WILKES-Barre, Penn. – A Brink’s truck driver who stole $70,000 bound for W-Bee FCU will serve four months in prison and another four months on house arrest, a judge ruled Thursday.

MERIDEN, Conn. – Seasons FCU is moving to a new eco-friendly branch which will receive so-called LLED certification as a “green” facility.

RICHARDSON, Texas – Texans CU on Friday said it has launched a new CUSO that will provide advice on risk management and fraud protection, operations, and consulting services.

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU on Friday said it has named WAUSAU Financial Systems its remote capture solutions provider, and is using WAUSAU Financial’s Web-based branch capture application for capture, balance and review of all back counter check images.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The newly appointed Financial Institutions Commissioner on Friday announced the state regulator is adding new benchmarking data for credit unions and banks to better monitor the condition of California’s state chartered institutions, many of which have plunged into difficult straits.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A federal judge on Friday ruled that Carol Aranjo, former president of now-defunct D. Edward Wells FCU, could receive more than 12 years in prison on Sept. 15 – the day she is scheduled to be sentenced for embezzling $1.5 million from the one-time prominent community development credit union.

LAWRENCE, Mass. – Officials with NESC FCU last week agreed to acquire troubled Lawrence Firefighters FCU, a larger nearby credit union that wracked up large losses from an ill-fated indirect auto lending program.

AUGUSTA, Maine – State regulators last week issued a bulletin allowing state chartered credit unions and banks to make private student loans.

WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote a bill that would allow merchants to collectively negotiate lower interchange rates with card issuers as early as Wednesday.

FRAZER, Penn. – Developers of a new secure payments card for credit unions are inviting venture capital firms and private entities to invest in the project as credit unions are having trouble finding available cash to fund the effort.

SEATTLE - In a highly imaginative weekly online ad series featuring movie star and Washington native Carl Weathers–who played “Apollo Creed” in the “Rocky” movie franchise–viewers are told “Change is Beautiful.” But the actor never utters the words or name of the sponsors of the campaign: “credit union.”

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - The ongoing growth of peer-to-peer lending, which cuts out middlemen such as CUs, has now spread to student loans.

SEFCU Debuts Facebook Banking Application

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - When a member with a long-standing 800 FICO score, a good pension, and additional income walked into the credit union and dropped off keys to his home, Ent FCU knew it was time to focus on workout loans.

WATERLOO, Iowa - Veridian CU is opening a full-service branch on the University of Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls.

NEW YORK - Three foreign nationals were arrested and charged with siphoning more than $2 million from Citibank-branded ATMs at 7-Eleven convenience stores across the country in the biggest remote PIN code theft on record.

VACAVILLE, Calif. - In an effort to help families of deployed military personnel, Travis Credit Union has teamed up with Health Net Federal Services to create a children’s journal that will help kids express their emotions during a difficult time. The scrapbook, titled “My Life…A Kid’s Journal” was created to help facilitate dialogue between parents and children as it encourages the youngsters to write poems, diary entires, collect photos and draw about the things that are the most important to them while the family member is overseas. All pictures will be displayed on Travis’ website and at the Travis Air Force Base branch.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

SAN DIEGO - First it boomed. Then it crashed. And credit unions have been left to pick up the pieces.

MADISON, Wis. - In a new research brief for Filene Research Institute, Robert D. Manning, director of the Center for Consumer Financials Services at Rochester Institute of Technology, argues that many households that do not meet Consumer Credit Counseling Service qualifications either file for bankruptcy or throw in with shady debt settlement programs. The right solution, he says, is for lenders to create a responsible debt relief system.

PLANO, Texas - Southwest Corporate Credit Union reported that June foreclosure filings rose 53% from a year earlier while actual repossessions almost tripled.