SAN ANTONIO — United SA FCU said yesterday it has introduced a no-minimum balance, free checking account for its members.

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio FCU has hired Houston's Freed Advertising LP to design and conduct a multi-media marketing campaign.

WORCESTER, Mass. – A man who drove the getaway car after last year’s robbery at Webster First FCU was sentenced Tuesday to up to six years in state prison. Charles Pardee, 39, pleaded guilty Aug. 29 to unarmed robbery for the June 5, 2006, hold-up. Pardee’s accomplice, John Grenier, 31, who committed the credit union heists, was sentenced June 26 to six to seven years in state prison.

SAN ANTONIO – United SA FCU said yesterday it has introduced a no-minimum balance, free checking account for its members. Premium Reward Checking will pay a 6.01% APY, and refund all fees paid for ATMs nationwide. To qualify, members must make at least 10 free MasterCard Debit transactions, use the credit union’s online banking at least once a month and receive monthly statements electronically.

PARMA, Ohio – PSE CU, formerly known as Parma School Employees CU, said yesterday it signed with First Lenders Data’s FirstClose unit to provide its members with bundled mortgage settlement services. FirstClose will provide flood zone determination, AVMs, insured AVMs, desktop appraisals, income verification, document preparation, closing services, title reports, lien reports, title insurance and recording services. FirstClose is based in Austin, Texas.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio FCU has hired Houston’s Freed Advertising LP to design and conduct a multi-media marketing campaign. Freed already has developed an initial campaign touting “Strength in Numbers” to promote the credit union’s new branch in Northwest Houston. Freed will provide print, outdoor and broadcast advertising, promotions, media, and web development services to the $2.2 billion credit union.

POTTSTOWN, Pa. – Diamond CU celebrated its 60th anniversary with 60 days of special events starting with Car Clings for Cash, where 60 members were "spotted" by Diamond’s Roving Patrol and given $60 gift cards. The two-month spree culminated with 60th Anniversary Celebrations at the Pottstown and Reading Offices, where 10 lucky members went into a Money Grab Machine and came out with handfuls of cash. Since its 1947 inception, Diamond CU has grown from a single employer-based credit union to a $285 million community credit union serving more than 32,000 members at three branches.

MADISON, Wis. – CUNA Mutual Group announced yesterday it has acquired a minority stake in Producer’s Ag Insurance Group, an Amarillo, Texas, crop insurer through which it has been selling agricultural coverage for the past year. The 25% stake will entitle the credit union insurer to a seat on the ag insurer’s board. CUNA Mutual entered into an agreement with Pro Ag last August to provide Multi-Peril Crop Insurance through credit unions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Central Corporate CU said yesterday it will waive all processing fees charged to members during November as a way of paying a special patronage dividend. The corporate estimates the payout from the fee waiver will amount to approximately $550,000. CenCorp has about $1.3 billion in assets and serves 400 credit unions, primarily in Michigan.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The FBI is looking for a man who allegedly threatened employees, members and customers at U.S. New Mexico FCU and Bank of America with bombs. In the B of A threat, the suspect kidnapped two bystanders, attached fanny packs purported to be explosives to them, and told them to rob the bank. Photos of the suspect taken from surveillance video at the credit union were being circulated by the FBI yesterday. On Aug. 17, the suspect left a black gym bag in a men’s room stall at the credit union, then called in a bomb threat the following morning. But the suspect did not demand money, according to Johnny Montoya, vice president of marketing for the credit union. "He’s just some kind of a whack job," Montoya told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. The credit union evacuated the building and the police bomb squad responded with an x-ray machine that detected wires inside the bag that could have been connected to explosives. The bag was removed by a police robot, but the object later was determined not to be a bomb. In the Bank of America incident, a suspect believed to be the same man kidnapped two employees in an adjacent doctor’s office last Friday and forced them to wear fanny packs he said were bombs, then go to the bank and demand money. The victims were able to remove the fanny packs, which turned out not to contain explosives.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Foreclosures in two real estate developments continued to soar last month, complicating the resolution of three failed credit unions, as well as dozens more that participated in loan pools related to the projects. Mortgage foreclosures surged 18% for August to 1,232 in Lee County, home to the Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres developments which have bankrupted the three credit unions–Norlarco CU, Huron River FCU and New Horizons Community FCU. NCUA, because it took over the three credit unions, is on the hook for as much as $500 million in loans the three made to investors in the two developments. NCUA also is monitoring more than $150 million in participations owned by as many as 30 credit unions. NCUA officials declined to say how the mounting losses may impact the National CU Share Insurance Fund. "We believe it’s too early to speculate, but we are watching the situation closely," said John McKechnie, spokesman for the agency. NCUA is said to be considering a package sale of the distressed loans, but the market for distressed real estate loans is the worst for sellers in many years because of the meltdown in the subprime mortgage market. Observers believe the unwinding participation deals hold potential for greater losses for Norlarco. William Sterner, president of Elevations CU in Boulder, Colo., said his credit union considered merging in 2005 with Norlarco, based in nearby Ft. Collins, Colo., but backed off after realizing the exposure Norlarco had in the Florida developments. At that time, more than 30 credit unions and two regional banks had bought participations in pools of Norlarco construction loans in Florida. "It was fairly extensive," Sterner told the Credit Union Journal yesterday. One of those credit unions, Superior Choice CU in Wisconsin, has filed suit in federal court to recover a $12.1 million participation it purchased from Norlarco. Both Huron River Area and New Horizons Community are believed to have sold participations in the Florida loan pools to other credit unions, also.

HAVERHILL, Mass. – A handful of Northeast Community CU’s 10,000 members could determine whether the 73-year-old credit union will merge with nearby Haverhill Bank when members vote at a special meeting next week. Instead of converting first to a mutual savings bank, then merging into the nearby MSB–as several other credit unions have done–the $110 million credit union plans to merge directly into the $130 million savings bank. As a result, the merger between the credit union and bank, allowed under state law, will be decided by the fewer than 100 members expected at next week’s meeting. State law requires that members approve mergers of state chartered credit unions. The deal is one of three pending under the state’s newly passed law allowing credit unions to convert to savings banks. The others are Community CU of Lynn ($135 million) and $115 million First Priority CU (formerly Postal Community CU). The combination of Northeast Community CU and Haverhill Bank will be the first merger of a credit union and bank.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A suspect was arrested in a phishing scam that hit Notre Dame FCU over the weekend and drained funds from as many as 60 members. The suspect was captured near an ATM in California where unauthorized withdrawal activity had been tracked on several members' debit cards. "They made an arrest at 1 a.m. California time, and the suspect had in his possession about 20 different debit cards," Leo Ditchcreek, president of the $400 million credit union, told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. "Eighteen were our members' cards with their PIN numbers." Ditchcreek said the scam appeared to have been launched late Friday with e-mails sent to a host of members and non-members alike with a link that directed them to a website that was nearly identical to credit union’s genuine site. The phony website was hosted by a firm in the Netherlands, and Notre Dame FCU was able to get it shut down early Monday. When the credit union posted a warning on its own site and through local media, a number of members contacted the credit union to report they had received and responded to one of the e-mails. The credit union quickly shut off access to those accounts and was able to track where unauthorized withdrawals were being made, helping law enforcement locate the suspect.

WACO, Texas — First Central CU was forced to close its new branch in the largely Hispanic neighborhood of Franklin Ave. after the outlet was robbed for the third time since March.

WASHINGTON – The network of 12 Federal Home Loan Banks pumped an additional $110 billion into member banks and credit unions last month to help ease the liquidity crisis in the mortgage market, the banks’ regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Board, reported yesterday. The FHLBs, created during the Great Depression to boost home lending, increased their low-cost advances to fund mortgages to help ease the growing credit crisis in the mortgage market. The FHLB San Francisco said it added $53 billion in additional loans to its members in July and August. The FHLB Atlanta said it increased mortgage advances by $29 billion in August. The FHLB Des Moines boosted advances last month by $2 billion. "As the secondary market for non-conforming loans became less liquid and other funding sources became more expensive, we have been able to support our members with the liquidity they needed," Dean Schulz, president of the San Francisco Bank, said in a statement. The 12 FHLBs provide low-cost funding for mortgages to 8,100 member institutions, including 1,000 credit unions.

WASHINGTON – Jeff Arvai, chief financial officer of Transportation FCU, was promoted to president and CEO after the recent retirement of long-time CEO Miriam “Mimi” Lieb. Lieb, well known among capital-area credit unions, retired in August after 23 years with the credit union. Arvai joined the credit union in 1998 as CFO and has more than 21 years of experience in financial services.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – PSCU Financial Services, which provides processing and other services for more than 1,000 credit unions, said yesterday it has hired Peter Grandelli, a banker at JP Morgan Chase, as its new chief operating officer. Grandelli spent the last 31 years at JP Morgan, including 12 at the senior executive level. Recently, he led a network of four domestic and two international call centers supporting Chase’s credit card customer service. At PSCU, Grandelli will be responsible for operations of the CUSO’s Florida, Arizona and Michigan call centers. He will be based at the Phoenix call center.

HOUSTON – PrimeWay FCU said yesterday it agreed to convert processing for its 7,000 credit processing accounts to TNB Card Services. The $250 million credit union also is completing an extensive revamp of its credit card portfolio through TNB’s portfolio consulting service as it upgrades to its new processing partner. TNB is a wholly owned unit of credit union-owned Town North Bank.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Coastal FCU said yesterday it has joined the surcharge-free Allpoint ATM network. The network, owned by Cardtronics, provides more than 500 ATMs in North Carolina and 32,000 nationwide. By adding the Allpoint ATMs to the existing CO-OP Network and CashPoint machines, Coastal members now have access to 58,000 surcharge-free ATMs. Coastal, a $1.7 billion former IBM employees' credit union, celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.

DALLAS – Southwest Corporate FCU said it had its disaster recovery systems checked for reliability by a new service offered by Double-Take Software. The Southborough, Mass., company has introduced a new recovery consulting service that will gauge and monitor for disaster recovery and VMware installation. Southwest Corporate said Double-Take’s Health Check monitored for compliance and helped confirm its disaster recovery systems are ready for an emergency.