SPOKANE, Wash. – Horizon CU is acquiring $63-million Montana First CU to create a $480-million inter-state credit union.

HARRISBURG, Penn. – Other credit unions also reported strong increases in traffic and interest, although at least one called Bank Transfer Day a “bust.” Separately, Credit Union Journal has uploaded a number of photos related to Bank Transfer Day on its Facebook page.

WALL STREET – The month-long Occupy Wall Street demonstration continued to bear fruit for local credit unions, with representatives from four nearby community development credit unions on hand at the Zuccoti Park protests Saturday helping participants and passersby join a credit union.

SEATTLE – Thousands of consumers lined up waiting for a credit union to open Saturday morning, prompting hundreds of credit unions to stage special weekend hours as the most fertile month of member recruitment culminated in Bank Transfer Day.

GREENWOOD, Colo.-Two credit unions looking for more life out of their debit card programs say they have had great success with CO-OP Total Revelation, a portfolio management solution from CO-OP Financial Services.

DEL AIRE, Calif. — Neil Goldman, CEO of Goldman Consulting & Strategy and a contributor to Credit Union Journal, suggested that there will still be a "tremendous migration" away from the big banks because the trust factor has been broken.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. – A member of Lake Trust CU and big baseball fan won four tickets to Game Four of the World Series in Texas as part of the MasterCard Debit Card Sweepstakes.

BELOIT, Wis. – First Community CU has agreed to merge into it Rock County Employees CU, a $2-million credit union in nearby Janesville.

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. – Honor CU has agreed to merge into it Kalamazoo-based Allegis CU, creating a $400-million credit union.

JACKSON, Miss. – Hope CU has opened a full-service branch in nearby Utica, two months after BancorpSouth, the town’s only bank, closed its branch there.

MANSFIELD, Texas – Texas Trust CU is offering a cure for what it is calling the FEE Syndrome associated with large banks: a $155 payment when consumers open a Free & Flexible checking account.

WASHINGTON – The average rate for the 30-year mortgage fell this week to a 4%, almost matching a record low of a month ago, according to Freddie Mac.

WASHINGTON – Two senators on Thursday asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to require credit unions and banks to provide members/customers with a simple, one-page form listing all their checking account fees.

MINNEAPOLIS – Shares in Fair Isaac & Co., soared more than 25% yesterday after the provider of the ubiquitous FICO score reported a 56% rise in fiscal fourth quarter earnings to $24.6 million.

HOUSTON – Cardtronics, the nation’s largest operator of ATMs, yesterday agreed to acquire Mr. Cash ATM Network Inc., an operator of more than 600 ATMs in Canada, as a launching pad north of the border.

SAN ANTONIO – Check printer Harland Clarke, in the process of going private, said a one-time gain helped stem the continued fall in its core checks business, helping it post a $46.6 million net for the third quarter, up 69% from the same quarter last year.

WASHINGTON – Freddie Mac on Thursday said the mortgage crisis continues to bathe it in red ink with third quarter losses growing to $6 billion, from $4.1 billion for the same period last year.

RANCHO CUCAMONA, Calif. -- CO-OP Financial Services, the credit union-owned electronic funds network, is running print ads in some of the nation’s most widely read publications urging bank customers to transfer to a credit union.

WASHINGTON – An estimated 650,000 consumers have closed their bank accounts and opted for credit union membership over the past four weeks, according to CUNA, bringing the approach to Saturday’s Bank Transfer Day to a crescendo.

LAS VEGAS – Troubled Silver State Schools CU, under a supervisory agreement with state regulators, reported third quarter losses yesterday of $2.7 million, creating a $5.5 loss for the year and further jeopardizing a $22.8 million emergency infusion of capital provided to it by its private deposit insurer ASI Inc.