Performance reports

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Allegacy FCU, which reported a $25.1 million loss for 2008 and a $1 million first quarter net, reported Friday it is closing one branch.

MADISON, Wis. – CUNA Mutual Group, coming off a $149 million loss for 2008, said last week it is cutting 73 positions as part of a plan to reduce expenses by $50 million a year.

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — Adding a debit card to its product mix has helped one $13-million CU grow by $2 million in assets over the last two years.

WASHINGTON — It's not only corporate credit unions that are being affected directly by their investments in membership capital shares at U.S. Central, as CUNA, which is also a member of U.S. Central, said it charged-off 23% of its MCS, and will probably take additional charges in the future.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — With delinquencies growing, many credit unions are scurrying to improve collections processes and outsource some of the work.

SAN ANTONIO — Even if a credit union has not seen a sharp increase in delinquencies, one CU is advising not waiting until a crisis occurs before establishing an outsourcing arrangement with a third-party collections company.

BALTIMORE, Md. — While many institutions are laying off employees, merging, or closing their doors entirely, one credit union is expanding and actively hiring new employees.

WASHINGTON – The Electronic Payments Coalition, comprised of banks and credit unions, vowed yesterday to fight a new bill that would allow large retailers to negotiate bilateral interchange fee agreements on transactions with card issuers.

ATLANTA – The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, which lost $1.5 million in the first quarter, announced yesterday the cancellation of a first quarter dividend.

OREM, Utah – Family First FCU, which has been weighed down by large losses the past two years, said it has named Kent Moore, a long-time executive at Mountain America CU, to be its president and CEO.

WASHINGTON – CUNA, which has been struggling with large losses, said yesterday it will furlough all employees for a week of unpaid leave and stop making matching 401(k) retirement account payments to help stem its declining financial situation.

PLANO, Texas – Fast-growing EDS CU has applied to state regulators to acquire troubled First America FCU in Santa Ana, creating a presence in southern California.

FLINT, Mich. – Credit unions are searching for new ways to help the beleaguered auto workers after Monday’s bankruptcy filing by General Motors, but most of them have been offering special programs for years to stem the demise of America’s car industry.

VICTORVILLE, Calif. — If NCUA chooses to level the land rather than pay the tab to maintain all the homes it owns in Florida's depressed real estate market, it wouldn't be the first to tear down rather than maintain homes.

WASHINGTON — Commercial banks and thrifts insured by the FDIC reported net income of $7.6 billion in the first quarter of 2009, a decline of 61%, from the $19.3 billion that the industry earned in the first quarter of 2008.

AUSTIN, Tex. — With rising crime and vandalism prompting one lender to bulldoze homes rather than incur increasing costs to carry the foreclosed properties, are some Florida houses owned by CUs and the NCUA next to be demolished?

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Corporate bailout charges combined with the spreading recession that forced credit unions to move billions more into loan loss reserves, created the worst quarter ever for credit unions during the first three months of the year, according to NCUA.

HOUSTON — Smart Financial Credit Union reports it shrunk its delinquency ratio from three times above peer average to three times below by removing "rigid" collections policies and making them very flexible.

APPLE VALLEY, Calif. – At least three large credit unions, including New Jersey’s Affinity FCU, were in town over the past two weeks to review possible takeovers of High Desert FCU and The Members Own CU, two of the most troubled credit unions in the state.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – At least a half dozen credit union giants were approved to absorb ailing smaller credit unions last month, as NCUA struggles to keep the costs down to resolve troubled credit unions.