PLANO, Texas — Southwest Corporate reported tremendous growth it its remote deposit services during 2008. The number of credit unions participating grew 57% as 160 new credit unions joined the program, elevating the year-end total to 442.

WASHINGTON — NCUA Chairman Michael Fryzel visited top lawmakers in the House and Senate to kick off a push for a new corporate credit union bailout fund.

GROTON, Conn.-Staffers at Charter Oak Federal Credit Union knew they had a marketing problem when it became clear members were unaware of at least one of its long-standing branch locations.

Study: CUs, Banks Collect $37 Billion in NSF Fees

HARRISBURG, Penn.-The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association has begun running two Spanish-language 30-second radio spots with information about the benefits of joining a CU as part of Pennsylvania's iBelong campaign.

HIGHTSTOWN, N.J.-The New Jersey CU League has rolled out a statewide multi-media ad campaign that seeks to use the current economy to reinforce the the value of credit unions.

TIME.com featured credit unions in a piece headlined, "Bad Times for Banks Mean Boom Times for Credit Unions." The article quoted Ed Speed, CEO of Texas Dow Employees CU, who noted its real estate lending has doubled and auto lending is up more than 40%. The article also noted CUs have avoided risky lending practices, saying they are now "having their turn in the sun." "In good times, you'd say these guys are much too conservative," George Hofheimer, chief research officer the Filene Research Institute was quoted as saying. "But in times like these, it's just what the doctor ordered." Not all is rosy, the article made clear, pointing to the 21% of CUs that have lost money in at least one quarter this year.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As bank customers are displaced because of financial sector turmoil, analysts are saying it is more important than ever for credit unions to keep a tight control on member satisfaction and manage their external images.

WASHINGTON-The Treasury Department has unveiled a coordinated plan to thwart loan modification fraud schemes. The Treasury is acting along with the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Justice Department and state officials to prosecute or disable businesses that claim to be able to secure loan modifications from lenders for up-front fees.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Federal authorities say a trio of check counterfeiters threatened people with violence so they would cash at least 90 fake checks totaling more than $100,000 at Washington-area credit unions.

WILKES-BARRE, Penn.-In a reverse of the trend at many U.S.-based company, Sallie Mae reported that over the next 18 months it will return to the United States some 2,000 call center jobs that it had earlier moved overseas.

US Federal Credit Union, Burnsville, Minn., named Janelle Stockwell branch manager and Dansherryl Knapp information services manager.

Among the handful of primary culprits for the current credit crisis-which includes Alan Greenspan's Fed, Wall Street "innovators," reckless community bankers, and irresponsible real estate speculators, among others-includes an outdated appraisal process for single-family residences that is in dire need of overhaul.

The comments from Amherst Securities and other securities dealers (in the article titled "Analysts See Fallout On Image, Systemic Risk," March 30, CU Journal) are self serving. The credit union system had far more investment problems when investments were handled by each credit union. Let's wait and see what the actual losses are at Wescorp and US Central. The write downs are based on undocumented impairments. We don't have audited financial statements from either Wescorp or US Central. We don't have Supervisory Committees or an independent Board of Directors. We have not had an annual meeting at which members can ask questions. All we have is the regulator's statement of impairment. We have been told we won't see the analysis that supports the estimate of impairment. I have no doubt there is an impairment. None of us book our allowance without seeing the allowance. Yet we we are booking a huge write down without any documentation at all. How is that GAAP? How is it reasonable to judge the corporate system without documentation? As a former CPA I say-show me the evidence.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-Despite the toll the corporate failures and the economy in general is taking on credit unions, most are sticking with to their gameplan, experts told CU Journal.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — While there is some early agreement that a consolidation of corporates lies ahead, the question has become which corporates should survive and which ones should not?

LANSING, Mich. — Invest in America will soon provide credit union car-buying support to Ford, and is expanding its agreements with General Motors and Chrysler.

With all due respect to Navy Federal Credit Union and the comments made by Mr. Dawson (Navy Fed Calls For Abolishment Of Corporate CU System, CU Journal Daily, April 3), I am the Treasurer of one of those "small" credit unions ($20 million in assets), and our corporate credit union is vital to our operations, providing many of our settlement, payment and liquidity functions as well as professional expertise in a wide variety of areas, services we depend on for our survival.

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series drawing from questions posed by credit union executives to members of Credit Union Retired Executives (CURE), a resource for free, confidential management advice and direction. The answers are supplied by former credit union leaders.

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