This year will go down as a record year for loan originations, membership gains and capital increases, noted an analysis released by CUNA Mutual last week.

Griffiths Returns To NJCUL

America's Christian Credit Union still has not had a taker for grant program it introduced earlier this year that awards $5,000 to any employee adopting a child to help defray the many expenses involved in the adoption process.

Affinity FCU said it has approved approximately 150 applications for a 5/5 Adjustable Rate Mortgage product it introduced earlier this year.

A second chance checking account offered earlier this year by the $674-million Altura Credit Union has proved quite popular.

Efforts to form a credit union for professional athletes and their families may be standing on the sidelines.

GFA FCU is still awaiting the final go-ahead to complete the purchase of Monadnock Community Bank.

This year Belvoir FCU learned that promotions are key to increasing debit card usage.

"Cash Mobs" doubled business for a number of small Ohio enterprises this year and garnered area credit unions a lot of positive press in the process.

While NCUA wound down both Western Bridge Corporate FCU and U.S. Central Bridge Corporate FCU this year, the agency has yet to sell the buildings that were home to the former corporate giants.

Little more than a month after Visa announced 50 FIs, more than half of them CUs, had launched its V.me new digital wallet service, card processors are reporting strong credit union interest.

2012 will be remembered as a year in which credit unions received good and bad news about debit interchange.

West Virginia Central CU exceeded its goal to boost loan volumes by $8 million this year and sent employees to Disney World as a reward.

For $9.6-million Express Credit Union, outreach is everything.

Mobile banking got a big boost this year at Farmers Insurance Group FCU, thanks to a unique loyalty program that invited members to go online and claim more than $1 million in annual rewards.

Frankenmuth CU is now in the first year of a program making car loans to members who file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and to date has 44 active loans for a total of $846,000 in balances with the average yield at 12.19%.

Members of three CUs in Arizona responded so positively to a pilot test of prepaid gift cards dispensed at ATMs, the concept is being expanded nationally.

At Glacier Hills CU here, what started as a challenge to save members $1 million in interest over the course of 2012 is expected to top out at more than $3.2 million.

Since PSCU announced in September its partnership with Google to make Google Wallet available to credit unions, at least 20 more CUs have come on board.

The oddly-named start-up credit union, Internet Archive FCU, has officially opened for business and has attracted about 70 members so far, according to CEO Jordan Modell.