ON DEADLINE

Ore. Muni Deposit Bill Passes

SALEM, Ore.-The State Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that will allow municipalities across the state to deposit their funds in credit unions. The vote, 22-to-5, sends the bill over to the House for its deliberations. Thursday's debate was not sidetracked by promised allusions to a banker-supported initiative to tax the state's 12 largest credit unions. "The tax bill is still alive," Pamela Leavitt, chief lobbyist for the CU Association of Oregon, told The Credit Union Journal. "But (the bankers) need to get a hearing on it by April 11 or it will die."

Robber Threatens Bomb, Exits

PORTERVILLE, Calif.-Police are searching for a would-be robber who fled El Futuro CU after botching a hold-up. The man left behind a bag he claimed had a bomb in it after the teller went to the vault, purportedly to get cash for his demands, police said. After the incident police cleared the neighborhood before ascertaining the bomb threat was a fake.

PSCU Says $12.8M Recovered

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-PSCU Financial Services, a payments processor for credit unions, said it had a very high credit card recovery rate in 2002 or 99.92%. The company said it recovered $12.8 million out of 74,000 cases of suspected fraud. PSCU uses neural-network technology to analyze debit and credit card transactions to determine if there are any unusual transactions in a cardholders account.

La Capitol To Build New HQ

BATON ROUGE, La.-La Capitol FCU said it is planning to build a new six-story building downtown where it will relocate its main offices. The $225-million credit union plans to occupy 30,000 feet of the 80,000 square-foot development and lease out the rest. Plans call for groundbreaking on the project this fall with completion sometime in 2004.

Home Rates Down-This Week

McLEAN, Va.-Home mortgage rates continued their roller coaster ride, falling after rising the prior two weeks-and the rise following five weeks of decline, according to Freddie Mac. The average for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan dipped this week to 5.79%, from 5.91% last week; while the average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 5.06% from 5.21%. The average for the one-year ARM slipped slightly to 3.82% from 3.84%.

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