PayThink

Seventy percent of healthcare organizations report that they have exposed personal information in the past 12 months. Most of the information was exposed by nosy employees.

Foreclosures continue to decimate communities around the nation, with black neighborhoods being the hardest hit. Some pundits and politicians point to federal policies that encouraged homeownership in low- and moderate-income communities, coupled with reckless behavior on the part of greedy homeowners, as the crux of the problem. One example is the statement by Fox News reporter Neil Cavuto that "loaning to minorities and risky borrowers is a disaster." To the contrary, our recent research demonstrates that it is outside investors living in other, predominantly white neighborhoods, not local homeowners, who account for the adverse impact on our nation's black communities.

President Obama should acknowledge that something is seriously wrong with the government's response to the financial crisis of 2008 and chart a new course. The wisdom in comic strip legend Pogo's famous remark comes to mind, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

In the 1980s Freddie Mac had a marketing campaign "The Gnomes Know," touting their expertise in mortgage markets. Now the Federal Housing Finance Agency has filed a $200 billion lawsuit against 17 of the nation's largest mortgage lenders arguing that during the subprime lending debacle of the last decade the gnomes didn't know!

Is it worth delaying a bottoming-out of the housing market, and allowing some delinquent borrowers to freeload for a time, in order to prevent the rare but documented instances of someone being wrongly foreclosed on?

Major tech companies are assessing the scope of the recently disclosed July breach of digital certificates, which Web browsers use to verify the legitimacy of any sites they display to users.

Core banking purchases have stayed level, vendors systems are getting better and overall things are not as bad as they might seem.

"Did you hear about the airplane that hit the World Trade Center?" I thought it was something of an odd time to tell a joke, because that's precisely what is sounded like the start of. "Hey, did you hear the one about the...?" I didn't respond, still giving most of my attention to the speaker. We were in the second session of the morning at CUJ's Grow Show.

The possible 360-degree review of the tax code by the Super Committee should send a signal to the credit union industry that the next several months may test its political and legislative skills regarding the tax exemption like never before.

Credit unions are beginning to interact with members through a variety of new channels as members demand more easily accessible account details. That especially includes access to mobile devices, which are becoming an increasingly popular method for members.