DALLAS-Last week's massive blizzard was a history-making event for some credit unions, and just another wintry week for others.

Mortgage Registration System Open

If CUs don't embrace change now, quite frankly, [disaster awaits/disaster is imminent/the light at the end of the tunnel really is an oncoming train]. Blockbuster Entertainment: need I say more?

If you find yourself in an Irish pub this summer-and by that I mean the authentic public houses with the history embedded in the mist of the Emerald Isle and not the franchise at your local mall-I wouldn't suggest complaining to the local lads about the tough year you've had in America's credit unions.

Data has become an essential raw material for American business, almost on a par with capital and labor. The reality is that financial institutions have more information on their customers/members than any other industry. This data wealth is a tremendous advantage for those organizations that use and analyze information wisely.

Perhaps all those privately insured credit unions would like to pay back to NCUA the windfall insurance benefit they received when the corporates failed. Seems to me that they were only entitled to the $250,000 insured balance NCUA had in place.

The good news is there is a silver bullet for creating a competitive brand. The bad news is that the silver bullet is discipline, which requires consistent, focused, hard work every day.

Someone forgot to tell Susan Chapman, vice president of marketing strategy for Smart Financial CU in Houston, that there is a recession going on. A sharp focus on the consumer relationship market this year generated more loan activity for Smart Financial and led to a budget increase in 2011 for her marketing department. "If I can go to our board committee and say for every dollar spent we're bringing back $10, or whatever it is, I can get an OK to spend more money," Chapman said.

NEW YORK – Bank of America and more than two dozen large banks have agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle claims they charged customers with excessive overdraft fees, court documents show.

SAN DIEGO – A cross-dressing robber believed to have held up an Inland FCU branch and at least three other local institutions was arrested Friday.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Students at Sheboygan South High School are engaged in an exercise in counterfeiting – they are designing checks for Kohler CU.

WESTERLY, R.I. – Westerly Community CU distributed a total of $12,166 last week, money that was raised from its 27th Annual WCCU Holiday Basketball Tournament to the four participating high schools: Chariho, Exeter-West Greenwich, Stonington and Westerly.

ONTARIO, Calif. – CUDL, provider of indirect auto loan services for credit unions, has signed with 700Credit, LLC to offer web-based credit reports, as well as numerous compliance and consumer information products, to automotive dealers via the CUDL system.

RANTOUL, Ill. – Community Plus FCU has received a $450,000 Community Development Financial Institutions loan and plans to use it to make auto and “credit-builder” loans in Champaign, Ford and Piatt counties.

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU has rolled out an auto referral program designed to make it easier for members to save on their next new or used vehicle.

CHICAGO – Alliant CU said it renewed its Compliance, Information Security and Sexual Harassment training curriculum with Edcomm Banker’s Academy for an additional year.

WASHINGTON – Regulators closed another three banks Friday, making 14 failures so far for 2011.

RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees’ CU added a new enhancement to its overdraft protection program which will give members to two days a year in which overdraft fees will be waived.

PEWAUKEE, Wis. – When the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl Championship last night, the Wisconsin Credit Union Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Wisconsin CU Association, became the recipient of a Pennsylvania-themed gift basket from the Pennsylvania CU Foundation.

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa said last week it will allow merchants to offer discounts or other incentives to steer customers to a particular form of payment, including to a specific network brand or to any card product, such as a “non-reward” Visa credit card, under terms of its settlement of an antitrust suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department.