MEMBER PLEADS GUILTY IN FRAUD

FORT WORTH, Texas - CUNA Mutual Group's brand new Customer Operations Center here is ready for its close-up-and so are its employees.

Patriot FCU Gives Members Bonus

The following is excerpted with permission from a BankInfoSecurity.com's interview with Dr. Markus Jakobsson, a professor at Indiana University who is conducting research on phishing, and was originally conducted by Linda McGleeson.

FRISCO, Texas - Money may not grow on trees, but credit unions end up helping to cut them down anyway to generate all the paperwork needed for daily operations.

SULPHER, La. - The $7-million Firestone Lake Charles FCU has adopted a new slogan, "We're small enough to know you, big enough to serve you." The credit union has 2,000 members.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Neighbors FCU reports it set out two years ago to marketedly improve service levels to members and now reports that a mystery shopping program has shown the investment has paid off. When compared to 21 financial institutions that participate in a similar program, Neighbors ranked as top performer in overall service, top performer in competitive comparison, top performer in use of members name, and runner-up in emotional connection with the member.

CU: Conservation Employees' CU

Tobyhanna Army Depot FCU, Scranton, Penn., promoted Jessica Hicks to branch manager.

APRIL

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Patriot FCU paid its 40,000 members a special membership dividend for the first quarter, totaling $500,000.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Michigan's credit unions are running two radio spots in response to an announcement that local Comerica Bank is moving its headquarters to Dallas.

The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn., ran a story about how Memphis Publishing Co. FCU changed its name to Agility Financial FCU, expanded its field of membership and is looking for a new headquarters, leaving its current HQ at The Commercial Appeal itself. "Our main source of members is this building," said Robert Arick, the CU's CFO, from his office on the first floor of The CA at 495 Union. "There's no growth here in employment. There's no expansion in the newspaper business." The credit union has started a direct mail campaign and is offering $200 Home Depot gift cards for members who open home equity lines of credit, said the story.

SEATTLE - Pemco has what Director of Marketing Scott Perry calls a "pretty green office."

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Dept.'s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund said it has received 258 applications under the 2007 round of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program. These applicants requested an aggregate total of $27,894,100,485 of NTMC allocation authority.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Crowe Chizek and Co. LLC, one of the leading credit union auditors, has signed with RightPath Payments Inc. to market and sell the company's web-based payment system.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - Credit unions held an 18% share of the auto loan market in 2006, down from an all-time high of 19.3% in 2005, according to a new study by CU Direct Lending (CUDL), the indirect lending company.

PLYMOUTH, Mich. - This month's radio ad blitz by the Michigan Credit Union League is a supplemental buy to take advantage of $58-billion Comerica Bank sending 200 senior executives out of state for the greener plains of the Lone Star state.

SEATTLE - Pemco has what Director of Marketing Scott Perry calls a "pretty green office."

Credit unions don't just wait for Earth Day to come around to be "green." Here are some examples of credit unions promoting green loans throughout the year.