EL PASO, Texas – Government Employees CU is wrestling with the FBI and the head of a local business over a $77,000 forfeiture tied to an FBI corruption case. The credit union turned over the funds to the FBI in May as part of a seizure of assets from Access HealthSource President Frank Apodaca, according to federal court records. But Apodaca was able to withdraw the funds from the same GECU account that the FBI had frozen the day before. Now the credit union is seeking repayment of the funds from either its member or the FBI. The credit union is asking the federal court to decide who is entitled to the funds.

McLEAN, Va. – Long-term mortgage rates declined again slightly this week, for the second week in a row, according to Freddie Mac. The average for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan slipped to 6.68%, from 6.69% last week; while the average for the 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage dipped to 6.32%, from 6.37%. ARM rates also moved lower, with the average for the one-year ARM dropping to 5.59%, from 5.69% last week; and the average for the five year ARM slipping to 6.29%, from 6.3%. “Market investors seeking safety from the subprime fallout bought Treasury securities, pushing bond yields down and allowing mortgage rates to drift a bit lower," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for the secondary mortgage market giant. Sales of new and existing homes fell in June, and prices continue to weaken, especially in the markets that had recorded the strongest gains over the past few years.

LAKELAND, Fla. – MidFlorida FCU said yesterday it paid members of Imperial Polk CU a special 6%, $650,000, dividend after acquiring the smaller credit union through a June 30 merger. The special dividend was offered by MidFlorida President and CEO Kevin Jones during the merger negotiations for the purpose of returning excess accumulated capital to the Imperial Polk CU members. Smaller credit unions often accumulate more member equity than they need, said Jones. It has been MidFlorida's policy to return to the credit union's owners the percent excess capital over MidFlorida’s net worth ratio at the time the merger is complete. The merger gives MidFlorida almost $1.2 billion in assets and 128,000 members.

ATLANTA – CheckFree founder and CEO Peter Kight, who has become the leading pitchman for electronic transactions, will be the biggest individual financial winner of pending sale of the company to Fiserv. The CheckFree Chief stands to earn more than $230 million from the sale of the more than 4.8 million shares he owns to Fiserv at $48 each, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The companies announced the deal yesterday, for a total of $4.2 billion. But Kight won’t be the biggest winner, overall. That will be Microsoft Corp., which stands to earn more than $410 million from the sale to Fiserv of its 8.1 million CheckFree shares. Microsoft obtained the shares as part of the 2000 sale of Transpoint electronics bill payments provider, to CheckFree. Transpoint was owned jointly by Microsoft and First Data Corp.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services, which has been on an acquisition binge recently, said yesterday it has agreed to sell its Property Insight LLC title plant management unit to Fidelity National Financial, for $95 million in cash. The two Fidelity companies were part of the same company until last year when they were separated. Property Insight manages, maintains and updates the title insurance plants owned by Fidelity National Financial and other title underwriters nationwide. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Fidelity National Information acquired Applied Financial Technology, a provider of risk analytic modeling for the mortgage industry, last month and is in the process of acquiring eFunds Corp., the processor of transactions for the credit union-owned CO-OP Financial Services. Fidelity National Financial, itself, is in the process of acquiring human resources giant and cards processor Ceridian Corp.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Credit union outsourcer Fiserv announced this morning it has agreed to acquire electronic payments giant CheckFree Corp. in an all-cash deal for $48 a share, or $4.4 billion. The deal will combine Fiserv’s industry leading check clearing business with CheckFree’s electronic bill payment and presentment capabilities. The deal is the latest in the rapid consolidation of the financial services market which has seen such credit union vendors as Open Solutions, Digital Insight, John H. Harland Co., First Data Corp., Bisys Group, and Corillian Corp. all taken over in the past year. Corillian was recently acquired by CheckFree. After the Fiserv acquisition is completed, CheckFree founder and CEO Peter Kight, will continue to manage the operation as a fully owned Fiserv subsidiary.

AUBURN, Mass. and WARRENVILLE, Ill.–The Central Credit Union Fund and Members United Corporate FCU announced Wednesday the Massachusetts Division of Banks has approved the application of the two corporates to merge. The final regulatory approval needed for the merger is from NCUA, the two corporates said. If approved, Central Fund will merge into Members United later this year. Member contact staff in Massachusetts, as well as a Central Fund office in Massachusetts, will be retained. Back office functions will be consolidated into Members United’s existing infrastructure. Central Fund’s members will be well represented in the new organization at both the officer and volunteer levels. “Our member credit unions are very excited about this merger with Members United, a premier corporate, as evidenced by their overwhelming support to merge at a special in-person meeting on June 12,” James Van Arsdale, president and CEO Central Fund, said in a release. “Of note, 82% of those members voting supported the merger. This strong showing exceeded our expectations, and speaks volumes about their support.” Added Joseph Herbst, CEO or Members United: “We are very pleased that the Massachusetts Division of Banks has given their approval of this merger. Of note, during the comment period there were no submissions against it. This merger will benefit Central Fund’s member credit unions with a broader array of competitive products, and provide the depth of resources they need in today’s competitive financial marketplace.”

CLAREMONT, N.H. – The former head teller at New Hampshire Community FCU was charged with embezzling $72,000 from member accounts. Police said yesterday they will seek a grand jury indictment against Christine Husack-Martin for the alleged theft. The money was allegedly stolen over several years.

ST. LOUIS – Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which does substantial car sales business with credit unions, has completed its acquisition of Vanguard Car Rental and its National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands from private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management LP. Terms of the transaction between the two privately held companies were not disclosed. Enterprise has become a major partner of credit unions, selling its used cars at credit union events and offering discounted rates for members at some credit unions. Enterprise CEO Andrew Taylor said Enterprise will operate all of the companies as independent subsidiaries separate from Enterprise for the foreseeable future. In total, the companies have $11.7 billion in annual revenue, 10,683 locations, 1.1 million vehicles, and 74,169 employees.

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. – DealerTrack Holdings, the provider of online financing systems for credit unions and banks, said yesterday it has acquired AutoStyleMart Inc., a provider of on-demand software and services for the sale of auto accessories. Financial terms of the deal, DealerTrack’s second this year, were not disclosed. Earlier this year DealerTrack acquired Arkona, a Utah-based provider of auto dealer management systems.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services, the rapidly growing outsourcer for credit unions and banks, reported a doubling in earnings to $148 million, or 75 cents a share, compared to the same period last year. The earnings growth was fueled by a 15% rise in revenues, to $1.2 billion for the quarter, and a $58 million after-tax gain on the sale of its Covansys Corp. stock. The company has been involved in a major restructuring, by a merger with Certegy last year, then with the subsequent spin-off from title insurer Fidelity National Title. More recently, it has agreed to acquire cards processor eFunds Corp., and several other smaller firms.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Frank Sanchez, the former CEO of Sanchez Computer Associates, which was acquired three years ago by Fidelity National Information Services, earned a one-day windfall last week with the simultaneous exercise of options and sale of the shares. Sanchez, now head of FIS’s enterprise banking and retail operations, exercised 134,525 options on July 27 at just $15.63, then sold the shares for $51.40 each, netting more than $4.8 million in the process, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sanchez, whose father Michael Sanchez founded Sanchez Computer, earned more than $3 million on a similar trade of 100,000 FIS options/shares in February. Sanchez Computer is one of a dozen back-office service providers acquired by Fidelity National to form Fidelity National Information Services.

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Shares of MasterCard Inc. , among the hottest stocks over the past year, plummeted more than 12% before recovering yesterday on widespread credit fears, even after the company reported strong profits for its second quarter. The cards company reported net income for its second quarter of $252.3 million, or $1.85 a share, compared to a second quarter loss last year of $310.5 million, related to its going public. Second quarter revenues rose a strong 18% to $997 million, fueled by a 15% increase the number of transactions for its cards and a 13% growth in the dollar volume of transactions. For the first two quarters of the year MasterCard reported a 21% rise in revenues, to $1.9 billion, and net income of $467.2 million, or $3.44 a share, compared to a loss of $183.7 million, or $1.36 a share, for the first half last year. Last year’s second quarter included a $395 million charge related to the donation of stock to a new charitable foundation created in conjunction with the company’s initial public offering last May. MasterCard shares have been among the hottest issues since then, quadrupling from their $39 IPO price to more than $160. MasterCard shares closed down 7% yesterday at $150.

MELVILLE, N.Y. – In the latest sign of the ongoing mortgage crunch, American Home Mortgage Corp., which made a major push into the credit union market just last year, was reported to be preparing to file for bankruptcy, after lenders halted its credit and its stock price plunged more than 90%. The company made a major incursion into the credit union market last year with its purchase of Irwin Mortgage Corp. and its 50 on-site credit union sales offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii and Washington. American Home reported Tuesday that its lenders have cut off its credit line and it can no longer fund mortgages. The credit crunch made it impossible for the company to fund nearly $800 million in mortgages it had agreed to fund.

WASHINGTON – CUNA announced yesterday its senior lobbyist, Dean Sagar, who helped draft HR 1151 a decade ago while working for the House, resigned after just 16 months with the trade association. CUNA did not give a reason for Sagar’s resignation and Sagar did not return phone calls seeking comment. But the lobbyist's job was made difficult when CUNA President Dan Mica restricted his public comments after some of his statements were misconstrued by another credit union trade publication. Sagar joined CUNA from the Democratic staff at the House Financial Services Committee, where he helped draft the landmark 1998 credit union bill, HR 1151, the CU Membership Access Act. Because of his credit union knowledge and more than 20 years on Capitol Hill, Sagar’s hiring was seen as a major step for CUNA, soon after the association lost its two senior lobbyists, John McKechnie and Gary Kohn, who both went to work at NCUA. CUNA said it is already working to replace Sagar.

WASHINGTON – Campaign contributions from CUNA continued to find their way to key sponsors of CURIA–the CU Regulatory Improvements Act–as the credit union lobby works to convince Congress to move the five-year-old bill to a hearing or vote. To date, there has been no hearing scheduled on the bill, even as more than 125 House members have signed on as sponsors during this Congress, the third try for the bill. CUNA, which is trying to convince Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, to hold a hearing on CURIA, contributed $8,500 to the New York Democrat in June. CUNA also made contributions to Ed Royce, the California Republican who helped draft the bill ($5,000), as well as Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Calif ($2,500); Brad Miller, D-N.C. ($1,000); Brian Bilbray, R-Calif. ($500); Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich. ($4,000); John Larson, D-Ct. ($6,500); Chris Carney, D-Ct. ($4,100); Darrell Issa, R-Calif. ($1,000); Joe Baca, D-Calif. ($1,000); George Miller, D-Calif. ($1,000); Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill. ($1,000); Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. ($1,000); and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla. ($1,000). Contributions also went to several so-called leadership PACs, including a new PAC known as the Tuesday Group PAC, named for a weekly session held by moderate Republicans ($5,000). Other leadership PACs getting CUNA funds were: Virginia Victory PAC, for Republicans ($1,000); and two Democrat PACs, Democrats Win Seats ($1,500) and Reuniting Our Country PAC ($5,000). Two newcomers to national politics also received CUNA contributions; Democrat Jenny Oropeza, a California state legislator running for the House ($5,000), and Jim Whitehead, a Georgia Republican running for the House ($5,000).

PHOENIX – Desert Schools FCU continues to expand its presence in Wal-Mart stores with plans to open two more in-store branches on August 18. The Saturday openings in the suburbs of Buckeye and Gilbert will be celebrated with giveaways, live music and crafts. The $3 billion credit union operates 25 branches in Wal-Mart, the most of any credit union, and plans to open two more in-store branches by year-end. Tentative plans call for another Wal-Mart branch for 2008.

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – By adding 55 check cashing outlets in a landmark acquisition of a local check cashing chain, Kinecta FCU will more than triple its branch network in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, making it a powerful presence in the lucrative market. Under the $45 million deal, the $4 billion credit union will acquire Navicert Financial and its 55 Nix Check Cashing outlets in the area, which will eventually been converted to full-service Kinecta FCU branches. Like the credit union’s current 23 branches, the outlets will offer a full variety of services, from loans, savings, insurance and financial education, as well as check cashing. In addition, the credit union hopes to convert many of the Nix customers to members. Nix had more than five million customer visits and $1.4 billion in transaction volume in 2006.

LENEXA, Kan. – CommunityAmerica CU members can now locate the nearest CO-OP ATM by using their global positioning system. The system is especially preferable as it can save credit union members as much as $3 in ATM surcharges. Members can also use their GPSs to locate a teller window or drive-thru at participating shared branches during normal operating hours. The system went live yesterday at the $1.5 billion credit union.

BURLINGTON, Mass. – Eastern Corporate FCU held an ‘e-tirement party’ to celebrate the retirement of paper checks and the introduction of a remote deposit program that allows consumers and small businesses to electronically scan checks and send them to their credit unions for deposit. Any member who is pre-qualified and has access to online banking and a home desktop scanner can use the new service. Digital FCU and Hanscom FCU are currently testing the system that brings image capture home, literally. This is of particular interest to credit unions that serve the military because USAA Bank, which also has its roots in serving the military, offers a similar product. The day before announcing this new product, EasCorp held an ‘e-tirement party’ during which it said goodbye to all of its paper check processing equipment. With 100% of its member credit unions adopting image capture technology, the corporate no longer processes any paper checks.