Compliance

The speed with which credit unions react-or don't react-to the Supreme Court decision on the new healthcare laws will now be dictated by other organizations.

TORONTO – The Finance Ministry last week proposed regulation that would allow credit unions to be regulated at the national level and to operate across Canada and beyond their current provincial boundaries.

SAVANAH, Ga. -- The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance demanded that the so-called Georgia Entertainer's Credit Union stop claiming to be a state-chartered credit union based in Smyrna, Ga., according to a cease-and-desist order made public Friday.

Large credit unions have a real opportunity to assist their smaller counterparts as they begin the process of implementing the new healthcare law according to Suzanne Oliver, SVP of educational services with Mountain America CU.

OMAHA, Neb. -- A federal court ruled this week that a non-member suing Mutual First FCU over the disclosure provisions of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act has not shown he was injured by the credit union’s failure to post its disclosures because it is not clear he paid the fee and ordered him to show cause why the suit should not be dismissed.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A federal court here awarded $19,000 Friday to a law firm suing Guardian CU for failure to post ATM disclosures and a lesser amount, $2,500, to the named plaintiff in the case who filed suit under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act on behalf of non-member users of two credit union-owned ATMs.

MINNEAPOLIS – U.S. Bancorp said this morning it has agreed to pay $55 million to settle a class action lawsuit accusing it of unfair business practices in ordering payments on its debit transactions, similar to claims made against nine big credit unions over the past few weeks.

The Supreme Court's decision last week to uphold President Obama's healthcare law may have a number of employers — including some credit unions-playing catch-up.

WOODBURY, Minn. – The board of Postal CU has approved an amendment to its field of membership bylaws that will allow anyone making a $5 donation to the John D. Miller Scholarship fund anywhere in the country eligible for membership in the $530 million credit union.

WASHINGTON – A key House panel swiftly approved a bill this morning that would eliminate the Electronic Funds Transfer Act’s requirement that credit unions and banks disclose the fees they charge at the ATM twice—on the outside of the ATM and on-screen—and sent the bill on for a vote of the full House.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A federal court yesterday certified a suit for class action status that claims that Hope Community CU violated provisions of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act requiring ATM owners to disclose to customers on-site what fees will be charged for using the cash machine.

WASHINGTON – The House Financial Institutions Committee on Wednesday is widely expected to endorse a bill that would cut down the growing number of class action suits against credit unions and banks by eliminating one of the two disclosures on fees charged non-members required at ATMs.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The epidemic of overdraft suits continued to spread through credit unions, with at least two more credit unions targeted by member class actions claiming the credit unions engage in unfair business practices by ordering debit card transactions by size, rather than by the date they are conducted.

The two major credit union trade associations expressed significant concerns with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new Consumer Complaint Database on credit cards.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Big credit unions are being targeted anew for their practices on overdrafts for debit transactions, with three new class action suits filed yesterday in federal court here charging Star One CU, Kern Schools FCU and SchoolsFirst FCU with unfair and deceptive practices regarding their use of “batching,” or paying off the biggest transactions before the most recent.

WASHINGTON – A community bank in Texas is filing a class action suit this afternoon challenging the constitutionality of the Dodd-Frank Act and its establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

PHILADELPHIA – In an unusual dual ruling, a federal judge Friday dismissed a suit brought by a non-customer of Philadelphia FCU claiming the credit union violated the fee disclosures requirements of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and the handicapped provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

PARKERSBURG, Md. – Rapid settlements between two local credit unions and a Michigan retiree who has sued 37 credit unions and banks over the ATM disclosures the Electronic Funds Transfer Act earned the so-called ATM vigilante small cash settlements, according to individuals familiar with the cases.

A statute long relegated to the environmental regulatory landscape is transforming the way consumer financial regulations are implemented.

NCUA indicated last week that its examiners will be giving credit unions a bit more room to operate.