WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee, in the face of a withering lobby by banks and credit unions, barely endorsed a bill aimed at reining in interchange fees on credit and debit cards, effectively killing the bill for the year.

ATLANTA – Equifax yesterday said it is offering consumers a new identity theft protection and resolution service.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Fiserv yesterday announced it received about $510 million from the sale of a 51% stake in its insurance business to private equity fund Stone Point Capital LLC.

FAIRFAX, Va. – Apple FCU is celebrating one year of its new branch in Stafford with a drive to collect school supplies for students in need in Stafford County.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Veridian CU yesterday said it has donated $100,000 to the Iowa CU Foundation’s Disaster Fund to assist its members who were impacted by recent flooding and tornadoes.

BREA, Calif. – Evangelical Christian CU said it has deployed several call center support and recording offerings from CallCopy.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – U.S. First CU yesterday said it has contracted with Gumas Advertising of San Francisco to design a multi-media marketing and ad campaign.

WARMINSTER, Penn. – Freedom CU last month held three financial services-oriented focus groups to explore the needs and desires of so-called Generation Y.

DENVER – Westerra CU, the credit union giant formed by combining three local credit unions, on Friday was approved for the broadest community charter in Colorado – covering more than 1.5 million people in Denver, Jefferson and Arapahoe counties.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson said despite ongoing problems at certain institutions, the credit union industry is healthy and federally insured deposits are safe with the National CU Share Insurance Fund.

WALL STREET – Common stockholders continued to get battered by the plunge in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac share prices, but the crisis is posing opportunities for credit unions and other institutional investors who have been feasting off the higher yields on Fannie and Freddie debt.

WASHINGTON – Shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plunged to new lows yesterday as policymakers undertook new measures aimed at stemming the potential collapse of the two secondary mortgage market giants.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services, which was created from last year’s merger with Certegy Inc., yesterday said it has agreed to sell its Certegy Australia division for $30 million as part of its strategy to get rid of non-core assets.

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah – A teller at Goldenwest CU was arrested yesterday in connection with last week’s armed robbery at the credit union, while his friend and alleged accomplice remains on the loose.

DUNCAN, Okla. – Chris Bower, president of $25 million Laramie Plains Community FCU, has been hired as president and CEO of Halliburton Employees FCU, a $65 million credit union here.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – Kellogg Community FCU has enhanced its online banking product with secure support and chat, which offers an additional method for members to communicate online with the credit union.

PORTLAND, Ore. – OnPoint Community CU yesterday said it has purchased Integrated Media Management’s TotaleAtlas document preparation service.

LENEXA, Kan. – U.S. Central FCU yesterday reported that the continuing deterioration in the mortgage markets had a key role in restated earnings for 2007 – showing instead of a $6.9 million net for the year, as reported earlier, it had a $50.7 million loss.

WALL STREET – The buzz around credit unions yesterday – after the federal government moved to backstop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – was that a guarantee of the two secondary mortgage market giants no longer is implied, but now a given, permanently changing the dynamics of the huge mortgage-backed securities market.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve and Treasury announced plans yesterday to bolster Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in the face of an investor rout last week that sent shares in the two secondary mortgage market giants plummeting to three-decade lows.