership vote by the Colorado United members in order to merge. The merger will close effective Jan. 1, 2010.
All three Colorado United locations will be rebranded to Premier Members.
Rhett B. Rowe, president and CEO of Premier Members, will will be CEO of the combined CU, while Branda Abbott, president and CEO of Colorado United, will become president and COO. All other Colorado United employees will remain with the credit union.
The merged CU will have 11 branches, more than $390 million in assets and more than 40,000 members.
Separately, Vernon Hills, Ill.-based Baxter CU, at $1.4 billion, has acquired the $7-million Brunswick Employees CU.
CMG MI Gets Downgraded
WALL STREET-Fitch Ratings downgraded CMG Mortgage Insurance Co. last week four notches, to "BBB" from "A+," on increasing prime delinquencies and their potential impact on capitalization on the mortgage insurer for credit unions.
The company's ratings outlook remained "Negative."
The ratings agency also said more capital is unlikely to come from either of CMG's parent companies, PMI or CUNA Mutual Insurance Society, which it said "constrains the ability of CMG to write new, high-quality business."
cuStudent Loans In Minnesota
CLOQUET, Minn.-Members Cooperative CU is the first Minnesota credit union to join a cooperative student lending network, cuStudentLoans.org, which provides lessons in financial literacy as it hands out student loans.
While in school, students have to make a monthly $25 payment that is applied to interest and principal on their loans. In addition, the underwriting on the loan is rewritten each year, giving students the opportunity to lower their interest rates through their own academic performance.
The credit union loan program, created by Fynanz Inc., prices the loans based on several factors, including the FICO credit scores of the signer and co-signer. It also looks at the member's probability of graduation by examining the student's major, years of study and grade-point average, as well as the repayment history of fellow students at the borrower's school.
The cuStudentLoans network works as a cooperative student lending program with participating credit unions pooling funds and spreading risk.
