VANCOUVER, Wash. – Cascade Forest Products FCU has agreed to merge into it Bemis FCU, another small nearby credit union that serves the paper products industry.

WOODS CROSS, Utah. – Chevron West CU has upgraded its core processing system to Open Solutions’ CUnify core banking platform.

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. – A 71-year-old man was charged yesterday with elder abuse after he took his wheelchair-bound 94-year-old mother to Marine FCU and then her bank, then withdrew more than $200,000 and closed the accounts.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA announced this afternoon it will receive $165 million from Citigroup and Deutsch Bank Securities to settle claims of wrongdoing in the sale of mortgage backed securities to failed corporate credit unions.

SAN DIEGO-The commissioner of the California Department of Financial Institutions does not anticipate many credit unions will follow in the footsteps of Technology CU and seek to switch to a bank charter.

SAN DIEGO-During the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues' Annual Meeting and Convention, Credit Union Journal asked, "Do you have a formal switch kit or do you simply have procedures in place to greet a walk-in new member?," and "How is your credit union doing for Bank Transfer Day?"

PLANO, Tex.-The vacuum created by the demise of U.S. Central FCU is being felt by other corporates and, in turn, their natural-person CU members.

WARRENVILLE, Ill.-Natural-person credit unions are still skeptical about their corporate counterparts, and one person said much of that boils down to the options available to small to mid-size CUs.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-Corporate America CU continues to move forward with its merger with Louisiana Corporate CU, with representatives of both corporates saying there is no basis for one report that NCUA has concerns over the deal.

IRONDALE, Ala.-As the corporate CU market shakes out, at least one CEO believes the emerging battleground will be in fighting for the business of small and mid-size credit unions.

FRISCO, Texas-America is still waiting for the housing market to recover. Get ready to wait a lot longer.

COLUMBUS, Ohio-Corporate credit unions are going to be under a lot of pressure to perform as they move forward, and one person believes some simply aren't going to make it.

MADISON, Wis.-A dispute has arisen over who owns "CUREN," an acronym for Credit Union Real Estate Network, and both sides say they are just trying to protect the free exchange of information.

Legislation Seeks To

ATLANTA-A new series of studies from First Data report that there is a gap between consumers' awareness and usage of mobile banking, and its authors say that bridging that gap could be key to growing Gen Y member share at credit unions.

NEW ORLEANS-If lending is to make any kind of comeback in the next year, credit unions will need to find a way to deal with the growing compliance burden, and do a better job of keeping the loans they already have.

NEW ORLEANS-One executive contends credit unions face a new lending environment that requires new skill sets and attitudes.

NEW ORLEANS-Luis Pastor believes the size of someone's paycheck is no indicator of their commitment to repay a loan.

SAN ANSELMO, Calif.-The nation's banks cited decreased interchange income as the reason for new debit card fees, but new analysis suggests banks could generate nearly double the potentially $875 million in monthly debit card fees just by lowering their deposit rates by as little as 0.01%.

ARVADA, Colo.-Partner Credit Union here went all out for Bank Transfer Day, opening four branches that would normally be closed on Saturdays.