SAN JOSE, Calif.-Even with an average user-rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, Technology CU's iPhone application has given the CU something to brag about: the iPhone app is bolstering mobile banking usage.

CHARLESON, W.V.-Perhaps the most innovative CU iPhone app comes from $25-million WV United FCU in Charleston, W.V. Nearly 40 members are using the CU's mobile deposit capture application.

Mobile Deposit App Introduced

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.-Lakes Area CU first stepped foot on the Internet more than eight years ago. Since then, the CU's "brochure-ware" has evolved into a Flash-driven, mobile-optimized virtual branch that soon will feature person-to-person payments.

HOUSTON-Companies that use Facebook and its "fan" page module to market themselves to customers can increase sales, word-of-mouth marketing and customer loyalty significantly among a subset of their customers, according to new research from Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business.

New Online Tool Introduced

GARDNER, Mass.-GFA FCU here has twice as many branches as it did five years ago, yet the $300-million CU has stayed with the same core processor for more than 20 years and has never employed an in-house IT specialist.

WHITE OAK, Penn.-Four small credit unions didn't know how good they had it with their original data processing vendors-until they converted systems, went through experiences that shook them to the core, then gratefully returned to their original vendors years later.

OLYMPIA, Wash.-Which should you be most grateful for in a core system-great cost or great functionality?

BROOKLYN, N.Y.-At all costs, avoid converting core systems if you have a good relationship with your current data processing vendor-even if the system itself needs some work, recommends Gene Brody, president at Bay Ridge FCU.

LOS ANGELES-At least a dozen credit unions specializing in student loans are licking their wounds as sponsoring universities are abandoning their key lending relationship for direct loans provided by the government.

CHICAGO-Slick features such as Personal Financial Management (PFM) and mobile banking won't debut at Alliant Credit Union here until this summer, but the giant CU's well-equipped Internet channel already handles 65% of its monetary transactions-up from only 34% in 2005.

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas-Cypress Software Systems has incorporated two recently announced trade-in value categories from the NADA Used Car Guide for its new Mark IV Automobile Valuation Interface Module the credit decisioning solutions firm said. The new categories, "Rough Trade-In" and "Average Trade-In," will help loan officers better assess and define book values for a broader spectrum of vehicles. The Cypress module also supports data from the other leading industry valuation sources besides NADA, the company said.

TEXAS CITY, Texas-AMOCO FCU will save more than 40% in monthly recurring virtual banking charges by using a bundle of solutions from PM Systems the company said. The $511 million credit union implemented PM System's virtual banking and bill pay platforms in March and is adding the Mobile Banking, Bill Presentment, and Open Transfers products as well. Because PM Systems owns its offerings, it was able to bundle its features at a much lower price than AMOCO would pay for standalone products, the credit union pointed out.

DAYTON, Ohio-NCR Corporation has sold more than 50,000 licenses of Solidcore for APTRA, a piece of ATM software that prohibits the introduction of unauthorized code to an ATM, the firm announced. The solution protects the system from "inside out" skimming attacks, similar to those recently perpetrated in Russia by allowing only authorized code to run, automatically creates and updates the inventory of good code and limits the runtime environment to the code in the whitelist.

PHOENIX-Syntellect has released CT Connect Version 7.5, the latest version of its middleware product. The new version adds additional PBX switch support to the product and also includes new releases of PBX switches previously supported including Alcatel OmniPCX Enterprise and Cisco Call Manager.

SANDY, Utah-Financial institutions can now measure the performance of their websites against their peers. The FIWEC 50 report ranks over 6,000 U.S. websites for FIs in terms of their ability to attract and engage visitors. FIWEC site visitors can segment the report by financial institution type, state, region, and asset size and can also look at individual institutions' trend charts.

SECAUCUS, N.J.-Text message balance inquiries will be a standard feature for financial institution participants who fully participate in the NYCE Network, the Metavante company announced. The service, powered by Montise Americas, will be an extension of the existing balance inquiry functionality available at NYCE Network ATMs, with no additional fee for mobilization. It will allow consumers to use text messaging to request and receive real-time balance information.

ORLANDO, Fla.-Epson has released its 90 DPM version of its CaptureOne check scanner, the company announced at the NACHA Payments Conference. The new version features a faster scan rate, the highest MICR accuracy in its class and high-quality imager, Epson claimed. CaptureOne 90 DPM will also feature clear electronic, a double check detector and a built-in franker that prints static messages to prevent double processing.

LANCASTER, Penn.-Mortgage-bot "does it all" when it comes to the loan origination process, but it may take a while for some credit unions to profit from the capabilities.