KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Community activists have applied to NCUA to charter a community development credit union for the Washington Square area of Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood, part of the community’s revitalization effort.

EL PASO, Texas – Heather McBride, 25, a young professional physical therapist, recently was named the $10,000 grand prize winner of the GECU Savings Challenge 2010: Back in the Black.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates went up this week, for the fourth week in a row, as Treasury yields continued to climb.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Southeast Corporate FCU, one of the largest surviving corporates, on Thursday announced it plans to raise $80 million in new capital and shrink its balance sheet by $1 billion as part of a recapitalization to meet NCUA’s new minimum capital standards.

TOLEDO, Ohio – CUNA Mutual Group this week filed suit against a former life insurance broker and salesman asking for $1.3 million payment of commissions she allegedly earned in violation of the company’s non-compete clause.

WASHINGTON – The credit union lobby, which has been clashing increasingly with NCUA, said yesterday it will oppose NCUA’s proposal to increase its powers by, among other things, extending the statute of limitations on directors and officers and claims to as long as 10 years.

PEORIA, Ill. – CEFCU paid its members a $7 million extraordinary dividend, one of the biggest of the year.

BALTIMORE – Municipal Employees CU paid members $2.1 million in loan rebates last week, the second of three installments in this year’s $4.25 million member payout.

PURCHASE, N.Y. – MasterCard announced this morning it is acquiring the prepaid card operations of the British currency exchange company Travelex, a major provider of prepaid cards and foreign exchange for credit unions, for $458 million.

WASHINGTON – NCUA called on Congress today for extraordinary new powers that would extend the statute of limitations on charging officers and directors of failed credit unions to as long as 10 years.

HONOLULU – Honolulu Police and the FBI are searching for a man who robbed at least four local institutions at gunpoint, starting with Hawaii FCU in March.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Providence FCU contributed $15,000 to support the “Give Kids a Voice” radiothon to help raise $75,000 for the Providence Child Center’s communication therapy program.

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Columbia CU and two Boy Scout troops are giving away 80 free Christmas trees yesterday and today.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington State Employees CU said it has revamped its product development process with the help of technology consultant CUTEK.

SEATTLE – DocuSign, a popular provider of e-signature services for credit unions, announced a new round of venture capital investments of $27 million, headed by local VC firm Ignition Partners.

TAMPA, Fla. – Suncoast Schools FCU said yesterday it signed an agreement to process credit accounts, signature and PIN debit, and ATM accounts with Card Services for CUs.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – VyStar CU said yesterday it contracted with Fiserv’s ACCEL/Exchange debit payments network to be the credit union’s sole PIN debit provider.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JM Associates FCU is the first financial institution to use Star CertiFlash, a new PIN debit application offered by First Data Corp.’s Star Network that advances point-of-sale security using one-time card number technology.

IRVINE, Calif. – Wincor Nixdorf and HID Global, a provider of secure identity systems, have introduced an ATM system with a contactless smart card reader, allowing a single piece of equipment to process ATM and automatic fare collection transactions.

WASHINGTON – Debit transactions have risen dramatically in recent years to exceed both credit and checks as the most popular form of payments, the Federal Reserve reported yesterday, providing an important backdrop to impending regulations on card interchange.