ONTARIO, Calif. — The California and Nevada Credit Union League has entered into a partnership agrement with Guatemala's national credit union trade association. The partnership will operate as part of the World Council of Credit Union's International Partnership Program.

As some credit card issuers scrambled to raise rates before the CARD act is implemented, Congress was scrambling to put new curbs on card interchange fees. Learn how credit unions are caught in the middle, and what they're doing to make sure members know CU credit cards are different from the rest.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are expected this week to approve a measure to clarify the Credit Card Act’s 21-day notice requirement by stating the rule only applies to credit cards.

HOUSTON – A former intern at Investex CU was sentenced Friday to 13-and-a-half years behind bars for organizing two separate armed robberies at the credit union that netted him and accomplices almost $330,000.

MADISON, Wis. – The former president of Rapids Municipal CU, merged last December into Bull’s Eye CU, has agreed to plead guilty to with manipulating the accounts of deceased members to help him steal $645,000 from the now-defunct credit union.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. – St. Mary’s CU made a $20,000 contribution to the Boys & Girls Club of Metro West to support the organization’s youth programs and services at the organization’s Marlborough and Hudson locations.

ROSEBURG, Ore. – Cascade Community CU has awarded 50 area teachers from 32 schools mini-grants totaling $10,000.

WOODLAND, Calif. – Yolo FCU is massaging its members–literally.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Summit FCU said Friday it has agreed to acquire Syracuse FCU, a $140 million credit union with four branches, to create a $625 million credit union serving 80,000 members.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – A state court ruled last week that IH Mississippi Valley CU is not liable for damages for a failed condominium project for which it had made a multi-million dollar member business loan.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Well-known developer John Beardsley put the company that owns the historic U.S. National Bank building and two other downtown properties into bankruptcy Friday in order to prevent a foreclosure on the properties by California’s Telesis Community CU, the company’s largest lender.

LAS VEGAS – Officials with troubled WesStar CU, which serves the city’s ailing casino industry, was replaced last week amid growing losses for the credit union, which bills itself as "The Gaming Employees Credit Union."

WILMINGTON, N.C. – The owner of a vandalized 1998 Saturn won $5,000 cash toward the purchase of a new car as part of Alliance’s CU’s ‘Ugly Car Contest.’

WASHINGTON – CUNA announced Friday it has reached an agreement with NAFCU on the parameters for alternative capital, a growing concern for hundreds of credit unions seeing their capital diminished by the corporate credit union crisis.

For the 14th consecutive year Credit Union Journal celebrates International Credit Union Week with our Day in the Life Project. On the same day in August credit unions in Columbia, Sri Lanka and all around the U.S. shot photos of events at their credit unions.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa CU League, planning for the expected consolidation of the corporate credit union system, has applied to federal banking regulators to acquire an Arizona-based bank that would provide its credit unions with access to the Federal Reserve's payment system and provide other powers.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — Co-Op Financial Services is acquiring the LoanLink Center from CUNA Mutual. CUNA Mutual will retain the 2-year-old customer service facility that houses TLC, which takes up roughly half of the space there and will lease that space to CO-OP, according to CO-OP CEO Stan Hollen.

KEY WEST, Fla. — Troubled Keys FCU, taken under conservatorship by NCUA two weeks ago, has stepped up its battle with its former president, claiming the chief executive of the $200-million credit union "scrubbed" or erased thousands of computer files just before his November 2007 firing.

BARCELONA, Spain — A trio of New Zealand credit unions that merged have hit upon a unique way to settle which CEO would take the helm of the consolidated institution: none of them.

Seattle Metro Credit Union pioneered the "Pay it Forward" concept with a 2008 campaign in which it offered $10 to people to put toward helping others. At a downtown branch, consumers who accepted the $10 were videotaped explaining what they would do with the money, with the videos then placed on YouTube where viewers selected their favorite. The winner than received $1,000 to put toward their cause. Seattle Metro's campaign received significant press attention and was featured during Credit Union Journal's Grow Show. The idea has since been picked up by several other CUs, including: