VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Virginia Beach Schools FCU has signed with Geezeo to deploy the company’s Referral Engine solution.

DENVER – Public Service CU on Monday said it has been approved to serve an additional 900,000 residents in Adams and Weld counties.

PHILADELPHIA – Sb1 FCU has converted to a community charter serving about 640,000 residents in the city of Philadelphia.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A federal court last week dismissed certain claims in a suit brought by Centrix Financial borrowers against Credit Union of Texas, but ruled that several major claims involving the controversial subprime auto loan program still must be adjudicated.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – OMNI Community CU is encouraging members and non-members to switch to its debit card with a drawing to win $250 in free debit card purchases each month for a year.

SAN FRANCISCO – CUNA Mutual Group on Monday assured credit unions that its CMG Mortgage Insurance joint venture remains financially viable and able to pay claims, despite the financial woes at its joint venture partner PMI Group, which was taken over by state regulators in Arizona, where the company is incorporated.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – United Solutions Co., A CUSO owned by five area credit unions and one former credit union, has agreed to license the card customization technology owned by Serverside Group, becoming the first of more than a dozen credit union and bank defendants to settle a patent infringement suit brought in June by the London-based owner of credit card customization patents.

Iowa Corp Prepares To Liquidate

MADISON, Wis.-An idea that helps homeownes anticipate when big ticket items might need replacing, and then to plan for that, has been identified as the most innovative of 2011.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.-Other credit unions around the country have also been reporting increases in both inquiries and actual new members.

MADISON, Wis.-CUNA Mutual Group is offering credit unions a turnkey, prescreen program to recapture auto loans that is averaging 8% loan growth for the more 400 CUs on the system.

TAMPA, Fla.-One credit union is getting ahead of what it expects will some day be a wave of electric car loans, offering financing now for the rechargeable vehicles.

ELGIN, Ill.-More credit unions are outsourcing lending activity to reduce human resources costs and allocate some of the loan team to other duties.

ROCKY HILL, Conn.-Nutmeg State FCU here is looking to grow its portfolio and its marketshare rolling out an indirect loan program with local businesses, including those that offer "lifestyle" enhancements.

While credit unions on the positive side of the loan ledger say it's not easy making loans, they also suggest credit unions themselves may be partially responsible for the slide.

Re: the Oct. 11 story on CUJournal.com, "What bothers bankers..." is not the tax-exempt status of credit unions. If that was truly the case, banks would convert to credit unions, pay themselves less, charge their customers less, forego the availability of secondary capital, and maintain higher reserves. In other words, they would have to do some hard work for a change, and that's a bit daunting for a group grown accustomed to silk stockings and soft hands.

MUNCY, Penn.-Every credit union in the country has had to deal with unwanted deposits. And for some CUs in this state that has meant members arriving with deposits of $1 million or more.

ENDICOTT, N.Y.-Making a loan on property that is leasing gas or mineral rights is a "very complicated situation," explained the CEO of Visions FCU here, which has been carefully assessing the matter for a few years.

MEQUON, Wis.-A new study suggests that the lenders most likely to succeed in getting mortgages will offer competitive online rates, optimized websites and integrated point-of-sale (POS).

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.-All of the charges being loaded onto consumers' bank statements-such as Bank of America's well-publicized $5 debit fee-and the bonanza of pro-credit union headlines and news coverage that have followed have created a surge in interest among consumers in what these not-for-profit financial cooperatives might be able to do for them.