Lending

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA on Friday reported it has approved another 69 credit unions for its low-income designation – including dozens of the nation’s biggest credit unions – enabling them to skirt congressional limits on member business loans and to raise secondary capital, as enabling legislation in Congress appears dead.

MILWAUKEE – Richard Jungen, the founder of Central States Mortgage Co., which grew to become Wisconsin’s biggest mortgage company, along with three associates was charged in a federal indictment unsealed last week with a scheme to defraud the CUSO’s 25 credit union investors by siphoning more than $9 million to themselves.

WASHINGTON – Average mortgage rates retreated again for the third week in a row, amid declining consumer confidence and the partial shutdown of the federal government, according to Freddie Mac.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Redwood CU and Community Action Partnership Sonoma rolled out a collaborative lending program that aims to provide up to $1 million in loans to microbusinesses and start-ups for graduates of CAP Sonoma’s microbusiness development program.

WAUSAU, Wis. – Connexus CU said it has purchased Financial Institution Lending Options LLC, a company that provides financial institutions with auto loans through pool sales, participation pools or whole loan flow sales.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco will recommence participation in the Mortgage Partnership Finance Program and again purchase conventional, conforming, fixed-rate mortgage loans and FHA/VA-insured mortgage loans from member credit unions and banks in California, Arizona and Nevada.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A federal court here awarded Sperry Associates FCU a $4.5 million default judgment in a four-year-old suit over loan participations the New York credit union purchased from CU Business Capital LLC, the member business loan CUSO owned by defunct Eastern Financial Florida CU.

MADISON, Wis. – Filene Research Institute is readying an incubator to develop products aimed at low- and moderate-income consumers.

WASHINGTON – The Small Business Administration said it is waiving all fees on loans made through its guaranteed 7(a) Loan Program in the amount of $150,000 or less starting Oct. 1.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates declined for the fourth week in a row to nine-week lows, after climbing to two-year highs in August, according to Freddie Mac.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. – Digital FCU on Thursday said it signed a deal with SunPower Corp., a San Jose, Calif.-based maker of solar power systems, to provide up to $100 million in financing for residential solar projects – which the credit union plans to participate out to area credit unions.

LAS VEGAS–While most CU executives are worried about the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new mortgage regulations, one CEO thinks those fear-inducing rules will actually present a "big opportunity" for credit unions.

LAS VEGAS – Credit unions should see the “opportunity in the challenge” offered by the new mortgage rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

WASHINGTON -- Battered by defaults on loans it insures, the Federal Housing Administration is expected to tap the Treasury Department for $1 billion to $1.5 billion to plug a budget shortfall, according to three people familiar with the agency's finances.

A new study found that it could be time for CUs to change their attitude about "predatory" payday lenders. That's because payday lenders often charge less than 75% of what depository institutions do for a $100 cash loan.

LAS VEGAS – As the credit union mortgage business transitions from a refi market to a purchase market, CUs are having to make “hard decisions” about their sales staff.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates declined this week, after a long-term rise, as signs of a weakening economic recovery emerged, according to Freddie Mac.

LAKE BLUFF, Ill. – Even though credit union and bank balance sheets have improved since the financial crisis, loan growth has mostly stalled or has fallen at small credit unions and community banks, according to a new study from Moebs $ervices.