Oscar Winner Keynotes CUES

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The top story affecting credit unions in 2002 is hard to believe today: what to do with all the deposits flowing into credit unions, and how to manage all the resulting profitability!

ELGIN, Ill. - If credit unions have a New Year's resolution to boost their bottom lines over the next 12 months, experts say they can start by shaking their risk-averse nature when it comes to lending and vastly improving their marketing and communications efforts.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Columbia Credit Union said members elected seven new directors and five new members of its supervisory committee, successfully eliminating from its governance a group of dissident members who defeated the credit union's bid to convert to a bank.

TUKAWILA, Wash. - Boeing Employees CU said it is the first financial institution to implement a new consumer calling service offered by check-printer Deluxe Corp. DeluxeCalling is aimed at strengthening new consumer relationships and expanding consumer portfolios. After a consumer is issued a loan, the DeluxeCalling team provides information about the loan terms and service, as well as other products and services offered by the $6.6-billion CU.

LENEXA, Kan. - Expansion by credit unions into business lending is no secret to anyone who reads the trade press. But one person is noting the daily mass media also provide plenty of examples why business lending and business services have become such a market opportunity.

WALL STREET - Morgan Stanley confirmed long-whispered rumors and announced it will spin off its Discover cards division in an initial public offering some time next year, positioning the unit to better compete with MasterCard and Visa USA in the payments arena. Last year, Discover acquired Pulse EFT, which provides payments services for more than 1,200 CUs.

The credit union movement is not going to roll over and play dead; not in Utah and not anywhere else in the country.

ELGIN, Ill. - If credit unions have a New Year's resolution to boost their bottom lines over the next 12 months, experts say they can start by shaking their risk-averse nature when it comes to lending and vastly improving their marketing and communications efforts.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - The old saw is "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." When it comes to payday lending, however, credit unions have pursued a "join them and beat them" strategy.

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Orange County Teachers FCU is reporting it made $43 million in mortgage loans during its first year of participating in the Home Loan Payment Relief (HLPR) program aimed at getting limited-income borrowers into their first homes.

Tranax Releases ATM Software

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - What did the real first year of the new millenium bring to credit unions? Among the trends, developments and news: * Credit bureaus begin making credit scores available to consumers * When CUs meet for GAC in 2001, they are coming off an election cycle with $1.9 million in PAC funds, up from $734,000 in 1993-94 * Credit unions succeed in getting a "carve out" for themselves in proposed bankruptcy legislation * There is growing recognition that "non-traditional" services and markets are a growth area for credit unions, including payday loans * CUNA moves into new digs close to the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue n Wireless access to account information using wireless devices, including phones and PDAs, begins to take root * Usage and acceptance of debit cards continues to grow by double-digits * NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar proposes expanded exam cycle for healthy CUs to 18 months from 12 months * Credit unions that raced to expand to community charters begin to discover that penetration rates are sliding while costs are increasing * In the wake of several well-publicized data breaches (and with more to come), the Gramm Leach Bliley Act forces CUs to begin protecting member data * Terrorism threats grow with anthrax scares spreading to CUs. Many credit unions tighten their mail handling procedures. A Michigan CU evacuates its offices after suspicious material found. Two NAFCU staffers are tested for anthrax after being inside Senate office building where anthrax was suspected * Campus FCU, Baton Rouge, develops program to sign up for e-mail notification before a check bounces * Power costs begin surging in California and the Pacific Northwest. Power outages affect CUs in California. SAFE CU in California covers its parking lot in solar panels * The Alaska CU league goes all volunteer, laying off its two full-time employees * The acceptance of electronic images of checks continues to grow * CUES' Franck Schuurmans predicts that in the next three to five years (through 2006) there will be a consolidation to 3,000 to 3,500 total credit unions * Readers of The Credit Union Journal step forward with computer donations to help Dakota Catholic FCU, which had been keeping records manually and had been profiled in the newspaper * Arrowhead CU in California opens branch on used car lot n Harland resurrects the ULTRADATA brand * Treasury studies on credit unions, requested by banks, generally support credit union positions * A branch manager at Provident CU in California admits to faking a robbery in which $144,000 was stolen * The Filene Research Institute releases a study saying that among the biggest beneficiaries of credit unions are bank customers * The Credit Union Journal profiles McPherson Community FCU inTryon, Neb., which operates out of the Longhorn Motel * In a precursor, United Heritage CU creates a "Chief Privacy Officer" position * Bankruptcy filings surge in wake of introduction of new reform bill * Two Michigan CU execs create their own line of greeting cards to help managers to recognize employees for jobs well done * Jim Ott, president of UNCLE CU, is named poet laureate of Plesanton, Calif. * NCUA rules that boards may delegate authority to set dividend rates to committees made up of senior management. * NCUA board member Yolanda Wheat uses agency funds to print brochures reading, "Eisenhower High School, San Bernardino, CA, welcomes former student and NCUA Board Member Yolanda Townsend Wheat," for an appearance there. Wheat had been class valedictorian in 1979 * A new form of member dissatisfaction emerges as a survey finds members are strongly unhappy over slow response to e-mail questions * EFT consolidation becomes a windfall for many credit unions and groups as shares are acquired * With coffee bars and Internet caf?'s, some suggest credit unions have lost sight of what a credit union branch should be * California, Washington and Oregon leagues form "Association of the West" that offers services from each league to members in each state * With pressure on salaries from dot.coms, CUNA Mutual rolls out a program that offers performance bonus similar to "stock options" in publicly traded companies * JoAnn Johnson, a former Iowa legislator who is the daughter-in-law of former NCUA Executive Director Don Johnson, is nominated for NCUA board * Small CUs object to NCUA plan for quarterly reporting.

PASADENA, Calif. - Rather than seek a community charter that would take it out of a niche it has served so well, Los Angeles Firemen's CU found a way to expand the niche and dig deeper into it.

LAKE MARY, Fla. - Warren Cole, senior lending consultant for the Lending Solutions Group of Harland Financial Solutions, is urging credit unions to take a very hard look at the affect of the economy on their real estate portfolios. He cautioned CUs are not immune to the potential "valuation shock," which may affect their home equity or mortgage loans.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Columbia Credit Union said members elected seven new directors and five new members of its supervisory committee, successfully eliminating from its governance a group of dissident members who defeated the credit union's bid to convert to a bank.

Carol Aranjo: Former CEO of the D. Edward wells FCU, Springfield, Mass., and one-time chairwoman of the NFCDCU; was sued by NCUA for embezzlement after it placed the CU into conservatorship and is now under indictment.

OLYMPIA, Washington - The state Department of Financial Institutions here announced a settlement with payday lender Check 'N Go of Washington Inc., following an investigation and charges filed by the department last August.

McLEAN, Va. - Secondary mortgage market giant Freddie Mac reported a 50-basis-point drop (0.5%) in long-term interest rates caused it to lose $550 million for the third quarter, and the second-largest purchaser of home mortgages expects to report a loss for its fourth quarter, too. The shift in long-term rates caused the company to write-down the fair market value of its derivatives and guarantee transactions.

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