CUs are ignoring a $56-billion lending opportunity, one analyst contends. That is the size of the market for small-dollar, short-term automated loans that companies such as BillFloat and BillMeLater are targeting.

Maya Bourdeau, managing partner of Attune LLC, noted that some benefits of credit unions are difficult to explain to the uninitiated, including "not-for-profit" and "owned by members."

Credit unions in the United States should take note of the power of collaborative marketing campaigns. That was the message from a panel of marketers that included visitors from Guatemala and founders of a company that applies neuroscience to marketing.

1st Financial FCU here had a dozen merry days with its "12 Days of Christmas Auto Loan" special.

CU Centers Adds Members Choice

In a move that seeks to create the largest payments solutions provider within credit unions, The Members Group and CO-OP Financial Services said today they have entered into a strategic partnership.

'Auto Bailout' For Members; Loans To Small Farmers; Seeking To Expand Indirect; Cards Get New Attention; Maintaining Loan Momentum; Sights Set On Site; Everyday Is Transfer Day; Huge Deposits, Big Task

There is one idea all credit union people agree on: CUs are the best thing going in the financial services marketplace. But then why doesn't the market share reflect that?

Looking back on NCUA's new financial literacy standards for federal CU board members, CUES president Fred Johnson deemed the last 12 months "a good start" at improving director education. But now it's on to 2012.

Pam Perdue, chief compliance strategist at Continuity Control, said credit unions can expect to see "a lot more scrutiny around their behaviors with their members, and by that I mean the ways in which they advertise their product and service offerings," as well as the disclosures associated with those offerings.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to pay increased attention to financial literacy issues among members of the military in 2012, and that could mean new compliance issues for credit unions.

Why isn't every U.S. citizen a credit union member in 2012? That's what Salim Ismail, former VP at Yahoo, wants to know.

BOSTON-Justice Department lawyers said a former government informant convicted of hacking into TJX and more than a dozen other leading retailers was never authorized by the U.S. Secret Service, which was employing him as an undercover informant, to steal data on more than 150 million credit card accounts.

PLANO, Texas-Catalyst Corporate FCU will conduct a series of Town Hall meetings this month and next for credit unions that are members of Western Bridge Corporate FCU. Catalyst was selected by NCUA to absorb the assets of Western Bridge, following its conservatorship.

Should credit unions surpass $1 trillion in assets during 2012, it will prove to be a strong indicator of the growth CUs have seen, as many began their lives in cigar boxes. But the growth is coming with some strong challenges.

LAKE BLUFF, Ill.-Credit unions face difficult operating decisions to maintain the bottom line and to provide for $1 trillion of assets-and soon 100 million members, according to Michael Moebs.

NCUA CITES GROWING CU RISKS

More Rebates, Bonuses Paid

Communicate with your members to protect them from other lenders who might solicit them with loans or other financial products not in the borrowers' best interest.

Before they are lost and resurrected only by Google, we remember here some of the credit unions that called to order in 2011 their last board meetings.