More large credit unions are reporting big losses for the third quarter, especially in the nation's most troubled real estate markets.

FTC Delays Red Flag Rule For State Charters

SALT LAKE CITY-Intermountain CU, a $41 million credit union suffering from declining income and troubled mortgage loans, will ask its members next week to approve a merger into America First CU, the state's largest credit union.

WASHINGTON-Federal prosecutors during last week's trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens presented records from the Senate FCU to try to discredit Stevens' and his wife's claims that they-and not an oil services company-paid for $250,000 in improvements to their home in Girdwood, Alaska, they call "the chalet."

COMMENT

PASADENA, Calif.-Credit unions are putting stock in an array of technologies-from collections tools to online member services-to stay strong even as the market teeters.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA announced an emergency program last week that will help the strapped corporate credit unions by guaranteeing new unsecured debt they issue; a key source of liquidity for many corporates.

MANCHESTER, N.H.-CU Journal is joining with St. Mary's Bank and CO-OP Financial Services, to recreate the first credit union transaction 100 years later. "Nov. 24, 1908 is a special day for St. Mary's Bank, one we're proud to reenact for all to enjoy," said Ronald J. Rioux, CEO of St. Mary's Bank. "But we recognize and appreciate that the history we will be recreating belongs not just to St. Mary's Bank, but to every credit union in America."

WILKES BARRE, Penn.-Credit union volunteers are actively raising campaign funds, manning phone banks and fanning out through the state's 11th District in an effort to save Congressman Paul Kanjorski, the sponsor of key credit union legislation, who is trailing his Republican opponent in a bid for a 13th term, less than two weeks from election day.

WILKES BARRE, Penn.-CUs aren't the only ones trying to keep 12-term Rep. Paul Kanjorski in office. Banks, insurance companies and other financial interests with business before the House Financial Services subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, which Kanjorksi chairs, have provided more than 90% of the $2.3 million in campaign funds raised by Kanjorski, according to Federal Election Commission records. Kanjorski has raised $20,000 from CUNA ($10,000 to his campaign and $10,000 to his leadership PAC); $15,000 from NAFCU; $7,000 from CUNA Mutual; $1,000 from U.S. Central FCU and California Coast CU and $1,537 from Affinity FCU. Others include: John Bommarito, Western FCU ($2,300); Rudy Hanley, SchoolsFirst FCU ($2,300); Tom Dorety, Suncoast Schools FCU ($1,000); Bob Marquette, Members 1st FCU ($1,000).

WASHINGTON-CUNA has been pouring tens of thousands of dollars into open House races, those where no incumbent is running, as the campaigns approach the final days of the congressional elections.

SAN DIEGO-Compliance Coach Inc. is teaming with Harland Financial Solutions to bring its newest piece of software, CompliancePal, to the marketplace. The new solution is the industry's first software solution to enable compliance with the FACT Act Identity Theft Red Flags Rule, the company said. The new regulation imposes responsibilities on businesses to prevent consumer identity theft, the compliance deadline is Nov. 1.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.-Sedona Corp. announced that Post Office Employees Credit Union has selected its Intarsia program for the credit union's MRM technology and services solution. "By deploying and utilizing a comprehensive MRM solution, we will get an even more complete understanding of our members' ever-changing interests and needs," the credit union said. POECU, a $26.4-million credit union headquartered in Metairie, La., was originally founded in 1924.

INDIANAPOLIS-Liberty Bay Credit Union has signed with fiVISION, a CRM solutions provider, to use the firm's accountWORKS platform as its member enrollment solution. The $529-million credit union also plans to use the Enrollment Cross Sell module to offer additional products the applicants are qualified for but did not select during the application process.

SAN DIEGO-Symitar Systems reported that it has added or renewed 40 CU clients in the first four months of the year. Soo Co-op, Fiberglas Federal, Cloverbelt, East Texas Professional Federal, Erie General Electric Federal, Financial One and Focus Federal all signed on as core solutions clients. It also signed another 29 CUs.

GLASTONBURY, Conn.-Creative Arts Savings & Credit Union has chosen Open Solution's "The Complete Credit Union Solution" core data processing platform to address its enterprise-wide data processing needs. Creative Arts is a de novo credit union serving professional performers. The Toronto-based credit union was started in June and began operations a short time later after it raised $2.5 million in start-up capital.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-EPL and Indirect Lending Technologies have teamed up to create a dealer portal for managing traditional indirect lending. EPL Dealer Portal automates and simplifies the indirect lending process and was originally designed specifically for credit unions. Legacy Community FCU went live on the EPL Dealer Portal on Apr. 1 last year and, a Legacy SVP had good things to say about the solution. "The system is easy to use and easy to train on, contains robust reports, covers a lot of items auditors review for internal monitoring of the indirect program and ILT recently added a Dashboard screen that provides at-a-glance real-time management information," he said.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.-As the credit crisis has left many Americans-even those with strong credit scores-out in the cold, consumers are increasingly turning to credit unions, pushing CU auto lending share higher than it's been for years, even in the midst of slumping auto sales.

READER QUESTION: For each of your tek panelists, can they name some specific new ways CUs are using their solution to measure, contain risk?

COLUMBUS, Ohio-It's Facebook, Wikipedia and workflow all wrapped up in one Intranet portal at CME FCU here-and it's giving each employee a dashboard with real-time access to critical data.