NAIROBI, Kenya - Credit unions here are holding their collective breath as they wait to see if the disputed presidential election that sparked deadly riots can be resolved in a peaceful manner.

Countrywide’s Shares Continue To Fall

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - It was 10 years ago President Clinton culminated an extraordinary effort by CUs when he signed HR 1151 into law. The Credit Union Journal wants to hear about your stories and memories of this historic event: when you realized just how large the task was, speaking with members, meeting with representatives, getting petitions signed, and so much more. You’ve got 200 words to do it. Take a moment, visit www.cujournal.com, and click on the special tab in the upper right-hand corner and share your thoughts. Responses will be featured in a very special issue of the Credit Union Journal to be published in conjunction with CUNA’s GAC in early March. We look forward to hearing from you. (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

ST. PAUL, Minn. - After two years of planning, St. Paul’s historic Old Swedish Bank Building will once again become a financial institution.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Guy M. Hood, who has spent more than 20 years as the president of the Florida league, said he will retire in January 2009. Hood joined the league in 1988, and during his career was recognized for numerous accomplishments, including being named winner of National Credit Union Foundation’s “Anchor Award” for responsive actions in the area of disaster response.

AUSTIN, Texas - With the specter of a soft lending market looming over loan originators in 2008, some credit unions are turning to lending software solutions to boost loan volume without adding additional staff. Teres Solutions Inc. has been marketing its direct and indirect lending software to financial institutions since 2002, including its SAIL (Software Application for Integrated Lending) software, the solution that has been steadily attracting the attention of credit unions across the country.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - To turn front-line employees into the fuel behind their credit unions’ marketing engines, six credit unions turned to a new program dedicated to developing 10 such employees.

AUSTIN, Texas - Police evacuated a branch of LCRA CU after a teller called in a phony bomb threat to cover up his alleged theft. The teller, identified as Nathaniel Hamilton, initially told police he had been passed a note from an unknown suspect while in the restroom. The note stated the presence of a bomb and that the suspect wanted a specific amount of money to be delivered to the bathroom. Hamilton said he followed the note’s instructions and delivered the money as instructed, then went back to the teller station and pushed the silent alarm. He later confessed to staging the bomb threat to cover up the fact he had been stealing money from the credit union. Hamilton was arrested and charged with robbery by threat, a second-degree felony. (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - NCUA said its rules and regulations preempt the provisions of a California law requiring a notice of intent to dispose of a repossessed vehicle that is being challenged in state court.

2 White Papers Are Released

Frontline Should Be The Fuel In Your Marketing Engine

HARRISBURG, Penn. — In a scenario reminiscent of the court challenges that led to passage of HR 1151 10 years ago, lawyers for the banks argued in federal court that NCUA overstepped its legal boundaries when it approved a sprawling six-county area covering more than 1.1 million people as a "well-defined, local community" for a nearby credit union.

WASHINGTON - Millions of Americans were celebrating the credit union difference last week, counting their year-end dividends and interest rebates deposited into their accounts as a result of their membership in the cooperative financial institutions.

ALBERTA, Canada - While the U.S. is in political thrall to the ongoing presidential primaries, the result of a much different election is garnering attention in Canada, where 19-year-old Larissa Walkiw has been voted into a brand new office.

MADISON, Wis. - Loan delinquencies continued to rise for credit unions, with the average delinquency ratio moving up to 0.89% for November, the highest in almost a decade, according to CUNA.

WASHINGTON - A senior member of the House Financial Services Committee is proposing an array of credit card reforms that would ban certain practices and add new disclosures on billing, balances and payments.

NEW YORK - It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Actors Federal Credit Union here has quite a varied membership.

At press time, the number of co-sponsors on the CURIA bill. 217 are needed to have a majority. (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. - Michael Hanson, a former state banking commissioner currently working to convert three credit unions to mutual savings banks, was named as new head of the Massachusetts CU Share Insurance Corp., the nation’s first provider of credit union deposit insurance.

POWAY, Calif. - Most CUs are looking to grow lending, but the complex task of loan servicing can quickly overwhelm a smaller credit union’s spreadsheet-based, in-house system, according to the head of a company that provides technology to financial institutions.