WYOMING, Penn. – A new television advertising campaign launched by UFCW FCU incorporates the statewide “iBelong” initiative introduced by the Pennsylvania CU Association with its own message: “UFCW FCU–Where You Belong.” The ads feature regular families that have benefited from the credit union’s services with home mortgages and car loans. The campaign was developed in conjunction with Target Media, Inc., and AmeriTech Media, Inc., in nearby Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania league launched an 18-month TV ad campaign in June, complemented by a website showing credit union eligibility, with the message iBelong, delineating credit union members from bank customers.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Members of Midwest United CU will receive a special dividend of $6 million, or an average of $191 each, when they merge their credit union into giant CommunityAmerica CU. The deal is one of several joining large credit unions into $1 billion credit unions, with branches of $165 million Midwest United adopting the CommunityAmerica name after completion. Other big mergers in the works include: Meriwest CU ($1.2 billion) with Golden Bay CU ($210 million); Western FCU ($1.5 billion) with Toyota FCU ($275 million); SAFE CU ($1.4 billion) with Capital Power CU ($60 million) and Xerox FCU ($725 million) with Tiger FCU ($60 million).

DENVER – Bellco CU yesterday announced it is eliminating fees at its ATMs, even for non-members. “It’s for everyone,” said Doug Ferraro, president of the $1.6 billion credit union, in a statement. “Anyone cam use any ATM card at one of our Bellco branches or facilities at any time and Bellco will not charge a fee.” The move comes as increasing numbers of banks and credit unions are raising their ATM fees and surcharges for non-customers. Bellco operates 60 ATMs in the Denver area.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A multi-million dollar liability won’t be put to rest with the death of a key figure in the Florida land-bust case, which already has claimed three credit unions. Attorneys for Frank D’Allesandro, a Florida developer who partnered with the three failed credit unions on a speculative real estate venture, Monday told a federal judge the estate will continue to defend against a bevy of lawsuits even though D’Allesandro died in a boating accident last month. D’Allesandro, national homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises and television real estate promoter Russell Whitney, along with Norlarco CU, Huron River Area FCU and New Horizons Community CU, are being sued by hundreds of investors who bought homes through Millionaire University, a get-rich-quick scheme that sold homes in the Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres developments near the Gulf of Mexico. D’Allesandro’s body was found last month floating in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New Jersey, where the Florida developer was visiting his mother, miles away from his overturned kayak. Police ruled the drowning an accident. The Florida developer was a partner in D'Alessandro and Woodyard Commercial Realtors, which helped originate a plan to sell pre-leased homes to thousands of investors that were financed in partnership with Norlarco CU, Huron River Area CU and New Horizons Community FCU, which all have been taken over by NCUA after the failed real estate speculation project fell apart. D'Alessandro's firm offered closing, financing, property management and procurement of tenants for the pre-leased properties. Lawyers for both sides of the suits met in U.S. District Court Monday to begin plotting a possible consolidation of the various cases, in preparation for a trial. The court ruled the plaintiffs in the case have 30 days to either amend their suits in light of the D’Allesandro death, or resolve the case through negotiations.

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio City Employees FCU yesterday said it has signed with Goodwill Industries to open a branch in Goodwill's renovated store here and to provide Goodwill clients with financial education and services.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – Pacific Services CU yesterday announced Steve Punch, its former chief of operations, will return to the $1 billion credit union to become its CEO. Punch will succeed Tom Smigielski, who is retiring after 17 years. Punch worked for Pacific Service from 1991 to 1995, when he left to run First City CU in Los Angeles. Prior to 1991 he worked as an executive at Alaska USA FCU for 13 years.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse Cooperative FCU, the community development credit union formed to facilitate the divestiture of investors from apartheid South Africa, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a new name and expanded field of membership. The $13 million credit union, now known as Cooperative Federal, obtained approval from NCUA to expand its FOM from two neighborhoods to the entire city of Syracuse, in upstate New York. A new logo, an encircled tree, and the updated name reflect the credit union’s commitment to remain rooted in the cooperative movement, while growing into a citywide financial institution.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A former loan officer at Veridian CU was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a loan scheme that drained more than $95,000 from the credit union. Autumn Rubino, 32, was a senior loan officer at the credit union’s Hy-Vee grocery store branch when she stole personal member information from relatives and acquaintances to draw cash advances from their credit cards into her own account. She also applied for credit cards in other peoples’ names.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio City Employees FCU yesterday said it has signed with Goodwill Industries to open a branch in Goodwill’s renovated store here and to provide Goodwill clients with financial education and services. The services will include short-term loans and payroll check-cashing. The renovated store is located in an 18,000-foot former airplane hangar and will be the largest Goodwill facility in the nation.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Days after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation designed to hold retailers responsible for protecting consumer information, representatives from the California CU League said the veto missed the point. Bob Arnould, the CCUL’s EVP of government affairs, told the Credit Union Journal “Business costs were cited, but it is hard to tell the real motivations for the veto. It would not have raised costs unfairly,” he asserted. “What is not fair is 40% of retailers have gone out and updated their security, while 60% of retailers are data security scofflaws. Yes, it costs money to update data security, but if businesses don’t, they put personal information in the hands of identity thieves.” The bill began in the California Assembly and eventually passed both the state’s Assembly and Senate by large margins. The legislation was opposed by the California Bankers Association and other groups. The CCUL said the bill would have addressed three deficiencies the credit union movement sees in California’s existing data breach notification law. “The legislature comes back in session in 60 days and we’ll be ready for them. We’ll be back!” quipped Arnould.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Citing costs to small businesses, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week vetoed the data security bill that was passed by the state legislature with heavy support from the credit union lobby. The governor, citing the Payment Card Industry’s Data Security Standard, said the credit union-backed bill "attempts to legislate in an area where the marketplace has already assigned responsibilities and liabilities that provide for the protection of consumers." The bill would have prohibited merchants from storing payment related data without a data retention and disposal policy, even if the data was encrypted. It would have prohibited sending unencrypted credit card data over public networks. And it would have made businesses financially liable for losing customer credit card data, entitling customers a reasonable reimbursement for the costs associated with a breach. In his veto message, Schwarzenegger suggested he was open to a different version of the bill. "I encourage the author and the industry to work together on a more balanced legislative approach," he said. The bill was similar to one passed earlier this year in Minnesota, which was based on a draft provided by CUNA Mutual Group, the credit union insurer that has seen rising losses due to credit card and identity fraud.

CALABASAS, Calif. – Angelo Mozilo, the co-founder and CEO of foundering Countrywide Financial Corp., reported he earned $1.2 million Friday by exercising 139,916 options, then selling the shares at the market price. The Countrywide exec last week earned more than $6 million by exercising 700,000 options at just $9.94 each, then selling the shares for between $20.14 and $18.36. Mozilo has earned $100 million from his options so far this year, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Earnings by Mozilo–more than $350 million over the past three years– recently have attracted criticism from investors as the company’s share price has lost more than 50% of its value amidst the ongoing mortgage crisis.

HOUSTON – Cardtronics, one of the main EFT gateways for credit unions, said it plans to raise as much as $115 million through an initial public offering. The operator of 30,000 ATMs said it will use most of the proceeds from the offering $106 million worth, to repay debt from its revolving credit facility. The company expects to offer as many as 8.3 million shares for between $14 and $16 each. As part of the IPO, the company’s two major shareholders also plan to sell an undetermined number of shares. That includes venture funds CapStreet LLP of Houston, which owns about 34% of the company, and TA Associates of Boston, which owns almost 30%. Cardtronics provides electronic funds transfer services to a majority of credit unions, either through CO-OP Financial Services, Financial Services Centers Cooperative, or Credit Union 24, which all connect to members through Cardtronics machines, or through Allpoint National, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardtronics. This is the company’s second try at an IPO. An earlier effort was pulled before reaching the market.

SALT LAKE CITY – Member Business Lending LLC, a CUSO owned by 25 credit unions, yesterday said it is teaming up with WesCorp FCU to buy member business loans from credit unions for eventual sale on the secondary market. The venture initially will buy commercial real estate loans made under the Small Business Administration’s 504 program. Once the loan pool becomes large enough it will be securitized, according to Bethanie Werner, vice president of CU development for MBL. "This is a way for credit unions to get the loans off their books," Werner told The Credit Union Journal, referring the growing number of credit unions brushing up against the 12.25% of assets cap on business loans.

WILMINGTON, Del. – A powerful investors group yesterday countersued Sallie Mae in an attempt to walk away from a $900 million penalty for terminating a takeover of the student loan giant. The countersuit came just a few days after Sallie Mae filed suit to enforce the break-up fee, a common penalty in corporate takeovers. But the group, led by private equity fund J.C. Flowers & Co. and bank giants JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, claims the newly passed student loan reforms that cut federal subsidies to lenders by billions of dollars qualify as a “material adverse effect” that entitles them to terminate the $25 billion deal. The investors have offered to amend the deal at $50 a share, down from the $60 they agreed to in April, but so far the Sallie Mae board has rejected the counter offer. The nation’s biggest student lender has asked the Delaware Chancery Court to enforce the $900 million penalty and to free it from both BofA and JP Morgan, its two largest competitors and lenders, to pursue other takeover proposals. Last week, Sallie Mae said a major write-down in the value of its derivatives, much of it equity-related hedges based on its falling stock price, caused it to book a $344 million loss for the fiscal third quarter.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. - In a rustic setting on a wooded island across Puget Sound from Seattle, the first Credit Union Development Education (DE) class ever held outside of Wisconsin graduated 41 credit union leaders from the United States and the United Kingdom. Sponsored by the National Credit Union Foundation, BECU and the Washington Credit Union League, the DE training, held at Island Wood, added the 41 CU execs to the more than 700 others who have now earned the designation of Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE).

BOISE, Idaho - Three representatives from Idaho's credit unions will travel for two weeks to the Solomon Islands in October as part of a partnership agreement between the Idaho CU League and the Solomon Islands CU League.

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CNNMoney.com recommended credit unions as one place to look for better deals on credit cards. "Direct mail offers from credit card companies are on the rise, while credit card issuers are making subtle changes to terms to minimize their risk. And that's making it even more challenging to find the right card," report noted, adding, "... if you can join a credit union, you'll likely get charged lower interest rates. Some credit unions even allow members' relatives to join." The report also urged readers to go to creditunion.coop to check on a CU in their area.

WASHINGTON - Credit unions will open Spanish-language branches, create Individual Development Accounts for foster children, provide financial education to prison inmates, and more under the new round of Innovation Grants to be announced this week by the National CU Foundation.