APPLE VALLEY, Minn.-Wings Financial FCU, the state's largest credit union, is soliciting members for their vote to convert to a state charter because it hopes to expand to a community charter covering the Twin Cities.

Diana Counts, VP-marketing at Beach Municipal FCU, Virginia Beach, has been appointed to the state league's financial literacy committee.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA issued an alert last week on a new fraudulent Letter to Credit Unions.

CLEARWATER, Fla.-There is plenty of value to be had in the debit and credit card data credit unions capture every day. Quantifying it, however, isn't so easy.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.-Whether it was the recently enacted CARD Act or just a desire to find other revenue and opportunities, one analyst is reminding every CU to look at three areas when it comes to plastic cards.

WASHINGTON-CUNA targeted key congressional leaders with campaign contributions over the first part of the summer, while rebuilding its campaign warchest.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA said last week the new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act does not require a credit union to disclose to its members a five-day grace period it affords after the payment due date.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Deborah Matz made a triumphant return to NCUA last week when she was sworn-in as the agency's eighth chairman.

DALLAS-When it comes to pricing strategies for credit and debit cards, one source said credit unions are definitely open to change.

WEST SAYVILLE, N.Y.-Nassau Educators FCU's newest advertising campaign is literally spelling out its name.

I'll admit it. I was surprised. The message - "Don't cut research" - didn't come from marketing. It didn't come from any research-affiliated department. It came from operations.

September

NAFCU Rounding Out Caucus Schedule

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-The country's leading credit union auditing firm, McGladrey & Pullen, is being sued by H&R Block subsidiary RSM McGladrey.

MADISON, Wis.-Credit union leaders, more than half of whom in an online poll are projecting flat to moderate growth in 2010, have been provided with some ideas on improving those projections.

Regulators require a substantial amount of information to evaluate a proposed merger. Faced with the task of assembling a merger package, credit unions can respond in one of three ways:

It's hard to imagine that only 10 years ago, airbags were only available on a select number of new luxury vehicles. Today, most consumers wouldn't consider buying a used or pre-owned vehicle without them.

They had to wait until August, but America's credit unions just knew they'd get national media attention, and why wouldn't they? It's the movement's 100th anniversary after all, and banks have been headed south more often than a New York retiree come November (more than 70 failures so far-banks, not retirees). So when USA Today turned its four-color-attention to credit unions, the coverage was naturally about - drumroll, please - high NSF fees and what was reported as lackluster payday loan alternatives.

NEW YORK-An Israeli hacker, arrested a decade ago as a 19-year-old who penetrated the Pentagon's database, was convicted last week of a prepaid cards scheme authorities said drained as much as $10 million from U.S. CUs and banks.