Is your credit union good at telling the 'credit union' story? Have you found a unique and effective way to communicate to members and prospective members just what it is you are and why you're different? Then take a moment and enter the Frankie Awards. Just send an e-mail to fdiekmann@cujournal.com and share what you've done and how it's worked, along with any related materials. For a look at what previous Frankie winners have done, go to www.cujournal.com and search 'Frankie' in the search box.

DES MOINES, Iowa - Three Iowa credit unions said they will participate in a pilot program of a remittance community outreach program as part of a project also being sponsored by the Iowa Credit Union League and the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU). Village CU in Des Moines, Family CU in Davenport and Greater Iowa CU in Ames plan to launch the World Council's International Remittance Network (IRnet) in conjunction with Coopera, a league's subsidiary. The goal is to be up and running by March of 2008. According to the Iowa league, since 2004, the amount of remittances sent from Iowa has nearly doubled to $138-million from $69 million to $138 million. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing funding.

Welcome to the Credit Union Journal's 11th Annual "Day in the Life" special feature. CO-OP Financial Services is proud to sponsor this celebration of International Credit Union Week.

HARRISBURG, Penn. - A regulation requiring mortgage companies to use a Department of Banking-mandated disclosure form to protect borrowers is being proposed to the Commonwealth's Independent Regulatory Review Commission.

New Initiative To Help

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.

The Minnesota Credit Union Foundation, St. Paul, elected to its board: Kristi Mukomela, chair; Lynn Kothe, vice chair; Judy Root, secretary/treasurer; Jeff Claussen and Mary Hansen.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - NCUA issued two separate legal rulings on state laws, preempting one and not the other for federally chartered credit unions.

Throughout 2007, the Credit Union Journal is profiling the credit unions of each U.S. state and D.C. Rather than appear in alphabetical order, the states are being featured in the order they became states.

MADISON, Wis. - Seven innovative, new product and service ideas are now available to any credit union that wishes to implement them.

Interested in being one of the credit unions that participates in and is featured in the Credit Union Journal's Day in the Life Project in 2008?

In the July 15 issue, CU Journal explored the advantages larger CUs have over their smaller brethren. In this series, the Journal focuses on thriving small CUs.

ALBANY, N.Y. - Generation X, the 48-million Americans born between 1965 and 1977, are about to enter their years of highest earning potential, but are also carrying significant amounts of debt and very little faith in the financial services industry, according to a new white paper.

NEW YORK - Community development credit unions made their presence felt here as part of the Eastern Regional Conference on Reaching Unbanked People, organized by the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Literacy and Education Commission.

NEW YORK CITY - NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson said the financial services world needs to acknowledge there is a problem in reaching the unbanked, that financial education is essential to change people's lives, and giving credit unions the opportunity to reach out to underserved areas is key to implementing change.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - CO-OP Financial Services purchased a half-page ad in national editions of USA Today headlined, "Why Pay Banks $3? Get Your Cash For Free" (see ad, left). The $3 reference is to a recent increase by Bank of America in its ATM surcharge for non-customers. A subhead in the ad urges, Join Any of Nearly 2,000 CO-OP Network Member Credit Unions." Text in the ads tells readers that "with 25,000 surcharge-free ATMs found everywhere from coffee shops to airports, CO-OP Network has more ATMs than the two largest banks-combined."

WASHINGTON - The House has voted overwhelmingly, 386-27, in favor of a providing tax relief to borrowers having trouble paying their mortgage. The bill would free borrowers from income tax on up to $2 million of debt forgiven on a primary mortgage. It also would extend the allowance of mortgage insurance deductions through 2014. President Bush has already indicated he supports similar legislation, but added he wants the change to be temporary. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act passed the House Ways and Means Committee unanimously.

WASHINGTON - The credit union lobby is walking a tightrope as it works to defeat a bill that would regulate overdraft protection programs.

EUGENE, Ore. - Although Monday, Oct. 8 was an off-day for many people as the country marked Columbus Day, it wasn't for the 250 employees of SELCO Credit Union here, who volunteered their time at more than 15 local agencies. In 2005 SELCO tried its first "All-Team Community Service Day," before reverting to a training day in 2006. Director of Community Involvement Jan Burch said employees made it very clear they wanted to do the Community Service Day again this year.

WASHINGTON - The closure by regulators of the $2.5-billion online bank NetBank may be the first of other seizures to come, according to analysts. After closing just one institution between June 2004 and September of 2007, problems in the mortgage market and a dearth of buyers for troubled assets are likely to mean NetBank won't be alone. "We absolutely believe that the cycle has begun. We haven't had a failure for quite some time ... but we believe we could see several more failures between now and into the first quarter," Damyon Mouzon, the president of Lace Financial Corp., a Frederick, Md., rating firm that tracks troubled institutions, told the American Banker. "With the liquidity drying up, ... that was the final straw, really, and institutions are now going to have to come clean and say what they really believe they and their loans are worth in the marketplace." Alpharetta, Ga.-based NetBank had a significant number of bad loans; the FDIC is estimating it will cost the fund $110 million.