WAUKEGAN, Ill. – Consumers CU said it has deployed VMware Infrastructure, a datacenter virtualization and management suite, as the enterprise-wide business platform for its rapidly expanding operations.

Encore Capital Group of San Diego, a buyer and manager of charged-off credit card and other consumer receivables, said Monday that it swung to a profit in the second quarter, helped by declining interest expenses.

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The 15 largest debt buyers last year purchased a combined face value estimated between $25.1 billion and $37.7 billion in delinquent credit card accounts, or 60% to 90% of total debt purchases of $41.9 billion, according to a survey by CardLine sister publication Collections & Credit Risk. The survey revealed the total face value of all types of accounts purchased by the top-ranked buyers–including such noncard accounts as utility debt, auto deficiencies, home equity lines of credit and more exotic assets such as health club membership dues–increased 32.2% from nearly $31.7 billion in purchases made during 2006. The credit card debt purchased included Visa, MasterCard, Discover and private-label credit cards. The debt purchasers did not estimate the total spent to purchase the accounts. Credit card charge-offs not yet placed with a collection agency are being sold for approximately 7 cents to 9 cents on the dollar. The amount can fall to as low as fractions of a cent on the dollar for delinquent accounts previously worked by several collection agencies. The top five U.S. debt purchasers by face value, as ranked by Collections & Credit Risk, are Sherman Financial Group, New York; Unifund, Cincinnati; Asset Acceptance Capital Corp., Warren, Mich.; Encore Capital Group, San Diego; and Portfolio Recovery Associates, Norfolk, Va.

VISTA, Calif. – Bluepoint Solutions, a provider of Check21 and multi-factor identification software technology for financial institutions, said it has agreed to acquire Avalon International, a provider of .Net technology solutions for image payment and advanced item processing.

Metavante Technologies Inc. announced yesterday it has created CustomPay for National Payment Network Inc., an El Segundo, Calif.-based company that creates loan acceleration products for auto companies. The product enables consumers to reschedule car-loan payments and can help those who have fallen behind on loans repay their debts more quickly than the terms of the original loan, Jeff Lewis, president of Metavante's ePayment Solutions division, tells CardLine. "It brings in the discipline that the consumer normally wouldn't apply to help them pay off the loan faster," Lewis says. While Metavante created the program at National Payment Network's request, it has considered offering a similar product to other companies, Lewis says. CustomPay works by combining Metavante's prepaid-processing, online bill-payment and automated clearing house systems, Lewis says. CustomPay customers sign up to have part of their payroll automatically deducted and set aside to pay their car loan, Lewis says. Milwaukee-based Metavante's ACH system moves the funds, which are held in a prepaid account, and the lender is paid through Metavante's bill-payment system, Lewis says. Companies also can use the product for mortgages and other types of long-term loans, Lewis says. CustomPay benefits lenders because borrowers are more likely to pay off their loans using the product. It benefits consumers because they pay the principal on the loan down more quickly because they make payments from every paycheck, so they pay less interest, Lewis says.

LOS ANGELES – Xceed FCU, known until recently as Xerox FCU, yesterday said it has selected Captive Indoor Media’s CaptiveMeetings as its platform to be used for its corporate web conferencing tool.

UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas – Randolph-Brooks FCU yesterday said it contracted with Travitor Media to implement the company’s online Enterprise Learning Management System.

August 2008 Issue

August 2008 Issue

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WINDSOR, Ontario - You’re the short, blue alien with two long antennae, trying to hover your way across town to the credit union, where you’ll deposit the coins you grab on your journey.

TACOMA, Wash. - Don’t expect technology to lend a helping hand as credit unions delve into FHA loans.

SUITLAND, Md. - Andrews FCU has added a series of free financial webcasts for members through its Online Education Center. The new education webcasts, each approximately five minutes in length, highlight various financial topics like budgeting, credit management, teaching kids about money and college planning, the credit union said.

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. - Online account opening is bolstering rewards checking and cross-sales, according to two credit unions–one is seeing more than two-thirds of all new members use an instant opening tool to apply for its rewards product.

SAN ANTONIO - Air Force Credit Union here has made a “world of difference” in network security by purging multiple systems-firewall, intrusion detection and prevention, virtual private network and e-mail and web filtering–and consolidating them into one appliance.