HARRISBURG, Pa. – Belco Community CU said it has joined the Cumberland County Economic Development Corp., the fourth lender to do so. The community development corp. will finance up to 40% of a qualified project, while the balance of the loan must come from conventional lenders. Other lenders in the program are Members 1st FCU, Orrstown Bank and F&M trust.

BOWDOINHAM, Me. – Bowdoinham FCU said yesterday it has signed with Identity Theft 911 to offer the company’s identity theft prevention and resolution service free to its members. The service includes notification o credit bureaus, assistance in filing law enforcement reports, fraud monitoring and proactive resolution. Victims of identity theft are also provided with a personal advocate to help them resolve a variety of issues related to identity theft.

TAMPA, Fla. – Tampa Bay FCU announced yesterday it has selected Green Armor Solutions to implement two-factor and site/mutual authentication to secure its online banking systems. Implementation of the system will allow the credit union to meet new federal requirements on mult-factor authentication for all high-risk transactions. The credit union has 40,000 online users.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Altura CU and Provident Bank have agreed to participate with the city in a program to recruit and retain technology workers within Riverside. The two lenders have agreed to offer low-rate mortgages to employees of high-tech companies in the city. Under the SmartRiverside Mortgage Incentive Program, qualified borrowers are eligible for discounted rates on a variety of loan products, including 100% financing and home equity lines of credit. Participants will be charged a flat lender fee as well as having a personal bank loan specialist assigned to them to assist them through the process.

MIAMI BEACH – With the growing threat to online cards purchases, officials of SAF-T-PAY are poised to launch an Internet payments system that bypasses credit cards and makes e-commerce purchase directly through a consumer’s bank or credit union. The non-card payment system, which is being shown at this year’s Venture Capital Conference today, is designed to allow those consumers who typically shy away from online transactions, for fear of fraud or identify theft, people without their own cards, or those whose cards are not accepted for cross-border purchases. SAF-T-PAY’s proprietary e-payment system capitalizes on the company’s growing relationships with financial institutions and allows consumers to shop internationally. Customers do not provide any personal financial information to either the merchant of SAF-T-PAY.

WASHINGTON – The dwindling number of credit unions still offering guaranteed student loans are poised for yet another hit after President Bush proposed as part of his budget yesterday to slash federal subsidies for the loan program by billions of dollars. Sallie Mae, which dominates the market, saw its share price plunge almost 9% after yesterday’s announcement, while shares in Nelnet, another major lender, slumped almost 10%, and Student Loan Corp. by 6%. The White House proposal would cost lenders–including credit unions–billions of dollars by slashing loan subsidy rates by 50 basis points and raising the lender origination fees on new consolidation loans to 1%, from 0.5%. The plan would also reduce the amount of each loan that is insured against default from 97% to 95%. The Bush proposal comes as Democrats are also seeking to cut student loan subsidies to lenders in order to pay for a halving of the interest rates on many of the loans. Sallie Mae, which has carved out a share greater than 50% of the student loan market, slammed the President’s proposal and predicted it would drive lenders out of the market. “Students and families will have less choice and more expensive loans, and taxpayers will carry the burden and cost of higher student loan defaults,” said a prepared statement from the company, which has grown from a government sponsored provider of a secondary market for credit unions and banks, to the dominant originator of student loans with a $145 billion portfolio.

MADISON, Wis.– CUNA Mutual Group reported yesterday it was able to brave skyrocketing losses from credit card fraud, to post a 36% rise on fiscal year earnings to $178 million. Jeff Post, CEO of the credit union insurer, attributed the gains to the company’s ongoing restructuring--and to some good luck. The luck included far fewer disaster-related claims than 2005to the tune of about $12 million after taxes. Another $11 million was the result of efforts to shrink CMG's tax liability. Post cited $9 million driven by efficiencies gleaned from a leaner workforce and a whopping $42 million in greater investment income. "What is really exciting about this is that we increased our earning by $47 million, or 36%, essentially without collecting increased premiums from credit unions," Post told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. Offsetting a portion of those gains, CUNA Mutual spent $9 million on increasing benefits to credit unions and their members and invested in a number of initiatives, such as the $18 million for the new call center in Fort Worth, Texas.

WASHINGTON – CUNA called on the Department of Defense yesterday to exempt a variety of fees and charges when calculating the new 36% rate for loans to military personnel. In a letter to the Pentagon, which is developing implementing rules for the new anti-predatory lending law, CUNA asked that optional products and services, like GAP insurance, vehicle warranties, credit insurance and identity theft prevention be excluded from the calculation. CUNA also urged an exclusion for overdraft privilege and courtesy pay fees. Including the costs for these products and services “will very likely result in an APR that exceeds 36%, “and will likely prevent credit unions from offering these products and services to military members, said CUNA, in a letter signed by President Dan Mica and Roland ‘Arty’ Arteaga, director of the Defense CU Council. One way to do this would be to exclude charges for products and services that are offered voluntarily as part of a loan, said the letter. The bankers are also lobbying the Pentagon to exempt many of these same products and services from the new usury limit.

TOLEDO, Ohio – Five members in a local crime gang believed responsible for as many as six credit union heists were charged with racketeering and robbery in criminal indictments unsealed in state court here yesterday. The gang was charged with armed robberies at Jeep FCU and Standard FCU, and are believed responsible for another hold-up at Jeep FCU, robberies at Toledo Public Schools FCU, Champion FCU, and an attempted robbery at Toledo Police FCU, between 1998 and 2001, which netted them about $910,000, authorities said. The suspects were charged with RICO because they engaged in a pattern of corrupt activities, according to Chris Anderson, assistant prosecutor for the Lucas County District Attorney’s office. “This allows us get around the statute of limitations,” Anderson told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. In each of the robberies the suspects were heavily armed with semi-automatic handguns, said Anderson. The suspects were indicted by a grand jury on January 26, but the indictments were sealed to give police a chance to round them up, he said. The suspects were identified as: John Jackson, 33, William Wren, 30, Milo Terry, 33, James Wyley, 37, and Christopher Hicks, age unknown.

MISSOULA, Mont. - Montana Educators CU has a specialty: getting members to use multiple products and services.

NEW YORK - Brokerage giant Merrill Lynch has agreed to acquire First Republic Bank of San Francisco for $1.8 billion in cash and stock. The deal gives the biggest U.S. broker the ability to access to $10.7 billion of assets held by First Republic, which provides investment services including trust banking and luxury home lending. Merrill, which also owns a state-chartered industrial loan company through which it accepts retail deposits, would not be affected by pending federal legislation to bar non-financial companies from the banking business.

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. - With membership growth stagnant across the credit union industry, one CU and its CUSO are showing how investment services can be key to unlocking that door.

The Albany Times Union did a story about credit unions seeking state approval to gain access to the multibillion-dollar business of municipal deposits-a move opposed by commercial banks. A bill was offered in 2006 to allow CUs and small savings banks to take municipal deposits, but it was not approved. A different version might be introduced later this year.

Hearings

In the Dec. 21 issue, the Credit Union Journal did not correctly clarify the timeframe that Arnold S. Rosenthal, chairman of Lafayette FCU, allegedly made comments that sources attributed to him. Mr. Rosenthal retired from the Small Business Administration in 2003.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - There, in the newly opened lobby of FedChoice Federal Credit Union (formerly IR Federal Credit Union), stands a reminder of Mother Nature's power-a life-sized mannequin wearing a rain slicker and boots and toting an umbrella. At its feet are strategically placed puddles on which floats on a tiny replica of Noah's Ark.

Credit Card Holders Have Upper Hand In Negotiations

MILFORD, Conn. - GE Employees Federal Credit Union here is suing San Francisco resident Lorraine O. Legg for more than $7 million in damages, alleging that she improperly pocketed monies from three mortgages instead of selling them in the secondary market as promised and remitting the proceeds, according to local press reports.

The hallmark of former NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar's term was making life better for members by reducing the regulatory load on their credit unions. Ironically, the hallmark of current NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson's could very well be to have made life better for those same members by adding a regulation or two.

ARLINGTON, Va. - NAFCU has nominated itself and United Nations FCU for membership on the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG).