BOULDER, Colo. – Elevations CU, which has a branch in the University of Colorado’s Memorial Center, equipped its ATM with a voice guidance system that provides instructions to the user through a built-in audio port.

California regulators have approved three more mergers of failed state-chartered credit unions.

Bank consultants say the double denial could signal that the significantly undercapitalized Amcore is running out of options and that without dramatic action to restore its languishing capital the bank's days could be numbered.

Here’s a sobering economic indicator: freshly charged off consumer debts are now selling for what tertiary debts — those previously placed with two collection agencies — commanded just a few years ago.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., on Thursday announced the pricing of its public offering, of 16.4 million shares of common stock.

The average credit score for U.S. consumers dropped six points to 671 at the end of December from 677 at the beginning of the year, according to a report released this week by Credit Karma Inc., a San Francisco-based company whose Web site tracks credit scores. Credit Karma based its data on some 87,000 Credit Karma users. Average credit scores have remained stable since October, the firm notes.

Nearly three million homeowners received at least one foreclosure filing in 2009, setting a record for the number of people falling behind on their mortgage payments, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, and its Foreclosure Market Report.

The Federal Reserve has ordered the Orlando, Fla.-based Old Southern Bank to either find a buyer or increase its equity within the next month.

Old National Bancorp of Evansville, Ind., said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter results would take a hit from a $12 million loss on a "non-real-estate loan participation."

The $4 billion-asset company in Rockford, Ill., announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rejected the company's Dec. 4 capital plan for its Amcore Bank unit, saying it was not based on realistic assumptions.

Several companies in the collectio and debt-buying industries made large contributions to charities in 2009 and, specifically, during the holidays. The following is the start of a roll call listing those companies and their efforts. This list, with the detailed information following, will grow as more information is sent to Collections & Credit Risk. Contact Darren Waggoner at darren.waggoner@sourcemedia.com.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. late Wednesday announced it will sell Independent Bankers' Bank Bridge Bank to The Independent BankersBank of Irving, Texas.

IRWINDALE, Calif. – SCE FCU plans to cut a ribbon at its new headquarters branch on Monday.

First Catholic Federal Credit Union of Taylor, Mich., has sued to terminate CUSO Mortgage Inc.'s loan servicing contract.

A bank holding company based in Chicago has agreed not to declare or pay dividends without Federal Reserve approval.

SUITLAND, Md. – Andrews FCU’s newly renovated headquarters branch here features an expanded member service area, Internet cafe, flat-screen LCD television, coin counter and even a "Kid’s Zone" with toys and other activities.

The $499 million-asset company in Elmira, N.Y., reported Tuesday that it earned $4.5 million in 2009, up 50% from a year earlier. The company said the record earnings outpaced its projections for an expansion in the Finger Lakes market in 2007.

North Asia Investment Corp., a $50 million special-purpose acquisition company led by a group of South Korean investors, announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Pacific City Financial Corp., a Los Angeles company that caters to Korean-Americans.

In his Jan. 8 Viewpoint, "A Better Charter Alternative for Credit Unions", Alan D. Theriault recommends rules that more aggressively promote the conversion of credit unions to banks, citing capital pressures as the reason. But his call for credit unions to give up their charter flies in the face of today's economic realities and public sentiment.