SAN FRANCISCO – Visa on Tuesday said it has deposited $500 million into an account earmarked for litigation costs, a move that essentially acts as a repurchase of class B shares from credit unions and banks.

HOUSTON – Primeway FCU was cleared by NCUA to merge into it TexasOne Community CU, a one-time $148 million credit union that has reported big losses in recent years.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – NuVision FCU announced last night it has agreed to combine with the much larger Kinecta FCU to create a $4.7 billion credit union, in one of the biggest credit union mergers ever.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Fast-growing Self-Help FCU yesterday said it agreed to acquire another troubled California credit union, its fifth in two years, as it spreads the influence of its community development sponsor, North Carolina-based Center for Community Self-Help.

NEWARK, N.J. – In the latest legal salvo over the $140 million fraud at U.S. Mortgage/CU National Mortgage, Suffolk FCU, the biggest victim in the case, filed suit in federal court this morning against Fannie Mae for return of some $42 million the secondary mortgage market giant bought under false pretenses from the failed mortgage company.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – United Solutions Co., a data center for credit union transaction processing, has agreed to acquire Office Systems Consultants, a document and records management systems company.

PHILADELPHIA – American Heritage FCU is granting 12 $1,000 college scholarships to young credit union members.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Air Academy FCU has awarded $27,000 in art scholarships to 354 students in nine school districts.

MILWAUKIE, Ore. – Advantis CU is ratcheting up its fundraising efforts in an attempt to provide $100,000 to build two homes for disabled veterans.

TUCSON, Ariz. – Pyramid CU was approved by NCUA to convert to a federal charter that will cover more than 1 million residents in surrounding Pima County.

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. – Southern Mass. CU is building a branch in New Bedford, bringing the $175 million credit union back to where it began 88 years ago.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA said it is not interested in a proposal issued for public comment by the FDIC that would require the biggest banks to provide regulators a plan for winding down in case of failure – a so-called Living Will.

WASHINGTON – Five more Sand State banks, including three affiliated in Florida, were seized by regulators Friday, making a total of 78 failures for the year.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – ASI Inc., the last surviving private deposit insurer for credit unions, worried that NCUA voting proposals on conversions to private insurance and to mutual savings banks lumps insurance converts with the much-reviled switches to banks.

DALLAS – Southwest Corporate FCU on Friday reported that growing losses on its private label mortgage-backed securities created a $30 million loss in April, leaving it with a $23.1 million loss for 2010.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer group financed by Self-Help CU, is lobbying state lawmakers for legislation that would protect borrowers from misdeeds of mortgage servicers.

WASHINGTON – In lobbying to defeat an amendment to the bank bill that would roll back interchange fees on debit cards credit unions are finding themselves in an increasingly familiar position – opposing the consumer lobby groups.

SAN DIMAS, Calif.-A sluggish economic recovery, less stimulus money and a tough job market will likely make mortgages an area of weakness in the second half of 2010.

ALASKA:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska-In contrast to the hunkered down position of many CUs over the past two years, Alaska USA FCU has been aggressively expanding its operations into a third state: California.