Birmingham, Ala. - EPL Inc. and the Guthrie Phillips Group Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia have extended their contract for five years and renegotiated their agreement to make the collection software affordable for medium- to small sized-credit unions running on any data processing system. TopNotch is a web-based overdue account collection system that will be available as a hosted service through EPL for all U.S. CUs under the new agreement.

FOSTER CITY, Calif. - Extractable, a Web strategy consultancy, announced that it partnered with DuPage Credit Union to create a new website that helps the credit union better compete with the growing number of financial institutions in its area. DuPage Credit Union launched the site in December 2007 and has already reported an increase of more than 1.4 million hits and 58% more membership applications submitted in February 2008 compared to the same time last year.

MURRIETA, Calif. - CUTEK, a financial technology consulting firm for credit unions using Symitar’s™ Episys® core processing system, has signed two credit unions to use its new dual signature solution: Farm Bureau FCU ($430 million; 43,272 members; Goshen, Ind.) and Delaware State Police FCU ($99 million; 8,881 members; Georgetown, Del.). CUTEK’s Dual Signature solution allows two people to input information on a single document electronically at two different times, saving time, paper, and money. It also saves imaging space on the server because of the single document philosophy, the firm said.

BOSTON - Sollen Technologies, an Internet-based application services provider of product, pricing and best execution capabilities for the mortgage industry, has entered into an alliance relationship with Harland Financial Solutions. Sollen’s pricing engine will integrate with Harland Financial Solutions’ Web-based Interlinq® E3® loan production platform, providing users with an added tool to ensure the quality of loan originations. The alliance allows loan originators using Interlinq E3 to find a product and price for a borrower within seconds.

Indianapolis, Ind. - FORUM CU, through its CUSO FORUM Solutions, and Trabian, said 11 CU thought leaders will lead education sessions at the 2008 Partnership Symposium, taking place Oct. 1–2 at the FORUM Conference Center here.

RICHMOND, Ind. - The few credit unions that told Credit Union Journal that they plan to install the Microsoft Vista operating system aren’t doing so for any outstanding security benefits, interface enhancements, or processing upgrades. Apparently, Vista is more of a necessary evil.

SAN DIEGO - Credit unions may think they know what they’re doing when they create employee schedules, but a workforce optimization (WFO) vendor told Mission FCU otherwise.

SAN DIEGO - Symitar will unveil a secure-communications option in an upcoming version of Episys that will, for the first time, protect confidential core data traveling back and forth between the Symitar host and its more than 600 CU clients, the data processing provider told Credit Union Journal.

SAGINAW, Mich. - Communications Family CU, a $450-million credit union, said it named Timothy Benecke, head of FinancialEdge Community CU, a $55 million credit union in nearby Bay City, as its new president and CEO.

Sausalito, Calif. - mFoundry, a mobile financial platform provider, announced it has been named to the annual "Fierce 15" list of the top wireless companies of the year put out by “FierceWireless,” a daily e-mail newsletter on the wireless industry.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Microsoft may have put the nail in the coffin of its own Vista operating system (OS) after releasing Service Pack 3 (SP3) for the XP OS during the past two months, according to a number of credit unions that are avoiding Vista until Microsoft truly sunsets XP.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - Northeast CU said it has introduced a savings product aimed at encouraging taxpayers to save, instead of spend, their government stimulus payments.

ATLANTA - Video sharing sites such as YouTube, Yahoo Video and Google Video have had such a surge in popularity that many financial institutions exploring the advertising opportunities of these sites, according to a new study.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Partner credit unions involved with Illinois’ REAL Solutions effort recently met at the Illinois Credit Union League (ICUL) to discuss their next steps in adding programs and/or products to serve low-wealth households, the league reported.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Credit Union Business Solutions, LLC has announced the Fall 2008 multi-state schedule for its recently launched Partnership for Success seminars. The one-day workshop focuses on enhancing communications specifically between credit union CEOs and board chairs by identifying individual roles and responsibilities within the organization. Partnership for Success was developed by Ron Schmidt, who is also is a contributing columnist for CU Journal.

BOISE, Idaho - The Idaho Credit Union League has named the winner of this year’s Outstanding Professional of Year Award and Outstanding Volunteer of the Year.

For the First Part of this Series, See the June 16 Journal

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. - Participants in the just-concluded Development Education (DE) class here spent a day helping to renovate an apartment building recently purchased by Solid Ground to provide temporary, transitional housing for the homeless.

WASHINGTON - Six individuals, two credit unions and 14 credit union marketing entries were chosen as winners in NAFCU’s 2008 Award programs.

NEW YORK - “Mr. Bill,” the clay figure who rose to prominence in 1976 on Saturday Night Live and who has appeared in a variety of programs off and on since that time, is back.