WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If 1997 and 1998 proved nothing else it was that credit unions do their best creative work when their backs are against the wall.

Miller Named To Head Up ACCU

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - In a year dominated by efforts to get legislation passed that would allow credit unions to expand to serve new groups, plenty of other news also happened. Below are some of the highlights from The Credit Union Journal's pages in 1998: * The CU Journal hosts a roundtable of tech execs, and while Internet-enabled technologies are good part of discussion, so are security threats * NCUA gets expanded powers over CUSOs to monitor for Y2K * An increase in interest in private share insurance is seen as more CUs move to state charters * Some credit unions begin using laptops to take loan applications from members on site * AEA FCU in California, which serves an electronics-related FOM, webcasts its annual meeting * Credit unions meet as part of "Williamsburg Group" to discuss national EFT group * More credit unionists get involved in running for office themselves * Some CUs roll out campaigns built around themes of helping members save $2,000 or reduce debt by $2,000 by the year 2000 * President Clinton says he will veto a bankruptcy reform bill (the bill will not pass for another seven years) * In early 1998, Callahan & Associates reports that 1,341 CUs are online * Nancy Pierce becomes second female chair of CUNA * Hewlett Packard Employees FCU publishes its annual report via CD-ROM * CUNA CEO Dan Mica identifies a new rival, pawn shops, noting for the first time there are more pawn shops in the U.S. than credit unions n A number of credit union leaders meet to form pools of liquidity in preparation for widespread cash withdrawals just prior to Y2K n Utah's CUs collect 57,000-plus names on petitions in less than two weeks to require state legislature to consider a bill to reverse court ruling banning multiple county FOM * CUES announces program to boost minority participation in CU management. * A branch manager at Mountain America CU files suit against the Utahns for Fair Taxation, a bank-fronted group, after it uses a photo of her personal Lexus to suggest that credit union profits were going to employees who are now doing as well as their "wealthy customers." * U.S. FCU launches program to train board members on using technology * Dan Kampen takes over as CEO of U.S. Central * Court denies appeal by 94 Washington-area CUs over 1995 liquidation by NCUA of Capital Corporate FCU * A study released in 1998 finds that in 1997, for the first time fee income contributed more toward banks' profitability than all other net income sources and expenses combined. * Credit unions report that one of the growing titles at CUs is Security Officer. * The Credit Union Journal is acquired by Faulkner & Gray, Jan. 28, 1998 * Some merchants report problems with credit cards that have expiration date of "00." Card processors say any problems are isolated * Russell Clark exits NCUA and joins New Jersey league as CEO * Reports from NCUA are that board member Yolanda Wheat and Chairman Norman D'Amours are not speaking to each other, with board member Dennis Dollar asked to act as a go-between * Maine-based CU Financial Services starts soliciting credit unions nationally to convert to savings bank charters * Reflecting a swing congressional swing toward Republicans, CUNA hires Carl Parks as its chief lobbyist * Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa says there will be no dismantling of credit unions * The Campaign for Consumer Choice backs off pledge to refund any funds left over from fight to get legislation passed * CUNA Mutual and Stanford FCU partner to offer SFCU's "Cyberbranch" to other CUs * Texas Gov. George W. Bush, a long-shot candidate for the president in 2000, has breakfast with two Texas CU reps * US Central unveils secondary market for car loans called AutoPilot * The DC league mulls merging with another league * The Texas Share Guaranty Credit Union, a cooperative share insurance program, finishes its liquidation * In some 22 focus groups hosted by the Credit Union Values campaign found that when consumers were asked to choose animals associated with banks, they chose flesh-eating alligators, snakes, lions with prey and pigs * One analyst recalls the day he had one of the earliest smart cards, which was embossed with the name "Stolen Card." When he presents it to a teller, she says, "How may I help you, Mr. Card?" * Members of Wetex Credit Union in Texas vote on a new name: Wetex Credit Union * Ian Harper a leading Australian academic, tells credit unions meeting at a World Council event in South Africa to "give up the tax fight,' as it comes with strings attached * The Washington league becomes the first to do a webcast * Hurricane Georges pounds credit unions in the Florida keys and Gulf Coast. In Pascagoula, Miss., Chevron Pascagoula FCU reported killing 26 snakes after the water had receded * The Veterans of Foreign Wars obtains approval to charter a new credit union. Some 140 people sign up at VFW conference * The National Association of Retired Credit Union People (NARCUP) changes its name to MEMBERS Prime Club * Community Credit Union, Plano, Texas, partners with Bank One to offer a line of business-loan products * As of the third quarter of 1998, 1,865 CUs had websites, up 60% from year-end 1997. 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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Top 10 stories of 1998 could well all be related to one thing: getting the Credit Union Membership Access Act passed by Congress.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The direct merger of Nationwide FCU and Nationwide Bank has been completed and the payout of some $79 million will be deposited into member accounts on Jan. 8.

* The wife of a Tulsa Police officer was accidentally shot while in her car and leaving FOP CU by another officer who mistook her for a suspect in a nearby robbery.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Credit Union Journal picked a heck of a year to debut, as 1997 was the year that changed the credit union community forever.

Events

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri Electric Co-op Employees CU has taken the old saw of "the credit union difference" and turned it into a viable, profitable value proposition.

WASHINGTON - The landslide vote in Congress in favor of the Credit Union Membership Access Act would suggest to outsiders the bill was a slam-dunk. For credit unions, however, the bill's passage came only after the movement was slammed and dunked in the court system at both the state and federal level.

WASHINGTON - One of the first acts of the House Financial Services Committee in the new Congress will be a renewed effort to set a new regulatory scheme for the secondary mortgage market, which will include a provision requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to set aside as much as $750 million a year in affordable housing funding.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Credit Union Journal is celebrating its 10th birthday!

Some ten years ago we were perhaps a bit audacious in this space in comparing the launch of this brand new publication, The Credit Union Journal, by making a reference to 19th century credit union pioneer Fredrick Raiffeisen. Call it a stretch goal, one the Credit Union Journal continues to stretch to meet with every issue.

* The wife of a Tulsa Police officer was accidentally shot while in her car and leaving FOP CU by another officer who mistook her for a suspect in a nearby robbery.

WASHINGTON - One of the first acts of the House Financial Services Committee in the new Congress will be a renewed effort to set a new regulatory scheme for the secondary mortgage market, which will include a provision requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to set aside as much as $750 million a year in affordable housing funding.

NCUA Clears Counseling For Non-Members

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - After the world didn't end with Y2K, credit unions moved on with plenty of newsworthy developments during 2000. Among them: * Two Indiana CUs were hit by pipe bombs * Security Service FCU, in a joint promotion, has its name printed on 1.25 million cans of Mountain Dew. The theme: "Do the Dew with SSFCU." * The first talking ATM makes its debut * Polish & Slavic FCU pays $185,000 fine to settle civil money laundering charges and its conservatorship is ended. The credit union had sent 6,000 money transfers to Poland without notifying authorities. Later, members of Polish & Slavic FCU picket outside NCUA's headquarters * Vista FCU offers a CD bonus tied to a member's age as part of its birthday * One New England credit union found its web page defaced by alternating arguments between two hackers over who had defaced the page first * Manny Prupes, the founder of Symitar, dies * In his last remarks at GAC, NCUA Chairman Norm D'Amours offers biting, critical remarks. "It is distressing to watch the credit union movement slowly but inexorably moving away from its early emphasis on empowering people of small means." * Plans are announced to build a Credit Union House in Washington. Ground is broken in October * Frank Lynch, president of the Irish league, is killed in a car accident * Arthur Arnold of the Netherlands is named to head up the World Council * Six months after going public, former credit union IGA FCU, now IGA FSB, is subject of takeover attempt * eBay reaches deal allowing individual consumers to pay each other with credit cards * Texas Rep. Joe Barton blames his credit union for selling his name to Victoria's Secret. Barton is later informed his name was sold by his card processor * The Golden 1, Sacramento, is OK'd by California's regulator to serve more than five-million people; Wescom CU, USE CU, gets OK to serve 10-million residents * CUNA rolls out Project Differentiation program with the mailing of 5,000 kits * In Miami, an elementary school named after Hubert Sibley, Jr., president of Dade County School Employees FCU, opens * Stanford FCU spins off its wholly owned CUSO, CyberBranch, to be run by CU's CEO, Warren Marshall * A Mexican CU that fails leaves 58,000 members wondering about their $160-million worth of deposits * USE CU, San Diego, is first financial institution in country to offer wireless Internet account access on an institution-wide basis * Dallas County Employees FCU dangles a reward for attending its annual meeting: Pokemon cards * Security companies that attempt "white hat" hacks of CU data systems emerge * Riverside County's CU dusts off an old idea, and finds it popular - it gives away toasters * A PriceWaterhouseCoooper's survey, conducted at the behest of The Credit Union Journal, finds 57% of the top 30 CU sites in California violated law with no conspicuous privacy policy * A study by the Filene Institute polls 454 CEOs and finds, service to low and moderate income folks ranked near bottom of list of both values and practices * As part of a fraud attempt, seven defendants are indicated for creating a phony credit union in California * CUs have a heightened presence for first time at two major political conventions n A trio of female bandits, nicknamed Charlie's Angels, is finally nabbed in California * Credit union profitability rockets 16% during the first half of the year due to investments * NCUA, expressing concern over the number of CUs switching to state charter, says it will not join in a "competition of laxity" with state lawmarkers, and urged restraint on the part of some state regulators * Internet fraud gets all the attention, but old-fashioned check fraud remains a big problem, at $13 billion in 2000, with TowerGroup projecting it will grow 10% annually * The Alaska league announces it will allow its affiliates to also belong to other state leagues * Struggling to build a retail branch presence (ironically), Internet banks begin forming relationships with other retailers, such as MailBoxes, Etc. * Identity theft begins to emerge as a threat. The Credit Union Journal profiles one Texas man who was known to have at least 16 people using his identity * CUs commit funds to study of alternatives to federal insurance * CIMCO, the investment advisory group owned by CUNA Mutual, changes its name to MEMBERS Capital Advisors * CUES breaks ground for a new office in Fitchburg, Wis. * Bethex FCU, New York, enters into agreement with RiteCheck Cashing * Barbara Glenron, CEO of County of Henrico FCU, Virginia, wins $10.6 million in the state lottery. Glenron did not retire, and stayed aboard until a satisfactory replacement was in place * Reynolds Carolina FCU built a park on its property dedicated to cancer victims * California CUs release study finding most consumers know NOTHING about credit unions * An application is filed in Virginia for an Internet only credit union * SECU launches payday loan service * .coop is OK'd as a domain name * Meriwest CU forms an "e" division * Fred Becker named to succeed Ken Robinson at NAFCU n After seven months of comment, Dennis Dollar pulls his reg flex initiative in October after it is apparent the other two board members won't support it * The CU Journal switches to newspaper stock * Account aggregators, or "screen-scrapers," emerge as a new form of competition n CUs start setting records for political fundraising. CUNA pours $3 million into races * By a 417-4 tally, credit unions object in comment letters to NCUA's Community Action Plan. But in October, D'Amours and board member Yoland Wheat vote in favor of CAP, even though one member of Congress had already said he'd file legislation to repeal it.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.-The world didn't end. That may be 2000's lead story.

KENSINGTON, Md. - Members of Lafayette FCU alleged improprieties in the vote to convert the credit union to a bank and called on NCUA last week to invalidate the ballot, which passed by a razor-thin margin of just 18 votes out of almost 5,100 cast.

When things settle down, people will discover that this legislation (HR 1151) is not ideal. -Nancy Pierce