MADISON, Wis. – Another longtime assumption related to consumers and their finances is being turned on its head.

WASHINGTON – Banks and thrifts enjoyed asset growth for the first time in nearly two years last quarter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is reporting.

BOULDER CITY, Nev. – The board of directors for $480 million Boulder Dam Credit Union on Tuesday named Eric Estes interim manager.

WASHINGTON – The American Bankers Association has chosen former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating to succeed Edward Yingling as president and chief executive officer next year.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Credit union executives have expressed to Credit Union Journal everything from outrage to fear in response to NCUA’s announced budget hike, including pay raises for staff.

VERNON HILLS, Ill. – Baxter CU did not have an ATM stolen from a branch in Iluka, Ill.

WOODBRIDGE, Va. – On Thanksgiving Day, Belvoir FCU said it will cater a smorgasbord of Thanksgiving dishes to 15 soldiers who are unable to take leave during the holiday season due to training on Fort Belvoir.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Calling it a first-of-its-kind agreement, TMG Financial Services and Desjardins Bank of Florida, a subsidiary of Desjardins Group of Canada, have entered into an agreement to offer a consumer rewards credit card to bank clients in the United States.

NEW YORK – With sponsorship from Citigroup Inc., Billing Revolution Inc. is trying to help convert people who window-shop on their mobile phones into paying customers.

ATLANTA – One company is urging credit unions to provide comment to the Federal Reserve and Congress over proposed rules regarding the disclosures for credit insurance, debt cancellation and other products in the Regulation Z, Truth in Lending Act disclosures.

WASHINGTON – Despite tough talk from regulators that they are cracking down on mortgage servicers that do not follow modification guidelines, the agencies have so far done little to nothing to punish firms.

WASHINGTON – A voluntary merger among some of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks may become a possibility now that the GSE regulator is trying to lay out a formal merger approval process.

WASHINGTON – With Black Friday later this week marking the official launch of the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said its 2010 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions survey has found that 43% of holiday shoppers will rely on debit cards as a primary form of payment, a 20% increase from 2005’s 34.3%.

WASHINGTON – Consumers are reporting a little more holiday cheer in 2010, according to the 11th annual holiday spending survey released by CUNA and the Consumer Federation of America.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Corporate America Credit Union here has been selected by NCUA to purchase-and-assume Smart Source Solutions, a wholly-owned CUSO of Constitution Corporate FCU in Connecticut, which was placed into conservatorship by the agency on Sept. 24.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA said it is transferring the operations of Constitution State Corporate Credit Union to Members United Bridge Corporate FCU in Warrenville, Illinois.

WASHINGTON – The Mortgage Bankers Association is projecting that mortgage originations will fall from an estimated $1.4 trillion in 2010 to slightly less than $1 trillion in 2011.

WALLINGFORD, Conn. – NCUA announced this afternoon it has transferred SmartSource Solutions LLC to Alabama’s Corporate America CU, part of the liquidation of Constitution Corporate FCU.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA is working with the U.S. Justice Department on fraud investigations surrounding as many as a dozen credit union failures since the start of 2009, as the costs of failures continues to take a growing toll on the National CU Share Insurance Fund.

Kern Schools Selects XP2