EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Almost overnight 114 bank employees and 25,000 customers will become, respectively credit unionists and members, when Royal Credit Union acquires business from AnchorBank.

Union Exec Guilty In CU Scheme

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — This year has challenged many assumptions about managing credit unions. With Thanksgiving upon us, CU Journal asked credit union leaders to share some long-held ideas they say have proven to be turkeys.

MADISON, Wis. — The total number of credit unions has now dropped below 8,000, but membership continues to increase, as does the savings those members are placing in their credit unions.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Credit unions looking to build a commercial lending program should start small and grow their portfolios gradually.

WASHINGTON — As the credit crunch continues, credit unions are seeing healthy loan growth for the first three quarters of the year, according to a sneak peek at Call Report data being submitted to NCUA right now.

LAS VEGAS — It seems only fitting that Darwin's Survival of the Fittest theory was being quoted when CUs from California and Nevada were meeting here last week for their annual meeting.

Not that anyone has the budget, but that credit unions could not have bought the kind of positive press coverage received so far in 2009 goes without saying. Yet an awful lot of the reporting, while not inaccurate, still indicates there is much work to do when it comes to articulating what credit unions are all about.

If the topic of social media has been exhausted in the media, why then are a majority of credit unions still not taking the fullest advantage of the trend's many benefits?

The right direction in policies is a level of generalization that applies to the things you care about as end results, not specific conditions that prevent those results. Write policies that provide a foundation for discussion on the real issues, not the details of activities that get your goat.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A man who failed in his attempt to rob Fort Financial CU in nearby Gastonia a year ago was convicted Friday of literally scaring a woman to death while running from the cops after the foiled heist.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Eleven finalists in Florida Commerce CU’s "Key to Win" Giveaway met with purported keys to a new Toyota RAV 4 at before the Florida State University football game Saturday, with one driving away with the actual key that started the prize.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Service CU donated 50 turkeys to the Portsmouth Salvation Army last Thursday, among the 625 Thanksgiving birds donated by the $1.2 billion credit union.

EWING, N.J.–During the past two weeks more than 1,300 members of Credit Union of New Jersey have opted for a payday loan alternative available to state employees affected by mandatory job furloughs.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FDIC shut down Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida Friday and assigned the remnants of the failed institution to Central Bank of Stillwater, Minn.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Growing losses and failures among credit unions are expected to result in additional charges assessed credit unions of as much as $3 billion next year, agency officials said last week.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA announced Friday it has assigned Kent Buckham, who was moved aside as chief corporate credit union examiner amid last year’s implosion of U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU, to be the first director of its Office of Consumer Protection.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Ten individuals were indicted by a federal grand jury and charged as part of a three-year investigation aimed at dismantling a multi-million-dollar identity theft ring that victimized dozens of credit unions and banks.

WASHINGTON –Credit unions and banks have severally slowed the rapidly rising charges for overdraft protection as Congress debates new curbs on the programs, according to a new study survey issued Friday.

JACKSON, Miss. – A former burglary detective, out on bail for an alleged robbery at Mississippi Employees FCU, was charged yesterday in five business robberies that happened in 24 hours.