PLEASANT GAP, Penn. – Titan FCU said it signed with CUC Mortgage Corp. for mortgage banking services.

MADISON, Wis. – Heartland CU on Tuesday gave $8,000 in prizes to two winners of its interactive, online Money Mission game.

LIVERMORE, Calif. – Operating Engineers #3 FCU has implemented web-based financial literacy training for its employees from Edcomm Banker’s Academy.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – United Educational CU is partnering with the Consul of Mexico in Detroit to promote the acceptance of consular identification cards, known as matriculas, as valid identification for Mexicans living in the U.S.

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. – Police are hunting for a suspect in Sunday night’s fatal shooting of a Visterra CU member while she was making a transaction at a drive-thru ATM here.

CLEVELAND – NCUA last week refused an appeal by St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church to pay $151,000 of uninsured deposits it had with St. Paul Croatian FCU, a one-time $240 million credit union that collapsed under the weight of a big fraud a year ago.

WASHINGTON – The chief sponsor of a Senate bill to delay the interchange rule for as long as two years maneuvered last night to ease passage of the controversial measure by attaching it to popular legislation on small business investment.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke notified Congress this afternoon that the Fed will not be able to meet an April 21 deadline for approving a final rule on debit fees, but said it still expects to meet a July 21 implementation deadline. The Fed Chairman told House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus of Alabama in a letter the complexity of the rule combined with sorting through more than 11,000 public comments on the proposal makes it impossible to finalize a rule by April 21, the deadline mandated in last year’s Wall Street reform bill. The bill also mandates a July 21 implementation deadline. The Fed’s delay comes as members of both the House and Senate are beginning to debate bills that could delay a final rule for as long as two years.WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke notified Congress this afternoon that the Fed will not be able to meet an April 21 deadline for approving a final rule on debit fees, but said it still expects to meet a July 21 implementation deadline.

WASHINGTON – The FDIC proposed a rule this morning that will require borrowers to make a down payment of at least 20% on their mortgages in order for the mortgages to be exempt from new “Skin in the Game” rules on securitizations. The Skin in the Game rules, part of last year’s Dodd-Frank Financial Reform law, requires that lenders retain at least 5% of all loans to be sold on the secondary markets–ensuring they retain some “skin in the game.” The proposal, issued for public comment, offers a package of options tailored for business, auto, commercial real estate and home loans, which would be eligible for exemptions under certain conditions. Residential mortgage loans with a 20% down payment or those that have been guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac would be exempt from the 5% requirement. Five other federal regulators–but not NCUA–are expected to propose similar rules later this week. Still, credit unions would have to conform to the same rules as participants in the secondary markets. Bond issuers would be able to choose what form of risk retention to use. It presents four approaches, allowing lenders to keep 5% of every part of a security, known as a vertical slice; a 5% stake in the riskiest tranche, called a horizontal slice; a combination of the two; or a “representative sample” of loans from the pool. The Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are all expected to propose the same rules later this week.

SAN DIEGO – A man who donned a scoop-neck blouse, necklace, blond wig, and padded bra to conceal his identity during a $66,000 robbery at Inland FCU last July pleaded guilty yesterday to robbery charges–less than two months after his arrest.

LEOMINSTER, Mass. – A book drive spearheaded by Leominster CU and 46 area credit unions collected 18,704 children’s books that will be donated to area non-profit agencies.

DECATUR, Ala. – Family Security CU has acquired a branch building in Mobile that was vacated by banking failure Woodlands Bank.

CHAMBERSBURG, Penn. – Patriot FCU received approval from the local school board to open a student-run branch in Chambersburg Area Senior High School.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – GHS FCU said yesterday it named Daniel Leclerc, chief financial officer for Aventa CU in Colorado Springs, as president and CEO of the $75 million credit union.

PONTIAC, Mich. – Affinity Group CU said it president and CEO Thomas Miller is retiring from the $106 million credit union on March 31.

ERWIN, Tenn. – Clinchfield FCU has signed with Fiserv to implement the company’s Portico core processing platform.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Coastal FCU said yesterday it has signed with Aithent to implement the company’s Aithent Fraud Manager investigation management solution.

CONYERS, Ga. – A man who allegedly bound three employees and one member of Georgia’s Own CU with duct tape and made off with $140,000 was charged yesterday with armed bank robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

WASHINGTON – Republican House members, who have been calling for a phase-out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are planning to introduce as many as eight bills this morning that would effectively kill the two secondary mortgage market giants bit by bit.

DOVER, Del. – Del-One FCU is asking its youngest members to sing it out: why “Money Rocks At My Credit Union,” as part of next month’s National Credit Union Youth Week.