WASHINGTON-Just days after NCUA approved a rescue of the corporate credit union network, Congress began to plot efforts last week to ease the crushing $5-billion cost on credit unions.

LOVES PARK, Ill. – The former card services coordinator for Rock Valley FCU was sentenced yesterday to three years and seven months in prison for siphoning $1.1 million from card accounts she used on vacations, jewelry, weekly car washes and — in one three-year stretch — $535 at Sunglass Hut.

MILWAUKEE – Back officer service provider Metavante Technologies reported net income for its fourth quarter of $40.4 million, creating a fiscal year profit of $147.3 million for 2008, its first year as an independent company.

PURCHASE, N.Y. – MasterCard International said yesterday net income for its fourth quarter declined by 21%, to $239.4 million, absent a one-time gain the prior year for its sale of stock in Brazil’s credit card company, Redecard SA.

FITCHBURG, Mass. – Workers’ CU said it contributed $10,000 to United Way’s Community Support Fund, which is providing emergency food and heating assistance to local families.

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Michigan Schools & Government Credit Union awarded 76 mini-grants worth more than $18,000 to help educators in Macomb and Oakland counties with classroom projects.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Pentagon FCU said yesterday it has lowered it new and used car loan rates to 3.99%.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio FCU is once again providing ATMs for the annual Stock Show and Rodeo at the AT&T Center and Freeman Coliseum grounds.

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU said yesterday it has signed a multi-year contract with Visa to offer Visa-branded consumer credit and debit products to its 3.1 million members.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Tinker FCU recently went live with a virtualized Storage Area Network environment, becoming the only credit union in the U.S. to have the EPISYS core processing system running with this virtualized dual processor infrastructure.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – CUDL, the nation’s largest indirect lending company, said it is paying its 85 credit union members a 3% dividend for 2008, amounting to $1.3 million.

McLEAN, Va. – Mortgage rates climbed to their highest since December this week, fueled by stronger than expected economic indicators, according to Freddie Mac.

WASHINGTON – Recriminations were flying yesterday over responsibility for the bailout of U.S. Central FCU and the corporate network, with executives calling for the ouster of key corporate management, the elimination of the corporate system, and even the removal of the NCUA Board for its role in the unfolding crisis.

LENEXA, Kan. – U.S. Central FCU, pressured by its members to make management changes after a huge $1.2 billion fourth quarter loss, announced today it has terminated long-time director of asset/liability management David Dickens.

LENEXA, Kan. – U.S. Central FCU, pressured by its members to make management changes after a huge $1.2 billion fourth quarter loss, announced today it has terminated long-time director of asset/liability management David Dickens.

BURLINGTON, Mass. – Saying the leadership at U.S. Central FCU has "failed the credit union industry," the top executive at EasCorp FCU today called for the removal of management at U.S. Central, the corporate credit union for corporate credit unions.

BURLINGTON, Mass. – Saying the leadership at U.S. Central FCU has "failed the credit union industry," the top executive at EasCorp FCU today called for the ouster of management at U.S. Central, the corporate credit union for corporate credit unions.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Prize winner for his work developing a micro-lending institution in his native Bangladesh, is planning to use his framework to develop credit unions in the U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa Inc. said first quarter earnings soared 35%, to $599 million, as cards transactions both in the U.S. and internationally maintained their growth.

NORTH CANTON, Ohio – ATM maker Diebold said yesterday it broke back into the black in the fourth quarter with net income of $5.9 million, or nine cents.