LANSING, Mich. – State regulators reported Friday they have approved three more credit union mergers, including one of a troubled automotive parts credit union.

WASHINGTON – Bank regulators shut three more banks Friday, including $7 billion Corus Bank, the Chicago-based lender to condominium development developments in the so-called Sand states.

BOSTON – A one-time government informant believed to be the mastermind behind several of the biggest online credit card thefts pleaded guilty Friday to some of the biggest card breaches in history, including those at retailers TJX Cos., Barnes & Nobles, Sports Authority, Dave & Buster’s, OfficeMax, Boston Market and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Credit union representatives, not NCUA, will decide the number of corporate credit unions that will survive the expected consolidation of the corporate system, according to NCUA.

LENEXA, Kan. – U.S. Central FCU, which reported a whopping $4.9 billion loss for 2008, detailed new exposures to the ongoing credit crunch in its annual report issued Friday night.

LENEXA, Kan. – NCUA said this evening it still believes U.S. Central FCU is a "viable" credit union, even after it issued audited financials for 2008 showing a quadrupling of previously reported losses to almost $5 billion.

LENEXA, Kan. – NCUA said this evening it still believes U.S. Central FCU is a "viable" credit union, even after it issued audited financials for 2008 showing a quadrupling of previously reported losses to almost $5 billion.

KANSAS CITY, Kan.-CommunityAmerica Credit Union said it will open three new branches inside Wal-Mart Stores in its markets, creating approximately 10 jobs in the process. Plans call for the branches to open before the end of October.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Sudden losses from its indirect loan program combined with expenses related to the NCUSIF stabilization have led regulators to merge Service Plus CU into the $8-billion SchoolsFirst FCU.

VACAVILLE, Calif. — The "Pay It Forward" mantra can now officially be called a trend in the cooperative movement as Travis Credit Union here has adopted the program and put its own spin on the campaign.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Consultant and former NCUA Chair Dennis Dollar sees the task force recommendations closely mirroring what the agency is likely to put forth in its own proposal:

CU Celebrates 09/09/09 With Special 9% CDs

SALT LAKE CITY-The two major universities in the state have long had a storied rivalry across numerous sports. Now, a traveling trophy for the school that wins the most competitions will have a name and a trophy bearing the name of Deseret First Credit Union. To be called the Deseret First Duel, the winner will be based on a competition in the 12 sports the two universities compete head-to-head during regular-season play.

MERIDIAN, Miss.-Police here are on the lookout for a man whom surveillance video shows spent more than a half-hour staking out an credit union ATM here, before finally tyring to pry it open with a crowbar. The would-be robber was unable to open the machine, however, but left the ATM at a branch of Meridian Mutual FCU heavily damaged. Video surveillance shows the man had the letters letters "D.A." tattooed on his upper right arm.

COSTA MESA, Calif.-Overall consumer credit scores continue to decline, according to data released by the latest Experian-Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Report. The data show that consumers continue to migrate to lower credit bands, with the number of consumers in the superprime grade, as measured by VantageScore, declining by 10% since Q3 2008. The report notes that due to the trend, subprime and deep subprime outstanding balances have grown by more than 33% in the past three years.

DALLAS-New data showing an additional 216,000 job were lost in August bringing the total job loss during the current recession to 6.9-million, according to analysis released by Southwest Corporate Advisory Services, a subsidiary of Southwest Corporate FCU.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Terry Halleck, president and CEO of The Golden 1 CU, Sacramento, Calif., said the task force's proposals "sound like a good plan to me. They definitely need to create efficiencies within the system, so there should be fewer corporates. We had to write off $44 million just for WesCorp, so the investment change is a positive one because we don't want to see the corporates being in that position again. The corporates did a great job of getting additional yields for the credit unions that invested in those, but at a great cost that we have all had to bear this year.

LAS VEGAS — Brad Beal, president and CEO, Nevada FCU, and chairman of NAFCU's board, noted, "The changes are intended to mitigate the risk involved. Some of the corporates got pretty heavily involved in private label, mortgage-backed securities. The investment changes are designed to mitigate risk, which I feel is a really good thing.

WEBSTER, Mass. — Given the emotions and costs surrounding losses and failures by corporate credit unions this year, there was great potential for a task force studying the issue to be caught up in politics.

LENEXA, Kansas — U.S. Central Corporate CU, which would be eliminated under the recommendations by the joint CUNA/NAFCU task force, declined comment on the report, noting it is in conservatorship and under the control of NCUA. They agency's John McKechnie said both the top-tier corporate and the regulator were not commenting on the task report, aside from a statement from NCUA Chair Deborah Matz: "NCUA is in the process of reviewing the correspondence from the Corporate Task Force. As we move through the corporate rulemaking process, NCUA will carefully evaluate all input from stakeholders with the goal of producing a corporate regime that is stronger, more durable and better suited to the changing needs of the credit union industry."