GROTON, Conn. – Charter Oak FCU is kicking off its 3rd Annual Turkey Drive.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. – Bull’s Eye CU collected more than 500 cell phones to support the Cell Phones for Soldiers program.

TRENTON, N.J. – Trenton Police FCU has signed a deal with Residential Home Funding Corp. to provide it with mortgage banking services.

TUCSON, Ariz. – Vantage West CU has upgraded its 34 ATMs with Diebold technology, adding deposit automation to 11 of them.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Fundtech Ltd. said its shareholders approved the acquisition of the company by Chicago-based private equity partners GTCR at $23.33 a share, or $390 million.

HOUSTON – Cardtronics, the biggest ATM switch for credit unions, yesterday said it signed with Harris Teeter to brand ATMs in as many as 100 of the company’s upscale supermarkets.

ATLANTA – Processing giant First Data Corp. on Wednesday reported favorable interest rate swaps helped it trim huge losses related to its 2007 buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to $54 million for the third quarter, down from a $431 million third quarter loss a year ago.

PURCHASE, N.Y. – MasterCard on Wednesday reported its third quarter profits soared 38% to $717 million, as a growing number of cardholders continue to favor debit over credit card transactions.

NEWARK, N.J. – A federal court yesterday agreed to the forfeiture of almost $14 million in five bank accounts owned by former U.S. Mortgage Corp. President Michael McGrath, closing the legal proceedings in the $140 million fraud that bankrupted the parent of CU National Mortgage.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former branch manager for American Nickeloid Employees CU was barred from the credit union industry for secretly altering her home equity line of credit by $163,500 to pay for her gambling habit at Mississippi River casinos, NCUA said this afternoon.

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Technology CU announced this morning it will be the first financial institution in the country to enable real-time, person-to-person payments from its ATMs to almost anyone in the world with a mobile phone or e-mail address, using a new payments service from NCR and PayPal.

DENVER – Public Service CU has signed with VSoft Corp. to implement the company’s VServe global data center solution.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – America’s First FCU has signed with CU Student Choice to offer the CUSO’s private student loans to its members.

SAN DIEGO – Mission Federal CU is taking the opposite tack on debit transactions than the big banks – the $2-billion credit union is paying members, instead of charging them, to use their debit cards.

SAN DIEGO – San Diego County CU is offering a $1,000 prize for the best photo of a member shredding his or her bank debit card.

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. – Island FCU on Tuesday announced Bob Dethlefsen, its president since 1980, is retiring from the $800-million credit union at the end of the month.

HOUSTON – Cardtronics on Tuesday said it completed the acquisition of Access to Money, Inc., a troubled Cherry Hill, N.J.-based operator of 10,350 merchant-owned ATMs formerly known as TRM Corp.

MT. LAUREL, N.J. – PHH Corp., the largest mortgage bank for credit unions, said falling mortgage rates inviting a new wave of refinancings forced a $353 million write-down of its mortgage servicing portfolio, resulting in a $148 million loss for the third quarter.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Fiserv yesterday said losses related to an early extinguishment of debt pushed down third quarter profit by 4% to $127 million.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services, one of the biggest third-party credit union vendors, on Tuesday said third quarter profits rose 23% to $136.3 million, fueled by strong growth in its international business.