St. Louis Today offered a profile of Hubert Hoosman Jr., CEO of Vantage CU. The article noted Hoosman is the 12th of 13 children who grew up in East St. Louis, where his father was a schoolteacher and the late jazz trumpet player from Alton, Miles Davis, was a distant relative. The article acknowledged awards, in both credit unions and as a civic leader, that have been presented to Hoosman.

SAN DIEGO - A tough but loveable bulldog is helping USA Federal Credit Union take aim at “fat cat” bankers and grow membership, after its indirect lending program led to an attrition problem at the CU.

WASHINGTON - The regulator for secondary mortgage market giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agreed last week to reduce the capital the firms must hold, allowing them to buy more mortgages, in an effort to help boost the ailing housing market.

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats were negotiating with the Bush administration last week on a plan that would help rescue millions of threatened homeowners.

Events

WASHINGTON - Just as the Federal Reserve was moving to bail out the mortgage-backed securities market, a group of House members was calling on the Fed to pump liquidity into the student loan market to help avert a crisis.

WALL STREET - In some good news for credit unions, Visa raised $17.9 million with its initial public offering of 406 million Class A shares at $44 each in the biggest U.S. IPO ever.

Virginia CU, Richmond, Va., named Mike Brunson vice president of internal audit.

WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Another large credit union merger potentially is in the works, as the board of Walla Walla Valley FCU has approved a combination into Gesa CU, which would create a credit union with almost $700 million.

SALT LAKE CITY - Gov. Jon Huntsman has signed the credit union business loan reform bill into law, putting the finishing touches on a rare compromise between traditional rivals banks and credit unions.

MADISON, Wis. - Summit CU and Great Wisconsin CU announced they have obtained all approvals for their combination, creating the state’s largest CU. The conglomerate will serve more than 110,000 members throughout the state and have almost $1.2 billion in assets, exceeding the size of Landmark CU, which has $1.1 billion in assets at year end. (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - Pacific Service Credit Union has been offering not just an attractive CD rate, but throwing in a twist.

SAN FRANCISCO - A high-yielding certificate from Patelco Credit Union has resulted in a significant inflow of new members and new funds.

INDIANAPOLIS - FORUM Solutions, a CUSO of FORUM CU, has sold its TAPS lending software to Akcelerant. According to the CUSO, the move was made to keep pace with the growing lending needs of the 29 CUs using TAPS.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Rainy weather usually does not bring smiles, yet many members of Columbia Credit Union here have found themselves rooting for many a dark and stormy night.

DUBLIN, Ohio - A credit union alternative to traditional payday lending, StretchPay, saved members of 31 credit unions more than $3 million in 2007. Collectively, credit unions in Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, and District of Columbia made 64,400 StretchPay salary advance loans last year totaling nearly $25 million, according to the Ohio Credit Union League. Those members accumulated $476,000 in fees and $187,000 in interest at an APR of 18%. Members borrowing the same amount at traditional payday lenders–which typically charge $15 per $100 borrowed and up to 391% APR–would have paid more than $3.7 million in interest and fees, the OCUL said.

RALEIGH, N.C. - The tax man cometh, and while most fear him, he’ll be bringing refunds to some lucky tax payers–and they’re going to be looking to do something with that “windfall.”

TORRANCE, Calif. - Call them the CU crew. An all credit union crew has again been assembled to man a sailboat in the annual Newport, Calif. to Ensenada, Mexico Yacht Race. Captained by Jim Updike, CEO of Honda FCU, the team is participating in the 500-sailboat race to raise funds for the RMJ Foundation. Crew members include: Chris Gunnare, Brian Scott and Matt Flynn of The Members Group; Don Gensler and Kevin Kindschi of CUNA Mutual; Todd Lane and Tim Sidley of WesCorp; Jim Crowley of SWBC, and John Willard of WesCom.

PURCHASE, N.Y. - Reflecting how the payments market has evolved, for the first time in its 10-year history MasterCard’s “Priceless” TV campaign will also feature the debit payment option as well as the credit option. The three new TV spots, titled “Catch,” “Dinner Out,” and “Milk,” conclude with the MasterCard logo “flipping” to show the two payment options for the purchases that precede the “priceless” moment. A MasterCard spokesperson said advertising the debit option reflects consumer “preference and behavior.” (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Some Washington state-chartered CUs are considering the pros and cons of adding associate board members to their boards of directors, and have asked the Division of Credit Unions for guidance.