I tried be polite about it, to tell him no thanks, but he had formerly worked as a time-share salesman and was keenly skilled at not taking "no" for an answer. He invited me in again, and once more I declined. His response was subtle and smooth; I was balking, he kept talking, and soon we were both walking toward the room he had been coaxing me all along to enter-was that his arm around my shoulder gently pushing me or was it some sort of apparition?

During the Halloween season we all see the warnings about what is a Trick and what is a Treat. These educational messages are meant to alert us to those things that might seem enjoyable but, in reality, are really scary. When I see these warnings I am reminded how in the world of information security it seems like new tricks come out everyday.

RAPID CITY, S.D. - One of two people charged with scamming Black Hills FCU and two area banks out of $34,500 through a prepaid debit card scheme Friday was sentenced to seven months in prison.

CHANTILLY, Va. – Online Resources Corp. yesterday reported a third quarter profit of $1.1 million, or four cents a share, compared to a loss of $3.4 million, or 13 cents a share, for the third quarter last year. The company, which acquired Princeton eCom electronic bill payment services last year, reported a 21% rise in third quarter revenues, to $34.2 million. For the first nine months of the year, the company reported a $9.5 million loss, or 34 cents a share, even as revenues for the first three quarters rose 56%, to $97 million.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Check printer Deluxe Corp. yesterday reported net income for its third quarter rose slightly to $32.2 million, or 62 cents a share, even as revenues slid 2%. Third quarter earnings last year were $31.2 million, or 61 cents a share. Most of this year’s gain was due to a lower effective tax rate than last year. The company, displaced earlier this year as the nation’s largest check printer, said revenue in its core check printing business stabilized, but its recently acquired small business forms operation reported an $8.3 million decline in sales for the quarter. Revenues for both its financial institutions checks business and personal checks business also declined slightly, by $700,000 and $500,000, respectively. Deluxe had been the largest U.S. check printer for many years, but was displaced earlier this year when M&F Worldwide, an investment vehicle for corporate raider Ronald Perelman, acquired John H. Harland Co. and combined its check printing business with Clarke American, which M&F had acquired in 2005.

COLUMBUS, Ga. – Bank holding company Synovus yesterday said it plans to spin off its TYSY unit, one of the nation’s largest processors of credit card transactions. Synovus plans to spin off 80.8% of TSYS to its own to shareholders in a tax-free transaction. TSYS, formed by Synovus in 1983, has grown to become the largest third-party card processor in the United States and one of the largest outsourced transaction processing vendors in the world. TSYS’ shares have traded publicly on the NYSE since 1989. Synovus is a $34 billion bank holding company with offices in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

ATLANTA – Electronic payments provider CheckFree Corp., in the process of being acquired by Fiserv, yesterday said net income for its fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30 fell 4% to $29.8 million, or 34 cents a share. First quarter revenues, fueled by CheckFree’s acquisition earlier this year of Carreker Corp. and Corillian Corp., rose 30% to $296.5 million. CheckFree stockholders earlier this week voted in favor of Fiserv’s $48-a-share, or $4.2 billion takeover of the company.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services, the back-office service provider created from last year’s spin-off from Fidelity National Title, yesterday said it plans to spin off its lender processing services operations to shareholders in a tax-free transaction. The company’s lender processing services provides origination, settlement, processing, default, valuation, risk management, tax, flood and collateral protection solutions to hundreds of credit unions and banks. Fidelity National Information was created by the acquisition of credit union cards processor Certegy Inc. and a half-dozen other back-office service providers by Fidelity National Title, then the separation of the two operations in a spin-off last year. The latest spin-off would separate lender processing from the company’s transaction processing operations, which includes the Certegy business. The latest spin-off is expected to take place in mid-2008.

BALDWIN, Mich. – Authorities raided a local home Wednesday and found almost $1.2 million in bogus checks from five banks and credit unions, apparently used in a variation of the “Nigerian letter” scheme. The checks, drawn on such national banks as AmSouth, M&T, National City–as well as Atlanta-based Associated CU–were being sent in various amounts to unsuspecting victims, who were asked to keep a portion and send the remainder of the funds on to one of the scheme’s participants, according to Det. Jeffrey Chamberlain of the Lake County Sheriff’s office, which participated in the raid with the U.S. Postal Service and Secret Service. The checks, including the credit union’s, all appeared to be authentic. "They even had the proper authorizing signature," Chamberlain told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. The scheme appears to be a variation of the Nigeria letter, in which a fraudster–sometimes from the African continent–sends a phony check to a victim and convinces the victim to forward part of it as payment, in exchange for promises of a greater payment later on. A woman who was occupying the house is expected to be charged in the scheme, he said.

HONOLULU – Tripler FCU has joined with the Armed Forces Financial Network and Bank of Hawaii to provide $2,000 in prepaid Thank You cards to military families staying at the Tripler Army Medical Center Fisher Houses. The cards will be distributed to help with daily living expenses while staying at a Fisher House during the 2007 holiday season. The AFFN Thank You cards will be in $50.00 denominations. AFFN plans to distribute 776 cards to soldiers in 38 Fisher Houses worldwide, valued at $38,000.

HARRISBURG, Penn. – State lawmakers Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a request to sell state-owned land outside the city to Pennsylvania State Employees CU for a new headquarters development. The $2.7 million sale of the 47-acre parcel is part of another bill that still must be approved by both the House and Senate. The new site, in nearby Susquehanna Township, is on farmland owned by the state agriculture department. Officials with the $2.5 billion credit union say they are rapidly running out of space at their 10-acre site by the armory in Harrisburg.

McLEAN, Va. – Long-term mortgage rates fell this week as turmoil continued in the mortgage markets, according to Freddie Mac. The average for the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage declined to 6.33% this week, from 6.40% last week; while the average for the 15-year, fixed-rate loan slipped to 5.99%, from 6.08%. ARM rates also slipped, with the average for the five-year ARM dropping to 6.03%, from 6.10% last week; and the average for the one-year ARM dipping to 5.66%, from 5.76%. "Market concerns about slower economic growth over the next few months allowed mortgage rates to drift lower from last week," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for the secondary mortgage market giant.

TEMPE, Ariz. – The regional director for NCUA’s Region V, based here, said NCUA has contacted all credit unions in the areas affected by California’s wildfires this week and confirmed no branches were lost to the flames. Melinda Love told the Credit Union Journal there were a number of branch closures initially, “but that number is down to 10 at this time–mostly due to being in areas that still are evacuated, or the staff has been evacuated and cannot get to work. We expect those branches to open if not [today], then at the latest on Monday.” Love said the long-term impact of this week’s fires will be on the members, including their home and auto loans. As of Thursday afternoon, the California CU League still had not received any reports of credit union members or employees losing their houses, but with thousands of structures burned in the state, at least some losses seem inevitable. In that case, Love said, “Hopefully, there will be sufficient insurance on the homes to extinguish the debt. There may be some cases where homeowners will take losses, but we won’t know for several weeks, until the disaster is completely over. The long-term regional impact, of course, also is unknown.” Love said NCUA’s role during an emergency of this sort is to be ready to give assistance where needed. “We’re the insurer. We won’t offer examiners to assist on a teller line, but we will keep involved in what’s happening. If a branch had burned down, we would have worked with other credit unions in the area to partner with them, worked with the league, or served in other facilitator roles.” In other fire-related news, CUNA Mutual Group urged all of its insured credit unions whose members have sustained losses to contact the company immediately. CMG said any CU with property or casualty claims should call its Credit Union Protection Response Center at 1-800-637-2676, and pledged all calls would be answered 24/7/365.

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Matadors Community Credit Union has begun offering a low-rate, no-fee Fire Relief Loan to victims of recent fires across Southern California. The Fire Relief Loan has a 12-month term, a 9.90% APR and a maximum loan amount of $3,000. The credit union said that a 60-day deferment on payment also is being made available on the loan, which will be available through Nov. 30. CEO Dale Verderano said the loans can be used to pay for emergency expenses, including lodging, clothing and food.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Frustrated over the lack of judicial enforcement of credit union bylaws, the NCUA Board yesterday voted for a new regulation that will give the federal regulator enforcement power over federal credit union bylaws. The new rule was prompted by several instances in which the courts refused to enforce credit union bylaws, enabling members to petition for a special meeting to recall directors who had sought to convert their credit union to mutual savings banks. In at least two recent cases, DFCU Financial in Dearborn, Mich., and Lafayette FCU in Kensington, Md., state courts refused to enforce bylaws allowing members to petition for a special meeting to replace the boards. The new rule will allow NCUA to use administrative remedies, such as cease and desist orders, or in more severe case, removal of the board, to enforce violations of bylaws. NCUA previously was authorized to enforce bylaws but gave up the power in the 1980's during an overall de-regulatory move. As part of the new rule, NCUA also clarified the issue of board succession, allowing the supervisory committee to temporarily act as a board of directors if an entire board is recalled by a vote of the membership, as was proposed in the DFCU case. In that case, the DFCU board refused to call a special meeting to vote on the board recall, claiming there was no legal succession provided for under NCUA rules and regulations.

SALT LAKE CITY – A man from nearby Bountiful was picked up on the high seas last week by Cuban authorities and charged with running off with $110,000 from his fiancée’s account at America First FCU. Authorities said John Egan used the funds to buy a 35-foot sloop and was trying to sail it from Mexico to Ireland when he was detained by Cuban authorities for having a false passport. Egan had convinced his fiancée the two would sell their Utah homes and move to Florida, according to a federal grand jury indictment in the case. On the day Egan was supposed to meet his lover in Tampa, he went online used her account number and PIN to withdraw $109,900 from her account. Later that day he went to the credit union twice and withdrew more than $100,000 from their joint account, then disappeared, the indictment charges. The victim is not identified by name in the indictment, only by the initials "L.C." America First has reimbursed the member for the $109,900 that was fraudulently taken from her account by Egan.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The NCUA Board yesterday voted in a closed meeting against approving the combination of WesCorp FCU and Volunteer Corporate CU, sending representatives of both corporates back to hammer out a new deal in the on-again, off-again merger. The NCUA Board told representatives of the two corporates they could not approve a deal to transfer $26 million in VolCorp capital to new capital accounts at WesCorp for the Tennessee corporate’s members, saying it would create a precedent for future corporate mergers. In addition, NCUA prohibits any promise of a merger dividend during the merger process. The special $26 million payout was developed in negotiations with Tennessee regulators because state law does not provide for the merger or charter change for the corporate unless there is a compelling member benefit. "We’re very disappointed," said Blake Strickland, chairman of the VolCorp board and president of Tennessee Valley FCU, after the NCUA action. "We’re looking at what our options are and we want to do what our members want us to do." An NCUA spokesman confirmed the Board would not approve the deal because it called for the payout of all of VolCorp’s retained earnings. Bob Siravo, WesCorp’s president and CEO, said “While we are disappointed with NCUA’s decision today not to support the latest proposal to merge VolCorp and WesCorp, we have to once again, regroup and refashion our strategy.” WesCorp, the nation’s largest corporate with $26 billion in assets, is in the process of acquiring SunCorp FCU, the corporate for Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. VolCorp has $1 billion in assets and serves 240 credit unions, most of them in Tennessee.

RICHMOND, Va. - Another investor seeking to unlock new value on Brink's Co. has launched a proxy contest to gain a foothold on the board of the venerable security service. MMI Investments LP, which holds an 8.4% stake in the company, has nominated four associates to the Brink's board.

RESTON, Va. - The group of suitors walking away from the $25 billion takeover of Sallie Mae have agreed to waive a provision in the contested acquisition offer and allow the student loan giant to solicit other offers.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - MailMethods, a provider of e-mail solutions for financial institutions, yesterday said Envision CU and Great Wisconsin CU have contracted for its MM100 e-mail marketing solution.