Bid Would Set New FOM Standard
RICHMOND, Va.-Tidewater Telephone Employees CU has applied to state regulators to convert to a community charter which would encompass more than 1.1 million people in the Virginia Beach area, which would be the first field of membership in Virginia to exceed the one million mark.
The proposed FOM would include the cities of Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Newport News and Hampton.
The $35-million credit union currently serves a multiple group FOM. If approved, the community charter would encompass more than twice as many people as any other ever granted by state regulators.
Justice Refuses To Recuse Herself
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.-State Supreme Court Judge Jean Brown refused to recuse herself from a $1-million defamation case against First Security CU, even though bankers supporting the credit union side contributed more than $56,000 to her reelection campaign.
"The Canons of Judicial Ethics do not require my recusal, case law does not support it and my conscious will now allow it," said Brown, after the court refused to rehear the case based on an ethics complaint brought against her.
Last May the state's high court overturned a lower court's $1-million verdict against the credit union in which a former manager claimed she was wrongly dismissed for blowing the whistle on a multi-million dollar check-kiting scheme involving a local car dealer.
But after learning of campaign donations from the Alabama Bankers Association, which argued on behalf of the credit union side, the former manager, Karen Brackin, asked the court to rehear the case.
She claimed the bankers' campaign contributions created an impropriety, or an appearance of impropriety by the judge.
PSCU-FS To Fly With BECU
TUKWILA, Wash.-Boeing Employees CU, one of the top 50 card issuers in the country, said it has signed a long-term credit card processing deal with PSCU Financial Services.
Under the deal, PSCU will convert more than 145,000 BECU accounts to its CreditAbility credit card platform. The full-service solution will include core processing and cardholder service.
Terrorists May Be Behind Scam
CANTON, Ohio-One credit union member is out more than $35,000 after he was induced to wire funds to overseas recipients police believe are helping terrorists.
The member was told he would get a $40,000 loan if he deposited a series of checks into his account at Gold Circle CU, then forward the money to London.
The checks turned out to be bogus, but not until the credit union member wired funds on his account overseas. The credit union contacted police after officials discovered the first check deposited by the member was a forgery.
Police said they believe the money went into accounts used by terrorists.
Regulators Take Over Penn. CU
HARRISBURG, Pa.-The Pennsylvania Department of Banking said it took Philadelphia Postal Workers CU under conservatorship.
It's not clear what prompted the takeover because the $3.7-million credit union has high capital, 11.5%; and had low delinquencies, just 0.7%; and no charge-offs, at mid-year. Officials at the state regulator would not comment on the reason for the takeover.
'Fall Fix-Up' Promotes Home Equity
SACRAMENTO, Calif.-SAFE CU is recruiting members to participate in its own spoof of the TV reality show "Trading Places," in which two families switched homes for a weekend and remodeled each others' homes.
In the credit union's version of the game, promoting SAFE's home equity loans, the CU will pit the girls (wives and daughters) against the boys (husbands and sons) in the remodeling contest.
The girls-against-the-boys rules will also apply to designers and other professionals participating in the 'Fall Fix-Up' promotion, Oct. 20 and Oct. 21.
The credit union staged a similar contest last year to great reviews.
