SAN ANTONIO – Harland Clarke, the nation’s leading check printer, said yesterday additional declines in its core checks business continue to pose major hurdles to its business.

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa reported a 24% increase in second quarter earnings yesterday, as its debit transactions continued to grow at double digit rates.

WASHINGTON – A federal court agreed yesterday to allow NCUA to submit records under seal bolstering its case for the April 15 conservatorship of Vensure FCU, an Arizona credit union that allegedly processed tens of millions of dollars in online poker bets.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – CO-OP Financial Services announced this morning it is now offering its credit unions a text banking service, setting up a major competition over the service with nearby Financial Service Centers Cooperative.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA announced this morning that Bill Myers, a pioneer in the community development movement and founder of New York’s Alternatives FCU, will head its Office of Small CUs, which is tasked with assisting CDCUs.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA yesterday took under conservatorship two troubled credit unions, Valued Members FCU, a one-time $12 million Jackson, Miss., credit union, and Hmong American FCU, a $3 million credit union that served the Laotian immigrant community in St. Paul, Minn.

NORCROSS, Ga. – S1 Corp. reported a slight profit yesterday for its fiscal first quarter of $682,000.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A man who robbed the Pleasant Hill branch of Pacific Service CU used the playoff fever gripping the region’s hockey fans by donning a San Jose Sharks hockey shirt and team hat during a Tuesday holdup.

HELENA, Mont. – Helena Community CU has signed with MRG Document Technologies to implement the company’s Miracle Online platform for its mortgage document compliance needs.

KINGSPORT, Tenn. – Eastman CU has chosen OnePartner ATAC’s datacenter for a business continuity/disaster recovery site.

MECHANICSBURG, Penn. – Members 1st FCU said yesterday it has replaced its existing e-mail security solution with ZixCorp Email Encryption Services.

MINNEAPOLIS – TruStone Financial FCU, based in nearby Plymouth, has agreed to merge into it troubled Ukrainian CU, as the credit union market in the Twin Cities continues its consolidation.

SAGINAW, Mich. – Graduating seniors at two local high schools won a package including tickets to their high school proms, photos, dinner, haircut/style, pedicure, car washes and gift cards as part of Team One CU’s Ultimate Prom Savings contest.

BILLINGS, Mont. – A North Dakota cattle buyer who was convicted of lying about his assets to get almost $8 million in loans from a South Dakota credit union and a bank has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.

MINNEAPOLIS – FICO, makers of the ubiquitous credit scores, said yesterday net income for its fiscal second quarter declined 40% to $7.7 million, due to an $8.1 million after-tax restructuring charge for workforce and facility reductions.

MT. LAUREL, N.J. – PHH Corp., the biggest private label mortgage bank for credit unions, reported a $49 million first quarter profit yesterday, based on the gain from the spinoff of half its STARS appraisal services unit.

WASHINGTON – Secondary mortgage market giant Freddie Mac posted its first net profit in almost two years, earning $676 million in the first quarter – even after paying the U.S. Treasury a $1.6 billion dividend on the preferred stock it owns, the company reported yesterday.

NEW YORK – Martin Eakes, the creator of Self-Help community development credit unions on both coasts, was named by the Ford Foundation this morning as one of 12 winners of its $100,000 Social Change Visionary awards, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the nation’s largest non-profit foundation.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA released a study this morning showing that many small credit unions currently lose money on their debit cards but for most credit unions debit is extremely lucrative.

ATLANTA– Processing giant First Data Corp. reported this morning that debt incurred from its huge 2007 takeover continues to saddle it with big losses but rapid growth in debit processing helped stem the losses.