ATLANTA–What motivates women business owners when it comes to choosing a financial institution is different from the drivers of men who own small business. Nine out of 10 women said pricing is their primary concern, according to new research released by Synergistics Research of 454 women small business owners in companies having annual sales of $100K to $5 million. For men, the number-one driver is convenience, the survey has found. Making a special effort to serve the needs of small businesses is the second most important feature for both women and men small business owners. “When it comes to selecting a financial institution for their business, women are more price sensitive than me,” said Genie M. Driskill, COO of SYNERGISTICS.

PANAMA CITY, Fla.–Tyndall FCU said it has allocated $9 million for a “Helping Hands Mortgage” program aimed at assisting members who would otherwise be unable to afford housing due to high prices. The credit union is offering a 3.99% fixed rate on a 30-year term with no down payment up to 103% LTV. The $760-million “Tyndall Federal takes its mission of benefiting its members very seriously,” said SVP/COO Ted Zangwill.

HOUSTON—Smart Financial Credit Union is urging other credit unions to join it in a program that seeks to help teachers who come to the U.S. from abroad and who are in need of financial assistance. Several representatives of Smart Financial’s business development team have just returned from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to offer financial assistance to Mexican citizens hoping to become bilingual teachers in the United States. Smart Financial’s International Teacher Program helps educators from Mexico and Spain get settled in the United States by offering up to $3,000 in Signature and/or CreditLine loans. “With the number of Texas students requiring bilingual education at an all-time high, school districts in the state continue to increase their effort to recruit internationally,” the credit union said. “To aid in this endeavor, Smart Financial teamed up with the Region IV International Initiative, a program aimed at recruiting qualified, bilingual teachers from Spanish-speaking countries.” Representatives of Smart Financial recently met with more than 100 teacher candidates who will be eligible for SFCU assistance when they arrive in July. Since launching its program six years ago, the credit union said it has assisted nearly 200 teachers. For info, Melissa Hunt: (800) 392-5084, ext. 1822 or mhunt@smartcu.org.

HOUSTON—Smart Financial Credit Union is urging other credit unions to join it in a program that seeks to help teachers who come to the U.S. from abroad and who are in need of financial assistance. Several representatives of Smart Financial’s business development team have just returned from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to offer financial assistance to Mexican citizens hoping to become bilingual teachers in the United States. Smart Financial’s International Teacher Program helps educators from Mexico and Spain get settled in the United States by offering up to $3,000 in Signature and/or CreditLine loans. “With the number of Texas students requiring bilingual education at an all-time high, school districts in the state continue to increase their effort.

ARLINGTON, Va.—Though predicting a “soft landing” for the economy overall, NAFCU’s Tun Wai said the economy continues to put a tight squeeze on credit unions. “We still have something of an inverted yield curve,” Wai said, adding that the housing sector continues to weaken. Another bad sign: consumer debt continues to grow, with the financial obligation ratio exceeding 19%. This, Wai said, is an indication of lower loan quality. “This is a difficult environment for a lot of institutions,” he commented. Wai offered the economic outlook in place of Jeff Taylor, who has left NAFCU to join the Associated Builders and Contractors.

ARLINGTON, Va.—Credit unions can expect a busy week in Washington, with a variety of financial services-related topics coming to the fore in hearings this week, according to NAFCU. The House Financial Services Committee will be marking up a bill on housing needs resulting from Hurricane Katrina. Another panel will also be exploring remittances to Central and South America, and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank has called a hearing executive compensation issues. NAFCU’s Brad Thaler noted that with the Katrina-related bill expected to be a long mark-up, the expected hearing on subprime mortgages has been postponed.

SALT LAKE CITY–The $177-million Beehive Credit Union has become the latest to announce it was “considering a plan of conversion” to a federal mutual savings bank. Members were informed of the plan March 3 at the credit union’s annual meeting. Beehive Credit Union issued a statement to the Credit Union Journal in which it said the charter conversion plan “is prompted by current state law restricting the ability of Beehive to expand membership and branch locations.” Beehive’s board reportedly told members legislation Utah passed in 1999 has restricted its operations to the point of “unacceptable consequences” for the credit union. That has included a restriction on branches within the state. Ryan Laws, chairman of the 21,000-member CU’s board, said state laws “are preventing us from filling out our product line and providing the convenience of branches our members are calling for. This can only be accomplished through a change in our organization,” he said. The credit union’s statement did not indicate whether it has considered moving to a federal charter, as other CUs in the state have done. A vote of the membership will be scheduled for “later this year.”

DEER PARK, Texas – Shell FCU, the $260 million credit union chartered to serve oil services employees, celebrated its 70th anniversary with a new charter.

WASHINGTON - Credit union executives and directors, frustrated over their liability for cards breaches for their bank-owned Visa and MasterCard systems, floated the idea last week of a credit union-owned credit card brand.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Community First CU of Florida, one of the state's largest CUs, said it has discontinued its indirect auto lending program.

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers, with their constituents again sorting the costs of the latest data breach, are busily drafting legislation aimed at stemming these breaches, at least one of which will include key provisions shaped by credit unions.

PITTSBURGH - The Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh is making $24.2 million available for affordable housing grants this year for it 335 bank and credit union members.

BEAVERTON, Ore. - Credit unions caused just 1.7% of total consumer complaints in Oregon, according to the state's Department of Justice 2006 Top 10 Consumer Complaint list.

SSFCU Selects Prime Alliance

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - NCUA announced it assessed more than $150,000 in fines to 22 credit unions for filing late reports required under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. NCUA only began assessing fines for late HMDA filing in 2005, fining 18 credit unions a total of $200,000 for the regulatory violation.

CLIFTON, Va. - Paul Lucas will be the opening attraction at the Credit Union Journal's Business Development & SEG Conference in Boston on April 12, and he promises a special delivery of Postcards from the Edge. That edge, in case you haven't seen or heard of Lucas' marketing and re-branding successes for credit union and CUSO clients-is as close as it gets to a fail-safe growth formula.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The NCUA Board re-appointed Jane Walters as director of the agency's Region Two, completing the comeback for the once-chastened NCUA executive.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Cornerstone Community Financial has joined a statewide effort to provide below-market, unsecured education loans to members primarily affected by Michigan's unprecedented job losses.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Credit Union Information Security Professionals Association (CUISPA) said it will host a series of Regional Risk Management Workshops this year to "address the critical topics that credit union IT departments are facing."

WASHINGTON - Credit unions are plotting a nationwide lending brokerage service modeled after the successful ZOPA.