Defense credit unions, like all credit unions, stand behind these brave individuals and their families and offer financial services second to none.

Jim Van Dyke, the founder and president of Javelin Reseach, offered an interesting observation during the recent Directors' Convention: fraud has become the primary driver of revenue in the financial world.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Credit unions continued to strengthen their balance sheets in the second quarter of the year, reporting a 1.7% growth in loans, the highest quarterly growth in lending since 2008, NCUA reported this morning.

LOS ANGELES – A federal court yesterday awarded CUNA Mutual Group’s CUMIS Insurance Society unit a $1 million default judgment from a former credit union executive who wrote more than $970,000 of checks on Chaffey FCU to pay her mortgage, income taxes and travel expenses and to pay off personal credit cards.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Six people have been charged in a scheme to cash bad checks at branches of Professional CU.

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Officials opened a new transitional housing project for recent parolees that was funded by a 0% loan from State Employees’ CU’s SECU Foundation.

MADISON, Wis. – Kilowatt CU has selected First Data for debit processing services and joined First Data’s STAR Network, signing a multiyear agreement under which STAR will provide PIN-secured debit point of sale and ATM access to its cardholders.

SCHAUMBERG, Ill. – Motorola Employees CU has expanded its relationship with PULSE as the credit union’s provider for PIN debit.

WEST JORDAN, Utah – Mountain America CU said it has saved its members almost $7 million in interest payments by refinancing, consolidating and otherwise eliminating high-interest debt by converting it to reasonable, low-interest loans in just the last four months.

WASHINGTON – Long-term mortgage rates declined this week to near all-time lows, following bond yields lower after gradually moving higher over the past month, according to Freddie Mac.

WASHINGTON – A member of Government Printing Office FCU was sentenced to 21 months in prison Tuesday for a credit card scheme in which she was able to make more than $280,000 in electronic payments on her GPO card via the credit union’s website, using false payee account information.

FERNDALE, Mich. – Credit Union ONE has contracted with First Bankcard, a unit of First National Bank of Omaha, to expand its Visa credit card offerings with additional offerings of American Express and Discover cards.

NEW ORLEANS – Credit unions throughout the Gulf Coast region are beginning to assess the damage in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, but flooding remains a major concern in Louisiana, which is taking the brunt of the storm.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Investigators were searching for the person who sent a letter containing a suspicious white powder to Ohio State Highway Patrol FCU yesterday.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA reported this morning it approved a request from Hawaii Central FCU to serve the one million residents on the island of Oahu, the fourth credit union cleared to serve all of metro Honolulu.

PHILADELPHIA – Federal authorities found the former CEO of Borinquen FCU who disappeared prior to Tuesday’s scheduled guilty plea in federal court for fraud related to last year’s failure of the $7 million credit union—in the county jail where he was being held on unrelated drunk driving charges.

CORRECTION: The Tech CU that has selected Fiserv’s XP2 account processing system is based in Crown Point, Ind., and is not the Tech CU based in San Jose, Calif.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – The California/Nevada Credit Union Leagues have laid off a number of people as part of a restructuring, including some well-known credit union veterans.

NORMAN, Okla. – Ronald “Ronnie” Smithers, 66, CEO of $7-million Friends FCU the past 32 years, died Monday at Norman Regional Hospital after a brief illness.

LAKE MARY, Fla. – CFE FCU, formerly Central Florida Educators’ Federal Credit Union, awarded $29,000 in scholarships to college-bound students during a recent event held at the credit union.