PLANO, Texas – Southwest Corporate FCU told its members yesterday it expects to take a charge of as much as $194 million to capital as a result of the loss of its shares in U.S. Central FCU.

MADISON, Wis. – Charges related to the corporate credit union bailout helped eliminate almost $6 billion in credit union capital in March, depleting industry capital from 10.3% at the end of February to a 15-year-low of just 9.6% at March 31.

WARRENVILLE, Ill. – Members United Corporate FCU reported a $511 million loss today, wiping out almost two-thirds of its capital.

WARRENVILLE, Ill. – Members United Corporate FCU reported a $511 million loss today, wiping out almost two-thirds of its capital.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – As concern grows regarding the H1N1 virus–also called "swine flu"–at least one credit union is already prepared to deal with the situation.The Golden 1 CU prepared for a possible outbreak of avian flu last year by distributing pandemic kits to all 77 of its branch locations, which the branches can now use in response to the latest flu scare.Terry Halleck, CEO of the $6.5-billion CU, based here, said an e-mail was sent to all Golden 1 staff members sharing information related to the current outbreak, alternatively referred to as “swine flu” or “H1N1” (public health officials in recent days have attempted to avoid attaching the term “swine” to the flu virus after reports of people needlessly avoiding eating pork or even slaughtering pigs in a misguided attempt to avoid illness). Halleck told Credit Union Journal the e-mail memo had information on the virus, how it is spread, what the symptoms of the flu are and when they are likely to develop, and that there is medication that can be effective. “Also in the e-mail was a link to our employee intranet and a flu pandemic brochure we had previously posted for interested staff members,” she said. “We believe proactive communication to staff is key to help them avoid becoming ill and also to help them prevent spreading illness if such occurs.”Golden 1 is asking its branch staff to use hand sanitizer from the pandemic supply kits to help prevent the spread of germs. In addition, Halleck said management has asked employees to be empathetic to members who opt to wear the gauze face masks some believe will help prevent them from becoming ill. “While we have a ‘No Hats, No Hoods, No Sunglasses’ policy in our branches, the medically-styled face masks do not mask the identity of persons coming into our branches if properly worn,” she explained. “As of this early point in time, we have not had reports of members wearing these medically-styled masks; our communication to branch staff was simply proactive so they are prepared if that occurs.”The pandemic kits distributed to Golden 1’s branches and headquarters include the following items: masks, tissues, protective eyewear, disposable thermometer, gloves, sani-cloths (to clean areas where individuals may spread illness, such as telephones, computer keyboards and countertops), hand sanitizer, Lysol Disinfectant Spray, and a hazardous waste bag for disposal of items that may become contaminated.“These are not pre-made kits that Golden 1 purchased from a provider, these are kits that our staff assembled last year and then distributed to the branches,” Halleck said, adding any new branches in the last year are required to have pandemic kits to ensure a state of readiness across the organization. “Golden 1 had already proactively prepared for a pandemic flu outbreak about a year ago and we remain prepared to deal with the current pandemic concern in the event a serious outbreak occurs in any of the areas where we have our 77 branches as well as our headquarters location.”

WASHINGTON – Senate leaders threatened to pull the corporate credit union bailout bill from the floor Friday after senators from both parties tried to load the bill up with as many as 20 amendments.

PURCHASE, N.Y. – MasterCard Inc. said Friday its first-quarter earnings fell 18% from the year-ago period that included a special gain on the sale of an investment.

DALLAS – A member of Resource One CU, angry over charges to her account, was arrested Friday after she threatened to blow up the credit union’s branch.

EL PASO, Texas – First Light FCU announced Friday it has contracted with Identity Theft 911 to offer the company’s services to members.

FLINT, Mich. – Dort FCU announced Friday it has promoted Vicki Hawkins, a long-time exec and most recently its chief financial officer, to be its president and CEO.

MECHANICSBURG, Penn. – AmeriChoice FCU, one of three credit unions set back by last year’s federal court ruling striking down a broad community charter, has been approved to add 300,000 people in two surrounding counties to its field of membership instead.

INDIANAPOLIS – A homeless man was arrested Friday after he forced an employing arriving to work at Centra CU into the vault at gunpoint and was making off with $150,000 in cash.

RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees CU said Friday it has become the first credit union to adopt new ‘Safe Credit Card Standards,’ designed to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.

WASHINGTON – About 400 banks will lose some $1.4 billion of capital in Silverton Bank, an Atlanta-based correspondent bank that was seized by the FDIC on Friday.

WARRENVILLE, Ill. – Members United Corporate FCU told its members last week it expects to exhaust as much as $230 million of capital it held in U.S. Central FCU, adding to the woes of the $9 billion corporate and its members.

CORONADO, Calif. — The good news is credit unions still outrank banks in satisfaction surveys in almost every single area, and the reason is that members love their credit unions. The bad news: the ones who love CUs most are a dying breed-literally.

SAN DIMAS, Calif. — WesCorp FCU, the troubled corporate credit union taken over by NCUA March 20, reported a giant credit loss of $5.6 billion for the first quarter.

Members Advantage Uses LEVEL5

ATLANTA — New research shows that four-in-10 "Internet households" have received a prepaid card as a loyalty reward for their shopping or card usage, and that of those two-thirds say they are "valuable."

MIRAMAR, Fla. — In the biggest failure of a natural person credit union, Eastern Financial Florida CU, the one-time high-flying airlines credit union, was taken over by state regulators and NCUA after a grounding by the state's turbulent real estate market.