California CUs Shutter CUSO
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.-Orange County's CU and nuVision Financial FCU said they have decided to close down PrimeDirect Mortgage, a mortgage CUSO they have been operating jointly.
Instead, the two credit unions said they have decided to move their respective mortgage lending operations in-house.
PrimeDirect Mortgage, established in 2000, will be dissolved over the next few months as mortgage operations are transitioned to credit union staff.
RCCU Toasted With Milk, Cookies
TULSA, Okla.-Red Crown CU celebrated its partnership with Bryant Elementary School with milk and cookies for every class.
As part of the celebration, the credit union presented the school with 350 credit union tee-shirts, a $500 check, alarm clocks, hats and mittens and $10,000 worth of school supplies.
The students expressed their thanks by singing holiday and thank-you songs.
'Survivor' Convicted On Tax Charges
PROVIDENCE, R.I.-Richard Hatch, the $1 million winner of the hit television show "Survivor," was convicted on tax charges despite his claims he did not misuse charitable contributions or attempt to evade taxes on his winnings from the show.
Hatch testified he thought CBS was going to pay the taxes on the $1 million prize and that he didn't intentionally misuse the charitable donations.
Hatch said he took a $25,000 check made out to his charity, Horizon Bound, to People's CU after his bank refused it because it did not have his name on it. The CU subsequently deposited the $25,000 check after someone typed in his name, Hatch testified.
But a CU teller testified that she knew Hatch from TV and that she remembers when he handed her the check it was already made out to Horizon Bound and Hatch.
Prosecutors charged that Hatch misused the charitable donation and others for his personal use.
Hatch said improvements he made to his property were for the benefit of Horizon Bound, which was set up to run wilderness trips for troubled youths. Hatch acknowledged that Horizon Bound never ran any trips, and said he sold the house in 2002 for more than $862,000.
Northwest CUs Form DP CUSO
SPOKANE, Wash.-Four small credit unions have chartered a CUSO to handle their data processing and other business needs.
The CUSO, CU-Northwest is currently talking to other area credit unions about handling services for them. Owners of the new CUSO are: Spokane Firefighters CU, Spokane Media FCU, Spokane Catholic CU and Inland Empire Trades CU, a well as Kentwood, Mich.-based CU-Answers.
The new CUSO bought the assets of Franklin Associates Solutions LLC, a software provider for CU-Answers, to form the new organization. CU-Answers, formerly known as West Michigan Computer Co-Op, serves 165 credit unions.
Teller, Brother Charged In CU Heist
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J.-A customer service representative at Campbell Employees FCU and her brother were charged with the Jan. 5 heist at the credit union for employees of Campbell Soup Co.
Darlene Moore, 32, of Philadelphia, allegedly helped plan the robbery, which police said was carried out by her 28-year-old brother James Moore.
James Moore was arrested at his Philadelphia home after police received a tip. James Moore allegedly entered the credit union around 2:30 that afternoon, demanded money, then made off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Fifth Third Buys Cards Processor
CINCINNATI-Fifth Third Bancorp continued to expand its third-party processing with a deal to acquire Card Management Corp., an Evansville, Ind., cards processor.
CMC, which will become part of Fifth Third Processing Solutions, provides a variety of cards services to financial institutions and operates a contact center in Tucson, Ariz.
The deal comes just weeks after Fifth Third signed with Credit Union 24 to do their transactions processing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Servicer Jailed For Stealing From ATMs
SAN DIEGO-A former employee at an ATM servicing company was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing $2.1 million from ATMs and cash vaults he was servicing for Mission FCU.
Jacob Johnson, who pleaded guilty last August to embezzlement charges, was also ordered to pay restitution to the $2 billion credit union. Johnson worked for Advanced Networks Inc. and had exclusive access to ATMs and cash vaults at the credit union's branches that he serviced.
He confessed to misappropriating the funds and using its for personal expenses between December 2000 and October 2004. Johnson tried to hide the scheme by submitting false balance sheets to his company.
