A report on the Feb. 8 "CU Journal Daily Briefing" cries out for a strong dose of clarification to illustrate how credit union net worth levels really affect credit unions-and not leave your readers with a misguided view of what is happening.

Whether it's a matter of heading critics off at the pass or reacting to critics who have already arrived there, NAFCU President Fred Becker has sent an e-mail to the trade group's member credit unions addressing what has, at least on the surface, the appearance of a potentially thorny dilemma.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – PSCU Financial Services said Friday it has signed with Newtek Business Services to market the company’s variety of business loan services to its 500 credit union members. The Newtek suite of business services includes SBA-guaranteed lending, electronic payment processing, insurance services, web hosting, web design and development, data storage, tax advisory and business plan preparation.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – It was a sweet Valentine’s Day for Fiserv Chairman Don Dillon, who took advantage of a run-up in the company’s stock price with the sale of 100,000 shares last Wednesday as the shares hit a new high. Dillon sold 50,000 Fiserv shares at $54.39 each and another 50,000 shares at $54.74, raising more than $5.4 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fiserv shares closed Friday at $54.72, near their all-time high. The 65-year-old Dillon, chairman of the Fiserv board since 2000, has been selling off his vast Fiserv stake, valued at more than $250 million, over the past few years. Over the past two years he has sold more than two million shares for more than $100 million. Dillon still holds around five million shares in the provider of back-office services for banks and credit unions.

MINNEAPOLIS – Wolters Kluwers Financial Services announced Friday it has acquired Desert Document Services, Inc., a Tempe, Ariz., provider of automated document preparation solutions for the mortgage business. The company’s SMART Tools are the core of a technology system that includes dynamic content management and tools to develop, edit, organize and manage investor forms libraries. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Wolters Kluwers was formerly known as Bankers Systems.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Greylock FCU received a $33,700 workforce grant from the state of Massachusetts to provide technical training to eight employees. The funding is targeted for a part of the state, the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, that has a low unemployment rate and a high job vacancy rate. More than 1,000 employees in Western Massachusetts will receive training through the 16 Workforce Training Grants.

VENTURA, Calif. – County Schools CU said it is partnering with the Ventura County Office of Education to sponsor the Ventura County Mock Trial and Academic Decathlon competitions. The credit union has donated $35,000 to the two academic competitions.

WICHITA, Kan. – With no angels in sight, state regulators with the Kansas CU Department took over troubled Communities United CU Friday and said they plans to close the state’s only community development credit union. Officials with the $2.3 million credit union had pleaded with credit union and community groups for weeks for some kind of capital infusion, but to no avail, prompting the conservatorship. State regulators said the 11-year-old credit union has a negative net worth of 2.1% and has lost money for three straight years. NCUA, which will serve as conservator, is shopping around for a merger mate, where it would assign the credit union’s 1,900 accounts. Communities United officials had issued an SOS to the credit union community for some non-member deposits to help stave off bankruptcy, but there were no firm commitments last week. The credit union is known for a variety of community development programs it offers, like Individual Development Accounts, payday loans and financial education.

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia CU announced it is offering $62,500 in college scholarships to its student members. The credit union will award 25 $2,500 grants in June to students pursuing their first undergraduate degree. Winners will be based on academic achievement, community service and extracurricular activities and answers to an essay question.

WASHINGTON – Del-One FCU, turned down twice for authority to serve the tiny state of Delaware, is lobbying Congress to amend the Federal CU Act to remove a bar on statewide charters. Duke Strosser, president of the $150 million credit union, he was prepared for the NCUA Board to reject his credit union’s application to serve all three of Delaware’s counties and the state’s 800,000 population, and he has discussing potential changes to the FCU Act with his state’s congressional delegation to ease that and other FOM restrictions. A recent change to NCUA rules also bars Del-One from adding underserved communities to his multiple group charter. He is shopping language to the lawmakers which would allow federally chartered credit unions to mix multiple groups with community charters, a so-called hybrid charter that is allowed in several states. His proposal would also remove the word “local” from the requirement for a community charter. NCUA Board ruled last week that the whole state of Delaware does not qualify as a “local” community, so does not qualify for a community charter, even though NCUA has awarded community charters for much larger populations, many more counties and broader geographic areas. “This thing ought to be in CURIA,” Strosser told The Credit Union Journal, of his FOM provision. “Of course, I have a situation that they can identify with.”

CHICAGO – State leaders will join officials of North Side Community FCU this morning to unveil a new loan program that will fund the application process for U.S. citizenship. The program, developed in partnership with Centro Romero, a human service agency for the area’s Latino population, will provide low-cost unsecured loan for cost of the citizenship applications, which are expected to rise form the current $400 to as much as $675 later this year. Participants in this morning’s ceremony will include state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias; State Rep. Harry Osterman, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky; North Side Community FCU President Ed Jacob and Maria Noriega, who will be the first borrower under the program.

IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa Community CU announced Friday it will hold a special meeting next week where members will be allowed to vote on the recall of the credit union’s new name, Optiva CU, which was approved by a narrow vote in October. The stakes in the name-change, scheduled to take effect March 1, are continuing to rise, with the credit union believed to have spent more than $500,000 on consultants and new signs, checks, credit cards and logo. In addition, a California mortgage company, Optiva Mortgage threatened last week to sue the $500 million credit union over the new name. Members of the 54-year-old credit union, many of them employees at the University of Iowa, opposed the shedding of the old name and the vote for the new name, which they said was fixed by management. “To be honest, I think it was sleazy,” Carolyn Deterle, an opponent of the new name, told The Credit Union Journal, of the ballot, which culminated in a special meeting last October. Under the credit union’s bylaws 100 the 40,000 members can force a special meeting. The members —calling themselves ‘Sink Optiva’--collected more than 150 signatures. The special meeting will be held on Feb. 28.

DEARBORN, Mich. – Three incumbent directors at DFCU Financial held on to their seats last week in the face of a challenge by candidates opposed to last year’s failed conversion of the $2 billion credit union to mutual savings bank, putting the ongoing effort to recall the board in question. The three won reelection by an overwhelming three-to-one margin in an unusually large vote, with 26,500 members casting ballots. “What it says is the membership has spoken,” Mark Shobe, president of the credit union who headed the ill-fated conversion bid, told The Credit Union Journal. About 500 people, many believed to be paid employees of the credit union, attended the regular annual meeting. Meantime, the conversion opponents, the self-styled DFCU Owners United, continues to wait word whether a state court will enforce the credit union’s bylaw and require a special meeting to vote on the recall. Almost 1,800 of the credit union’s 170,000 members signed a petition urging the special meeting. DFCU bylaws allow members to force a special meeting with just 500 signatures.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Michael Sanchez, the founder of Sanchez Computer Associates, which was acquired three years ago by Fidelity National, reported a one-day windfall of more than $10 million when he exercised more than 280,000 options in newly restructured Fidelity National Information Services last month. Sanchez, now the chairman of the international division of FIS, reported that he exercised 283,000 options at between $7.80 and $26.78 each on Jan. 7, then sold 287,000 shares at an average of $41.20 each, netting him more than $10 million. Sanchez Computer is one of eight back-office service providers acquired by Fidelity National to form Fidelity National Information Services.

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Police are searching for a man who snatched the purse from an 81-year-old woman after she made a transaction at Orange County Teachers FCU, then made off with $700 of her savings. The elderly member was leaving the branch around noon last Wednesday when the robber grabbed her purse and the strap broke, allowing him to make off with the cash.

MONETT, Mo. – Jack Henry & Associates said it has introduced a new online deposit opening solution, with 15 financial institutions signing on. The company’s ‘Opening Act’ provides online origination of deposit accounts, consumer and loans and credit cards. The system’s deposit account origination capabilities include multiple identity verifications, credit and OAFC checks and check history.

SAN FRANCISCO – Net income at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco rose 41% in the fourth quarter, to $155 million, fueled by higher net interest income and adjustments in the fair market value of its derivatives holdings. As a result, the San Francisco Bank reported a 47% surge in fiscal year earnings, to $542 million. That allowed the Bank to boost its fourth quarter dividend to 5.83%, from 4.67% for the fourth quarter in 2005, and to 5.41% for the year, from 4.44% for fiscal 2005. The Bank’s financials were helped by a 22% rise in net interest income for the fourth quarter, and a 23% increase for the full year, due to higher interest rates on average capital balances combined with higher average interest-earning assets. The fourth quarter dividend will be paid in capital stock on Feb. 16 to the Bank’s 340 members, including 40 credit unions.

SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane Teachers CU said yesterday it has implemented Comodo’s Secure and Authenticated Financial Engagements–or SAFE– online authentication system. The first stage was deployment of the company’s PKI-based Two Factor authentication solution that complies with new federal requirements. The SAFE solution includes Two Factor client certificates, content verification certificates, email certificates, EV high assurance SSL certificates, HackerGuardian vulnerability scanning and certification, and SiteMon website continuity service. Comodo is based in Jersey City, N.J.

McLEAN, Va. – Home loan rates nudged slightly higher this week, as the markets waited for a number of key consumer indicators. The average for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose slightly to 6.30% this week, from 6.28% last week; while the average for the 15-year, fixed-rate loan moved to 6.03%, from 6.02%, according to Freddie Mac. ARM rates also ticked slightly upwards, with the average for the five-year ARM rising to 6.01%, from 5.99% last week; and the average for the one-year ARM moving to 5.52%, from 5.49%. “Mortgage interest rates exhibited little change in the past week, as there was little new information that would cause any great change, said Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft. In the course of the coming week, January's housing starts, producer price index and consumer price index are all scheduled for release. These will be the first indicators of the housing market and inflation in early 2007, and we could see interest rates move in response.”

GREENSBURG, Pa. – A state prisoner was charged this week with forging three checks for a total of $8,200 on an account at WEPCO FCU. Chad Dickson, 32, was accused of a similar scheme last year while he was jailed at another facility, where he allegedly forged a check with the signature of then-State Treasurer Barbara Hafer on it. Authorities say Dickson sent the three checks to different women, and one of them was cashed for $2,900. Dickson is serving a three year sentence for forgery, theft and bad checks.