WASHINGTON – Members of Congress and White House officials may have been taken aback this week when representatives of credit unions and banks came to jointly lobby them against a proposed bill regarding card interchange fees.

WASHINGTON – House leaders are planning to combine the credit union regulatory relief act, known as CURRA, with a regulatory relief measure for banks to ease passage of the credit union bill, according to several sources.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The FBI is investigating whether an in international ring siphoning funds from local credit union and bank accounts obtained the account information from ATMs owned by 1st Source Bank.

VIENNA, Va. – Telephone systems and online banking at Navy FCU were back on yesterday, a day after the world’s largest credit union lost a brief battle with Mother Nature.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho – The former collections manager for Pioneer FCU pleaded guilty Monday to stealing $420,000 from the credit union.

EUGENE, Ore. – SELCO Community CU converted its Gateway Financial Center to a movie theatre for tomorrow night’s viewing of 40 entries in the credit union’s Your Big Break contest, where members were asked to design their own commercials for their credit union.

DUBLIN, Ohio – Ohio Central Savings, one of the first credit unions to convert to a mutual savings bank, yesterday said it has agreed to be acquired by First Place Bank, a $1.7 billion S&L in nearby Warren, Ohio.

ALBANY, N.Y. – SEFCU, formerly known as State Employees FCU, is sponsoring a Habitat for Humanity home building project.

FORT WORTH, Texas – John Tippets, president and CEO of American Airlines FCU, will retire from the $4.5 billion credit union at the end of the month.

BOULDER, Colo. – Elevations CU yesterday said it will open a branch in Longmont next week, one of three new service centers planned.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – PSCU Financial Services yesterday said it has signed with Q2 Software to introduce the company’s integrated solution combining online banking with voice and mobile solutions to credit unions.

WASHINGTON – It turns out that the favorite bank in the Senate is a credit union.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A man who held up First Choice Community CU Monday afternoon and made off with a pile of cash didn’t get very far – because his getaway car ran out of gas down the street.

WASHINGTON – The House may consider the credit union regulatory relief bill known as CURRA as soon as next week, as Democratic leaders are expected to offer it alongside a regulatory relief bill for banks.

VIENNA, Va. – Tens of thousands of Navy FCU members around the globe were unable to access their accounts yesterday after a massive power outage at the credit union’s headquarters in northern Virginia shut down phone services.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. Authorities are investigating the unauthorized withdrawal of funds last weekend from accounts at at least two local credit unions from ATMs as far away as Russia, Ukraine, Spain and Nigeria.

OAKLAND, Calif. –Kaiperm FCU, another California credit union wracked by big losses, is negotiating a merger with Alliant CU, the Chicago credit union giant that was chartered to serve United Airlines employees.

BRUSSELS, Belgium – MasterCard last week said it is suspending interchange fees it charges for cross-border transactions in Europe to avoid potential fines by the European Union, which found its fee structure violated the EU’s antitrust regulations for 15 years.

MOORHEAD, Minn. – A man who last Aug. 20 used a knife to threaten an employee at Affinity Plus CU to steal $7,700 was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

WASHINGTON – Private equity giant the Carlyle Group yesterday said it has agreed to acquire De La Rue’s Cash Systems business, the manufacturer of the ubiquitous cash handling technology, for $701 million.