Prepaid Debit, Payroll Cards Surge

November

OLD FORGE, Penn.-A year ago Incol CU would never have considered taking out a full-page newspaper ad and partnering with a local car dealership on an auto loan promo.

HARRISBURG, Penn.-The Pennsylvania CU Association it making it more affordable for small credit unions to call in the league's "Compliance Cavalry."

A study that concluded that politics influenced which of the 189 credit union applicants received capital infusions from the the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was categorically rejected by the National Federation of Community Development CUs.

WALL STREET-NCUA has increased the second offering of its corporate bailout bonds, expected to price this morning, to $3.76 billion from a planned $2.82 billion.

CUNA last week said that 26 winning Senate candidates and 302 winning House candidates had received funds from the its PAC, the Credit Union Legislative Action Council.

PEORIA, Ill.-CEFCU has decided to keep more of its fixed-rate loans than in the recent past. The $4.5-billion CEFCU had been selling 35% to 45% of its fixed-rate products, and now is selling less than 10%.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.-All of the communication around Reg E may be drawing more attention to debit and boosting debit volume.

Rep. Spencer Bachus, who is the lead candidate to chair the House Financial Services Committee next year, said he is focused on phasing out government support for the mortgage market, rolling back certain derivatives provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, and limiting the power of the new consumer protection agency.

BROOKFIELD, Wis.-One person sees an emerging market in which the liquidity and payments services offered by corporates will be divided among different providers as the market evolves.

MADISON. Wis. – Credit unions need a plan to be able to grow — but it's not the strategic plan that comes first.

MADISON, Wis.-Baby Boomers aren't through with needing their credit unions just yet.

A new study from Javelin Strategy & Research has found that the banking industry can save nearly $8 billion dollars by converting non-online customers to online banking and bill pay and by convincing current online-banking customers to get the answers to half their customer-service questions online.

Pentagon FCU CEO Frank Pollack doesn't see a charter change as a panacea (CU Journal, Oct. 18). I respect his opinion but wonder how much due diligence he conducted.

An observation was made once that unlike school, in life the tests come before the lesson. Given the economy of the past few years, one wonders just how big a dose of "reality" kids are getting these days.

Welcome to the new world of financial services. Frugal is in. Accumulation is out. Conservation-in. Frivolous-out. Return to values-yes. Return of employment-no.

DEARBORN, Mich. – DFCU Financial, which has returned more than $90 million to members in special dividends over the past four years, announced plans this morning for another $19 million payout this year.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Outstanding credit card balances among credit union members grew during the second quarter, according to analysis by AssetExchange.

MADISON, Wis. -- Debit cards continue to garner a higher share in consumer payment mix according to research from the Filene Institute.