Australia's Louise Petschler happened to be in the U.S. during the recent elections as part of a presentation to a group of credit unions. That experience was quite interesting, she said, sharing a couple of contrasts to how voting in Australia differs from voting in the United States.

Imagine this actually happening here. The country's largest savings banks and largest credit unions come together and agree to henceforth be known as "mutual banks." Both swear off ever using those two-word identifiers-savings bank and credit union-ever again. They even sign on with the same trade group.

The motto of the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) is" Building Dreams Together" and their actions clearly show that they are true to the words they speak.

I have to agree with Mr. Moriarity's letter to the editor in the Dec, 3rd issue of Credit Union Journal and after reading Mr. Diekmann's article entitled "NCUA Posts More Info About Budget On Site" it just seals the deal.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A state appeals court Friday upheld a lower court ruling and cleared the way for NCUA to foreclose on home loans made by Michigan’s Huron River Area CU as part of the “Millionaire University” get-rich scheme.

PHILLIPSBURG, N.J. – A teller at Baker FCU pleaded guilty last week to theft and forgery charges for stealing almost $74,000 from elderly members.

WICHITA, Kan. – Central Star CU has chosen Andera to provide it with the company’s oFlows online account opening and loan applications.

ANNISTON, Ala. – Fort McClellan CU has signed with Geezeo to deploy the company’s personal financial management product.

CLEVELAND – A former county commissioner and business partner of local financier A. Eddy Zai was sentenced last week to five years of supervised release and one day in prison for his part in the huge fraud case that led to the 2010 collapse of St. Paul Croatian FCU.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Amplify CU will give a home makeover on Wednesday and Thursday to a needy local family, the Yancy/Cousins family in nearby Round Rock.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Guardian CU paid members more than $800,000 last week in the form of interest rebates and dividend bonuses, as it heads towards one of its best years ever.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Two men chased down, tackled and detained a man suspected of robbing the Arizona Central CU branch just before 5 p.m. Friday.

WICHITA, Kan. – Credit Suisse Securities said Friday in a motion to dismiss a civil suit brought by NCUA that the failed corporate credit unions it sold mortgage-backed securities to continued to buy risky MBS in order to boost investment returns even after they were repeatedly warned by NCUA of their strategies.

DES MOINES -- Online person-to-person payments service Dwolla has introduced a simple method to send money to others on Twitter, requiring only their username, the dollar amount, and the hashtag #dwolla.

WASHINGTON – As the fight over taxes and tax reform carries into the next Congress, credit union lobbyists are broadly expecting the credit union tax exemption to be part of the debate.

Featuring credit unions' efforts in their communities.

TUKWILA, Wash. – BECU is giving away $5 checks outside its new storefront ATM at The Landing in Renton and at three other locations on this final payday before Christmas to promote its new mobile check deposit service.

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Scott CU, having its biggest year ever, paid members a $1.2 million bonus dividend and loan interest rate rebate.

KNIGHTDALE, N.C. -- A 17-year-old high school student was arrested yesterday afternoon and charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon in connection with a late-morning hold-up of a State Employees CU.

DIAMONDHEAD, Miss. – A husband and wife were arrested yesterday and charged with last week’s armed robbery at Keesler FCU here when $3,000 was stolen.