ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Consumers who pay bills with their smart phones outnumber those who pay via tablet by more than two to one, according to Western Union.

SAN DIEGO – North Island Credit Union Board Director Emeritus, Al George, passed away on Aug. 24.

MADISON, Wis. – Entries are being accepted through Sept. 13 for the 14th annual Excellence in Lending Awards, which recognize outstanding lending results and practices by credit unions.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA has awarded 126 low-income credit unions some $871,597 in total grants as part of the 2013 Community Development Revolving Loan Fund.

CANTON, Ohio – SMHA Credit Union has filed a lawsuit against the Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority, which helped to create the credit union more than a decade ago.

WASHINGTON – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has rolled out a program aimed at helping employees of school districts and other government organizations wipe out their student debt.

WASHINGTON – CUNA and NAFCU have joined with other trade associations and financial institutions in requesting additional modifications be made to the definition of “qualified residential mortgage” (QRM), along with other changes to a 505-page proposal currently out for comment.

WASHINGTON – The two credit union trade associations have joined with a number of other financial industry representatives to file a supplemental briefing in the lawsuit over Dodd-Frank’s debit interchange provisions.

MADISON,, Wis. – The Filene Research Institute received a $700,000, 30-month grant from the Ford Foundation to develop and implement an accessible financial services incubator. The incubator will test, package and scale innovative, viable financial products that benefit low-and-moderate-income consumers, according to Filene.

MADISON, Wis. – Tim Haegelin, retired president and CEO of Generations FCU in San Antonio, has been named winner of the 2014 Herb Wegner Memorial Award for Lifetime achievement by the National Credit Union Foundation.

MONETT, Mo. – JHA Payment Processing has launched an expedited EMV implementation process for U.S. chip card issuance.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Drivers who arrive at the BP station at 2815 University Drive here this morning between 9-11 a.m. will receive $20 in free gas.

NOTRE DAME, Indiana – Students arriving on Notre Dame’s campus are being greeted by a “grumpy” message from Notre Dame FCU.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., and NEW YORK – CO-OP Financial Services said it is becoming a minority owner of Finivation, strengthening an existing technical partnership for Web and mobile application development and the related middleware to efficiently connect hosts and acquirers for emerging CO-OP products.

NEW YORK – The National Federation of Community Development CUs this week is piloting a “Cooperative Finance Leaders of America” program that brings together 11 fellows for a week of intensive training at the Federation's headquarters here in Lower Manhattan.

WABAN, Mass. – Banks may get knocked for their service, but the industry as a whole continues to be rated higher than many other providers even as one person described service levels at banks as “mediocre.”

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – As mortgage rates continue a steady climb, U.S. financial institutions could be facing a significant decline in mortgage volumes during the second half of 2013, according to projections being made by SNL.

YOSEMITE VILLAGE, Calif. – As the “Rim” fire reached its second week and continued to burn forest land in Northern California, a credit union branch here appears to be out of immediate danger.

WASHINGTON – CUNA is not working hard on its “Don’t Tax My Credit Union” social media campaign – and that actually is a good thing.

WASHINGTON – The recent swearing in of Richard Metsger to the NCUA Board puts the helm of the agency back up to its full complement of three board members – just in time for the regulator to tackle a host of critical issues, including everything from its derivatives proposal and the agency’s budget to CUSO oversight and risk-based net worth.