WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates rose for the first time in three weeks, with the average for the 30-year, fixed-rate loan rising back above 5%, according to Freddie Mac.

NEW YORK – Five community development credit unions have joined with this city’s Department of Consumer Affairs to create a special account for unbanked consumers that won’t let the user overdraft the balance in the account.

LENEXA, Kan. – A year after the takeover of U.S. Central FCU, David Dickens, the former chief investment strategist who was fired as losses began to spiral out of control at the one-time $52 billion corporate credit union, is fighting with NCUA over the terms of his severance.

NEWARK, N.J. – A second insurer, a Lloyd’s of London syndicate, is trying to deny liability in the massive U.S. Mortgage/CU National Mortgage fraud – from which almost 30 credit unions are seeking recompense of as much as $125 million.

MOLINE, Ill. – IH Mississippi Valley CU announced it is offering 21 college scholarships valued at $1,000 each for the 2010-11 school year.

OXFORD, Ohio – Miami University Community FCU has signed with Fifth Third Bancorp’s CMC to provide it with risk management support for its credit card program.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – South Carolina FCU yesterday announced it has completed the upgrade of its network infrastructure with Brocade NetIron multiprotocol label switching routers and Brocade FastIron power over Ethernet-ready switches.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Volunteer Corporate CU has agreed to install Viewpointe’s Pointe2Pointe with Internet connectivity service for check image exchange transfers.

DALLAS – Credit Union of Texas yesterday said it has signed with CUSO Financial Services, LP, to provide it with managed broker/dealer services and back office support.

PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia FCU is the first customer of Select-A-Branch to introduce the company’s ADdirect, a direct marketing technology that allows credit unions, banks and other third-party advertisers to use SAB’s ATMs to target prospective customers through advertising.

WASHINGTON – Freddie Mac on Wednesday reported it lost another $7.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, making total losses for the year of $25.7 billion.

APPLE VALLEY, Calif. – Alaska USA FCU, which entered the California market with the acquisition of two failed credit unions last year, is opening a new branch here today.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Kern Schools FCU said it plans to close four of its 14 branches and lay off 40 employees as part of a plan to trim its budget by $7 million.

GARY, Ind. – A veteran Gary police officer was sentenced to three years in work release on Tuesday after he admitted he drained the credit union account of an elderly Alzheimer’s disease sufferer account of $117,000.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday refused to endorse an increase in member business loan limits for credit unions, despite bills in the House and Senate asking for the hike.

WASHINGTON – CUNA Chairman Kris Mecham’s wife Stephanie used to try to bring him into line by suggesting if he didn’t behave, the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were going to send him on a mission to some remote place – such as Mongolia.

CHICAGO – The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, still struggling with large holdings of underwater mortgage-backed securities, said it expects to report a $65 million for 2009, down from a loss of $119 million for 2008.

RICHMOND, Ind. – Natco CU is now offering the rewards-based Kasasa checking and savings accounts.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – City & County CU revealed yesterday it has signed with Bluepoint Solutions to install the company’s point-to-point item processing suite, enterprise content management platform, receipt and transaction management tools and disaster recovery.

BURBANK, Calif. – Lockheed FCU disclosed yesterday it signed with MDA DataQuick to install the company’s Collateral Validation to help the credit union proactively identify and manage loan risk and set loan loss reserves.