LANSING, Mich. — Credit union auto loan portfolios may benefit — in the long run — from the shuttering of car dealerships by Chrysler and GM.

Fiserv Source Capture Is Top Ranked

Electronic Bill Payments Up 16%

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — Web applications for consumer loans are up 25% at Digital FCU here, thanks to a new online tool that allows borrowers to customize the loan upfront, then delivers instant approvals and automatically fills out a membership application — all in as little as five minutes.

ATLANTA — Internet-based financial institutions have nearly doubled their penetration in checking accounts over the past two years, according to new research released by Synergistics Research Corp.

LAS VEGAS — Congress and President Obama OKd the corporate stabilization bill, but CU CFOs say there's still a lot of uncertainty and confusion about how to account for the assessment and impairment — and how to tell how well a credit union is performing.

AUSTIN, Texas — The credit union explosion onto the iPhone application scene may be more like a slow leak, if you turn to a recent survey conducted for Credit Union Journal by the Credit Union Information Security Professionals Association (CUISPA).

WAYNE, N.J. — The former president of First Jersey CU is suing the $104-million CU, claiming the she was fired for blowing the whistle on expensive business trips taken by board members that violated the CU's own travel expense policy.

WASHINGTON-NAFCU has renamed its Cornerstone Award to the Robin M. Johnston Cornerstone Award for Excellence in honor of former NAFCU employee Robin M. Johnston, who died of breast cancer earlier this year. She was the publisher and managing editor of NAFCU's magazine, The Federal Credit Union. Johnston was instrumental in establishing the award in 2005, which provides members of the African-American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC) with the opportunity to attend, free of charge, one of three NAFCU conferences or the NAFCU Regulatory Compliance School. Officials select the award winners based on a written essay about how attending the meeting will benefit them and take the financial status of the credit unions for which they work into account. "The Cornerstone Award was an idea Robin had to promote opportunity and excellence among all members of the credit union community," said NAFCU president Fred Becker.

MADISON, Wis.-Your Money. Your Choice. Your Credit Union. has been selected as the theme for International Credit Union Day 2009. The theme is to remind people everywhere of the advantages that credit unions provide their members,according to the World Council of Credit Unions, and was suggested by Stan Cowan of A+ Federal Credit Union in Austin, Texas. International Credit Union Day will be celebrated Oct. 15; October is also National Coooperative Month. ICU Day graphics can be downloaded at www.woccu.org/icuday2009.

ARCADIA, Calif.-Foothill FCU recently hosted an informative town hall style breakfast meeting to help keep members in the loop about how recent events in both the CU industry and the broader economy have impacted the institution, touching on the conservatorship of WesCorp and US Central as well as NCUA's move to insure deposits up to $250,000. CEO Brian Hall assured members of the $217-million credit union's "strength and stability," noting that it is still well-capitalized and has strongly performing loans and investments.

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii-Online security needs to be beefed up at financial institutions, their members and among vendors because of advances in online fraud, CUNA Mutual said at Hawaii Credit Union League's 71st Annual Convention. "Phishing scams have become a mainstream activity for fraudsters," a risk manager told the conference. "Consumers continue to be duped by this e-mail scam and provide their account numbers and online banking passwords. It's important for credit unions, corporate credit unions and third-party providers of electronic funds transfer services to adopt suitable authentication methods to prevent costly unauthorized transactions." FIs can institution IP restrictions, multifactor identification and online payment transaction limits to help cut down on fraud.

NEWARK, N.J.-The president and major owner of US Mortgage Corp. and its CU National unit is preparing to plead guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges relating to the transfer of as much as $160 million of credit unions' mortgages being serviced by the company to Fannie Mae, according to several sources involved in the case.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.-Kern Schools FCU announced its longtime president, Vince Rojas, will retire amid growing financial difficulties at the state's 11th largest CU.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Look for credit unions to explode onto the iPhone scene in the next few months with iPhone applications by and for credit unions — including a locator app developed by an independent programmer here at the behest of Credit Union Journal.

SAN FRANCISCO — Ken Burns is taking over as the new CEO at Patelco CU in the middle of a financial crisis that has rocked the entire movement, and, in particular, Patelco itself, which reported a $40-million loss for 2008 and a $7-million loss for the first quarter of 2009.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The It's Me 247 online banking product will expand this summer from the desktop to the mobile Web, running on multiple mobile browsers — demonstrating how CU*Answers here is sidestepping the growing passion that credit unions are showing for native iPhone applications.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Tellers are stopping fraudulent checks left and right — including one for $49,000 at one CU — using a counterfeit alert database at the teller window.

DEARBORN, Mich.-Regulators took over Rouge Employees CU, the credit union serving employees of Ford's famed Rouge River auto plant, and merged the remnants of the failed credit union into Chief Financial FCU, the Pontiac-based auto workers credit union.

WASHINGTON-Five Federal Home Loan Banks have delayed reporting their first quarter financials while they grapple with new accounting rules to help minimize losses.