WASHINGTON – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has approved a “concept design” for its Washington headquarters.

WASHINGTON – Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has issued a notice of funds availability, indicating it will be extending up to $165 million to eligible financial institutions in 2013.

MEQUON, Wis. – Mortgagebot reported that even with Hurricane Sandy affecting business in November, it still is projecting that more than 1 million mortgage loan applications will be submitted through its Enterprise end-to-end lending platform by yearend.

BROCKTON, Mass. – HarborOne Credit Union here has scheduled a special meeting for members for March 11 to discuss its proposal to convert to a bank.

WASHINGTON – Bankers are raising concerns that a new Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposal that would allow banks to set aside reserves for future losses is too open-ended and might result in banks putting too much aside.

OGDEN, Utah – America First Credit Union here has selected Atlanta-based Cardlytics for its new marketing platform.

PLANO, Texas – Data from the Commerce Department show GDP during the third quarter expanded at an annual rate of 3.1%, above the 2.7% forecast and far greater than the 1.3% of Q2.

DUBLIN, Ohio – The $378-million BMI FCU is expanding its FOM to include everyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in the Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes eight central Ohio counties.

DUNEDIN, Fla. – Achieva Credit Union has been approved to receive $127,000 in incentives to choose this city as the home of its new corporate headquarters.

WASHINGTON – Mortgages improved their performance during the third quarter compared with one year earlier, but quality has tapered off, according to data released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

MADISON, Wis. – Among the trendlines from 2012 that will need to be addressed in 2013 for America’s credit union community is the clear case of the “haves” and “have-nots” when it comes to growth.

Credit unions may expand into Libya following a four-day visit by World Council of Credit Unions CEO Brian Branch as part of a fact-finding mission focused on establishing credit union services there.

The concept of Islamic banking may be unfamiliar to many Americans, but the World Council of Credit Unions is no stranger to it.

CUs To Offer TMG's Fraud Text Alerts

Credit Union Journal will with the New Year debut a vastly enhanced website offering even more resources for readers at CUJournal.com.

PAHO/WHO FCU here continues to see success with its annual holiday loan promo, this year offering as much as $9,000 at 0.99% for one year, and booking more than 110 loans since Nov. 1.

Kellogg Community FCU, Battle Creek, Mich., hired Wendy Ballast as chief human resource officer.

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers last week pressed a CFPB official regarding problems with the credit reporting system raised in a study released by the agency. The CFPB found consumers disputed up to 38 million items on their credit reports last year. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) expressed concern about credit report errors during a hearing, and noted it is often difficult for consumers to navigate.The CFPB said it is investigating what to do next.

In-branch transactions may be on the decline, but the west coast and southeast are seeing a boom in branch growth.

2012 will be remembered as a year of record member growth, as the year profitability returned to most CUs, and as the year real estate values began to again inch northward, even in Sand States.