Feds Shift Burden On Checks
WASHINGTON-The Federal Reserve approved amendments to its check collection rules, known as Reg CC, which make the depository institution now liable for losses from unauthorized, remotely created checks, instead of the paying institution.
A remotely created check generally bears a statement that the customer authorized the check or bears the customer's printed or typed name. Consumers will not be held liable for unauthorized checks drawn on their accounts, the Fed said.
The new rule will take effect July 1, 2006.
iQ CU Launches Kids Gift Cards
VANCOUVER, Wash.-iQ CU has begun marketing holiday gift cards to children with the Credit Unions for Kids logo on them.
The gift card program is being offered through Financial Services Centers Cooperative and all proceeds will be donated to the Children's Miracle Network, the favorite charity for credit unions.
Credit unions do not need to be participants in the FSCC shared branch network to participate. The proceeds from the sale of the iQ CU cards will go to benefit Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Ore.
Fugitive Pleads Guilty To Car Heist
LAS VEGAS-The driver of an armored car that disappeared in front of the Circus Circus casino in 1993 with $3 million of CU and bank cash in it pleaded guilty to the spectacular heist.
Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and ankle shackles, Heather Tallchief, now 33, told the court she has been living as a fugitive in Europe since then on a forged passport. Tallchief agreed to plead guilty after giving herself up Oct. 27 to stealing the cash, $2.5 million of it headed to Bank of America and $500,000, of it belonging to Nevada FCU.
Tallchief told the court she drove the Loomis Armored truck to a rented garage where she and her boyfriend, Roberto Solis, loaded the money onto another vehicle, then flew out of the country. She told the court she doesn't know where Solis or the money is.
Tallchief claims she was seduced by Solis, a convicted murderer, then brainwashed into getting a job at the armored car company to commit the heist. Tallchief faces up to 40 years in prison when she is sentenced in January and has agreed to pay restitution of $2.9 million from any movie or book deal she gets.
MDDCCUA Officially In Operation
COLUMBIA, Md.-District of Columbia CU League's credit unions last week officially began taking service from the newly formed Maryland and D.C. CU Association as the final phase of the transition from DCCUL's management contract with the Virginia CU League to the merger with the Maryland league that created the MDDCCUA.
The D.C. League officially closed its Alexandria, Va., office, and the new association said it has been in negotiations with other organizations to share space in new offices within Washington.
'Big Nose Bandit' Suspect In Heist
SAN DIEGO-A man suspected in as many as 23 armed robberies in the area over the last five months is believed to be responsible for a recent hold-up at California Coast CU here.
The suspect, dubbed the Big Nose bandit for his appearance, usually pulls a demand note from a zippered bag and shows a handgun, sometimes as many as two guns, police said.
The robber has been identified from surveillance videos as 28-year-old Amir Hossein Saadat, also known as Mike Saadat, an Iranian who lived most recently in Los Angeles. Several people came forward after the suspect's photo was published in area media outlets.
MasterCard Shareholders OK IPO
PURCHASE, N.Y.-The vast majority of the 1,400 credit unions and banks that own MasterCard approved plans for a new corporate structure, including selling a controlling stake to the public in a $2.5 billion initial public offering, the credit card giant announced.
Most of the proceeds from the offering will go to shareholding institutions, with the company expected to retain about $700 million. The new structure will include a board controlled by independent directors, instead of the shareholding institutions. The IPO is slated for early next year.
