PENSACOLA, Fla. – Pen Air FCU and MasterCard are giving members a chance to win a trip to meet golf great Arnold Palmer.

PHOENIX – Desert Schools FCU has signed with CRIF Lending Solutions to implement the company’s CRIF ACTion origination system for consumer, business and merchant lending, and account opening.

WASHINGTON -- Rates on fixed-rate mortgages inched up slightly this week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 4%, according to Freddie Mac.

PHILADELPHIA – NCUA issued a rare cease and desist order to a troubled community development credit union yesterday that could wipe out all of the tiny CDCU’s remaining capital.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The NCUA Board yesterday approved a request by one-time defense credit union Finance Center FCU to expand its current community charter covering Marion County to serve 1.8 million residents of metropolitan Indianapolis, which is one of the biggest community charters in recent years.

WASHINGTON – The moment the credit union lobby dreaded came Wednesday when one long-time lawmaker during a congressional hearing said if credit unions want to increase their member business loan limits they should have to accept some kind of diminution of their federal tax exemption.

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A 17-year-old McDonald's employee was arrested this afternoon for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from members who used their Washington State Employees CU credit cards at the downtown Olympia fast-food restaurant.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The NCUA Board this morning approved an $11.5 million increase in next year’s budget, most of it, $6.1 million, to pay for the new contract for the examiners’ union, even though the contract freezes union pay for next year.

LAS VEGAS – Ailing Silver State Schools CU will continue to trim expenses by closing three more of its 12 Las Vegas area branches by mid-January, the credit union said yesterday.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sunbelt CU employees were pistol-whipped by masked men Wednesday morning during a robbery just after opening.

PHOENIX, -- Arizona State CU will pay one lucky fan’s mortgage payment up to $1,000 at the Arizona Sundogs minor league hockey game this Saturday night as part of its season-long “Mortgage Match” contest.

PEORIA, Ill. – CEFCU said the identities and account numbers of its members fell into wrong hands with the theft of one of the credit union’s laptop computers.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Security Service FCU has signed with CIBER to implement the company’s Microsoft Dynamics customer relationship management solution for its 850,000 members.

WOODBURY, Minn. – Postal CU is giving away $1,000 a week in cash prizes through the end of 2011 for members who use their debit cards.

CONYERS, Ga. -- Three people were sentenced to federal prison yesterday on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft after they failed to steal $120,000 from a 93-year-old member of Georgia United CU.

WASHINGTON – The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said yesterday it is beginning to survey private student lenders, a rapidly growing industry since the termination of the federally guaranteed student loan program last year.

WASHINGTON – The regulatory relief bill being considered by Congress would once again insert lawmakers ongoing accounting rules, as it did in the 2009 emergency intervention over mark-to-market accounting for investments, by allowing community banks and credit unions to amortize the losses on the loans over five years.

RIVERWOODS, Ill. – Credit union members are reporting a significant drop in confidence related to both their own personal finances and the economy overall, with 69% now rating the economy as poor, compared to 56% a year ago, in the latest Discover U.S. Spending Monitor.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A state appeals court yesterday overturned a lower court ruling and directed the dismissal of a defamation suit against a credit union CEO who passed on negative information about one of his former managers seeking a job at a nearby credit union.

WASHINGTON – Credit union leaders called on Congress this afternoon to amend required disclosures at ATMs, eliminate annual privacy notices required for members and reduce financial reporting for small credit unions, in the next round of regulatory relief currently being drafted.