ATLANTA – The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta said yesterday it will raise its second quarter dividend to 6%, from 5.6% paid for the second quarter last year, and 5.9% for this year’s first quarter. The FHLB Atlanta will credit this dividend to members’ daily investment accounts at close of business on July 2, 2007. The dividend will paid to the Bank’s 1,300 members, including 135 credit unions.

GOSHEN, N.Y. – A member of Valley Central FCU was charged with stealing as much as $200,000 from the credit union through a fake deposit scheme. Corilynn Mullen, 37, allegedly made about $500,000 in fake deposits, then wrote about $200,000 of bad checks on the phony deposits. When the credit unit had the $494,000 check returned for insufficient funds, they called the police. Mullen was indicted this week by an Orange County grand jury on charges of grand larceny, forgery and falsifying business records. Mullen, who is also known as Corilynn Lorenzo, is also facing similar charges in South Carolina, and in Ulster County.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers and community activists unveiled plans yesterday for an Affordable Housing Trust Fund which would provide as much as $1 billion a year for affordable housing projects. However, the main source of funding, as much as $600 million a year to be set aside by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is part of the ongoing legislative debate over reform of the secondary mortgage market. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a chief sponsor of the Trust Fund bill, said he is confident the Senate will pass the bill, which has already been passed by the House. The Trust Fund would also be funded by rearranging certain federal housing programs. Rep. Maxine Waters, head of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing, said the first year’s funding would be devoted to building affordable housing in New Orleans and elsewhere in the Gulf Coast where residents are still rebuilding from the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

McLEAN, Va. – Mortgage rates fell for the second week in a row, after reaching a 12-month high two weeks ago, according to Freddie Mac. The average for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan slipped slightly to 6.67% this week, from 6.69% last week; while the average for the 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage dipped to 6.34%, from 6.37%. ARM rates also slipped, but only slightly, with the average for the five-year ARM declining to 6.30%, from 6.31%; and the average for the one-year ARM slipping to 5.65%, from 5.66%. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac, said housing indicators continue to decline. "This week we saw further effects of the current housing recession," said Nothaft. "May's existing home sales fell 0.3 percent to the slowest pace since June 2003, and the number of months houses were available for sale rose to 8.9, the longest since June 1992."

SAN DIMAS, Calif. – Christian Community CU announced yesterday it is making $30,000 in school grants available through its Focused on the Future Scholarship program. The scholarships will be open to all members of the $450 million credit union and will range from $500 to $2,000. To be eligible to apply, students must be enrolled at an accredited college, university or seminary. Also, students must be taking 12 units or more for undergraduate students and 8 units or more for graduate and post-graduate students.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Cross Valley FCU, a sponsor of the 2007 American Lung Association’s ‘Blow the Whistle On Asthma’ Walk held at King’s College on June 2, exceeded its goal for this year’s event. With the support from staff, directors, members, community, and local businesses, the credit union raised $63,739.

MANCHESTER, NH – The New Hampshire CU League wrote a check for $157,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Hampshire. The funds were raised during a golf tournament at Canterbury Woods Country Club, and presented by League President Dan Egan, Social Responsibility Committee Chair John Young, and Beverly Mahoney, wife of the late Richard Mahoney who was instrumental in the partnership with the Foundation. Over the past 11 years the New Hampshire league has donated $900,000 to CMN.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Members and employees of the state’s second largest credit union will be thinking mutual savings bank Monday morning when Think FCU begins its first day of business as a savings and loan. The $1.3 billion credit union, to be known as Think Federal, is one of two credit union converts changing charters Monday. The other is Sunshine State CU, a $170 million institution in Tallahassee, Fla. At least four other credit unions are in the process of converting to mutual savings banks: First Priority CU and Community CU, both in Massachusetts; Beehive CU, in Utah, and First Basin CU, in Texas.

WAYCROSS, Ga. – Converted credit union Atlantic Coast Federal Bank announced yesterday it plans to raise up to $200 million with the conversion from a mutual holding company to a stock holding company–the second step of a so-called two-step conversion from mutual savings bank. The ex-credit union plans to convert existing shares in the mutual holding company to shares in the new corporation, and sell as many as 20 million new shares to the public at $10 each, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The credit union-convert sold 37% of the ownership in the holding company in an initial public offering in October 2004 which raised $52 million. The bank was chartered as Atlantic Coast FCU in 1939 to serve employees of Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, then converted to a mutual savings bank in 2000. The second-step offering is being underwritten by Ryan Beck & Co., the Wall Street investment bank, which stands to earn as much as $1.6 million in fees from the transaction. Separately, another former credit union, Covina, Calif.-based K-Fed Bancorp., known until 2000 as Kaiser FCU, said it board voted Tuesday to convert from a mutual holding company and to undertake the second step of a two-step conversion.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Members of Carolina Postal CU who are postal workers are being urged to ‘Think Outside the Bank’ and get their paychecks two days early under a new program. Under ‘Priority Payday Checking,’ the credit union posts the ACH payroll on Wednesday at 9 a.m., instead of the standard Friday morning. "Rather than just extend the hours on a payday Friday, like every other financial institution, we decided to really think outside of the 'bank' and we moved payday up by two days," said CEO Joy Watts. She said that Friday is the busiest and most stressful delivery day for postal workers and it is difficult to get to the credit union. Shortly after implementation, the $60 million credit union saw an increase of $1.1 million in deposits.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida Telco CU said yesterday it has signed with PSCU Financial Services to provide it with credit card processing. PSCU will convert the credit union’s 15,000 accounts in October to its CreditAbility processing platform. Florida Telco has $420 million in assets and 40,000 members.

OMAHA – First Nebraska Educators CU said yesterday it has contracted with TRC Interactive Inc. to provide its employees with online training through the company’s CreditUnionTrainingOnline. Under the contract, First Nebraska Educators will have full use of the company’s Training Central learning management system. TRC Interactive is based in Harrisburg, Pa.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Insight Financial CU said yesterday it has chosen Siemens to replace its communications system with its HiPath all IP solution. Siemens HiPath 4000 Real-Time IP System will optimize Insight Financial’s operational efficiencies and improve business continuity. Siemens HiPath ProCenter Enterprise will enhance first contact resolution rates, lower operating costs and the total volume of incoming calls by reducing the number of follow-up calls from members whose issues were not resolved the first time.

LOS ANGELES – Three former executives at countrywide Financial Corp. agreed to plead guilty to criminal insider trading charges in a scheme that netted each of them tens of thousands of dollars. The three used inside information that the company would not meet profit forecasts for the third quarter of 2004, then sold short shares that they earned in advance of the public announcement of third quarter financials. The three executives: Alan Cao, 38, of Woodland Hills., Calif; Quan Zhu, 43, of Santa Monica; and Jun Shi, 43, of Moorpark, were all vice presidents and have since been fired. The three former executives have also agreed to settle civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa USA said yesterday it is teaming up with Wells Fargo & Co. to test a mobile payment platform that will allow consumers to use their cellphones to pay for products and services at the checkout line. Going mobile is a high priority for Visa and banks and credit unions that issue its cards because increasingly sophisticated wireless phones are opening up new opportunities to increase the frequency of revenue-generating electronic payments. Visa and its biggest rival, MasterCard Inc., have been laying the groundwork for mobile payments by enabling contact-less transactions that enable consumers to simply wave a card or key fob over a reader instead of swiping it through a machine. Up to 50 Wells Fargo employees soon will begin paying for some products and services with specially equipped phones instead of credit and debit cards, under a test pilot, which will advance to as many as 500 Wells customers later this year.

BROOMALL, Pa. – Franklin Mint FCU said it has formed a non-profit foundation, which is committed to helping children, families, and others attain strong personal finance skills; and support youth education and charitable causes within the community. The Foundation will provide funding for post-secondary scholarships, in-school financial literacy programs, educational field trips, educator awards and grants.

DENVER – First Data Corp. CEO Henry ‘Ric’ Duques is about to earn another big payday as he completes the sale of the company to private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Duques, who took home $96 million last year after coming out of retirement to sell the company, will take home more than $22 million from the $29 billion deal, according to a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That includes $3.3 million for his 96,000 shares of restricted stock and $19 million for 1.8 million options he holds. But Duques won’t be the biggest winner. That will be Ed Labry, head of First Data’s commercial services, who stands to earn almost $80 million from the deal. Labry, who joined First Data after the company acquired his Concord EFS in 2003, will earn about $1.6 million for his 45,600 restricted shares, and a whopping $77.2 million for his 4.7 million options. That’s on top of more than $50 million Labry earned exercising First Data options over the past two years. The two First Data executives also earned millions last fall when First Data spun off its Western Union operations and awarded top executives Western Union options.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services announced yesterday it had agreed to acquire electronic funds processor EFD, formerly known as eFunds, which was put on the auction block two months ago. Fidelity National will pay $36.50 a share, or $1.8 billion for EFD, which processes transactions for the credit union-owned CO-OP Financial Services. It is the second acquisition announced this week by Fidelity National, which said Monday it has acquired Applied Financial Technology, a provider of advanced analytics for the mortgage securities market. EFD has been on the market since April when the company announced it was exploring a variety of options to maximize shareholder value. At least four other companies, including Fiserv, are believed to have submitted bids to acquire the company.

DALLAS – The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas said yesterday it has raised its second quarter dividend to 5.26%, to be paid June 29 in capital stock. The Dallas Bank paid a 4.91% dividend for the second quarter last year.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Gesa CU announced yesterday that it has hired Christina Brown, a senior vice president of finance and operations for Xerox FCU, as its new president and CEO. Brown is a well-known figure in the credit union movement, with 14 years in credit union management and rolls on several CUNA committees. Gesa CU is a 54-year-old credit union with 80,000 members and $650 in assets.