HOUSTON – People’s Trust FCU is eliminating the spare change – by depositing directly into an account or donating it to its charitable foundation – instead of handing it out to members.

KENSINGTON, Md. – Signal Financial FCU said it has hired a former commercial banker and begun making small business loans.

BALTIMORE – Municipal Employees CU paid its members a cash bonus consisting of a loan interest rebate and an extraordinary dividend.

BRISTOL, Penn. – State regulators last week approved a request by NBA CU to reduce its board size from 11 to nine directors and to eliminate its supervisory committee, as volunteers are growing harder to come by.

BOSTON – State regulators yesterday said they have approved the expansion of University CU from employees of a dozen area colleges to include as many as 100,000 students at those schools.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Community Business Lenders, a CUSO owned by two credit unions and the Iowa CU League, late last week filed a suit against a local developer seeking $12 million on two loans connected with Michael’s Landing, a 340-acre residential development in West Des Moines.

SEATTLE – In a highly imaginative weekly online ad series featuring movie star and Washington native Carl Weathers (Rocky’s Apollo Creed), viewers are told “Change is Beautiful,” but the actor never utters the words “credit union.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A prison parolee and his estranged wife were convicted of charges they used stolen Social Security numbers to obtain fake memberships, allowing them to open checking accounts and obtain thousands of dollars in loans from The Golden 1 CU from 2002 to 2005.

EULESS, Texas – Three experienced burglars used drills to cut their way into Southwest Airlines CU last Monday night and got away with an undisclosed amount of cash.

BILLINGS, Mont. – A member of Billings FCU last week pleaded guilty to using a false credit report to get $24,000 in loans from a credit union.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Progressive Teachers FCU, a $2 million credit union chartered in 1937 by the area’s African-American teachers, has agreed to merge into the larger Chattanooga Area Schools CU.

LIMA, Ohio – Superior FCU has agreed to acquire North Star FCU, adding almost $6 million and 2,400 members to its $290 million asset base.

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. – First Citizens FCU said its long-time CEO, Charles Simpson, is retiring at the end of the month and will be succeeded by his close associate and chief operating officer of the past 12 years, Peter Muise.

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

McLEAN, Va. – Home mortgage rates dipped last week after rising to nine-month highs the week before, according to Freddie Mac.

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.

WASHINGTON – During her six-and-a-half years on the NCUA Board, the low point for JoAnn Johnson undoubtedly was her grilling before the House Ways and Means Committee in November 2005, while she was still getting her sea legs as chairman of the board.

NEW YORK - With membership growth “so flat that we almost have shrinking numbers of members,” the CUNA Membership Growth Task Force offered up its initial findings and recommendations to help spur on growth.

PHOENIX - Members with 90-mile roundtrips to work. Gas prices topping $4 a gallon. ARMs resetting. And plunging home values leaving behind little or no equity.

Consumer Dissatisfaction With Banks On The Rise