ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA last week indicated it would proceed with litigation against major Wall Street financial institutions unless some $50 billion in mortgage-backed securities are refunded.

Automated Endorsement Debuts

MADISON, Wis.-Other winners of Diamond Awards from the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council.

PLEASANTON, Calif.-Visitors to a supermarket here recently were surprised by an appearance by an NBA player. Seventy-five others were even more surprised when they received $75 gift cards from executives of Patelco Credit Union.

ALPENA, Mich.-One of the most enticing aspects of a prize-linked savings program is that it only takes one entry to win.

LATHRUP VILLAGE, Mich. — CEO Michael Poulos summed up why Michigan First Credit Union has 27 branches in local schools and spends $500,000 annually on the effort — "Banks have 200 retail branches and I have nine."

46% of CP FCU's new members come from the schools in which it has a presence, and its most recent data shows 8,845 of young adults have remained with the CU following high school.

TAMPA-Among all students in the 33 in-school branches Suncoast Schools FCU operates, those who pack away the most savings are the youngest.

BOCA RATON, Fla.-The best time to cross sell members a loan is when they are looking for one, pointed out one vendor that has a program that identifies when members are doing just that.

One-Third of CUs On 'Weakest List'

MIAMI-America First Credit Union had a problem. Although the $5-billion institution was up-to-date with technology for its members-including mobile and web, along with speech recognition and touch-screen capabilities-tellers at the credit union were, as AFCU's Steve Hilton put it, "stuck in the '70s."

According to new research, on average consumers answered 60% of questions related to credit scores correctly, but most did not know who makes credit scores available, what a strong score is, and what's the financial cost of a poor score.

Some of the the findings from the Consumer Federation of America and VantageScore credit score quiz.

BEL AIR, Md.-Har-Co Credit Union here, which has announced plans to convert its charter to a mutual savings bank, said it received just six comment letters from its 25,000 members in response.

HarborOne CU, Brockton, Mass., promoted Adam Cupples to digital marketing officer and Patricia Martucci to accounting manager/officer.

Community 1st CU, Ottumwa, Iowa, named Becky Crafton member relations call center manager, Dana Brown corporate communications specialist, Tom Sagers director of marketing, Derek Ziegler assistant branch manager at its main Ottumwa office, and Kristina Kremer branch manager at its Cedar Rapids branch.

Republic Bancorp is preparing to square off against the FDIC over refund-anticipation loans, a product that regulators have pressured several other lenders to stop making because it is viewed as predatory.

FIs Shifting Focus From 'Hot Money' To 'Warm Bodies'

DEBIT BILL SPONSORS SEE PAC MONEY BEGIN TO FLOW IN

A number of years ago an executive from Marriott Hotels was speaking to a credit union audience about that company's management practices and some of the lessons it has learned. That included being especially responsive to guest feedback. And yet, as that saying goes about the best-laid plans...