IMGCAP(1)]

Collection Industry insiders understand that their business supports the economy, helps lenders and retailers recoup costs and tames prices on goods for all of us, but John Q. Public only remembers that his third cousin's fishing buddy once heard from a rude collector.

By Jane Adler

Home prices have plunged. Mortgage payments are set to jump. And now this: more and more homeowners are walking away from their mortgages, returning the keys to lenders rather than trying to keep up with rising payments on deteriorating assets.

WEST JORDAN, Utah - When the employees of Mountain America Credit Union (MACU) here are happy, members find it contagious.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Some people may just titter and then toss aside the notion of Twitter, but a few credit unions are serious about the social networking site. (See related story, page 25.)

SEATTLE - Many members won’t touch credit union e-mails with a 10-foot pole, thanks to phishing scams–and some CUs say they don’t know what to do to salvage the low-cost, high-risk marketing tool.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - KeyPoint Credit Union is the one to watch in CU mobile banking, with more than half of all members logging-in to the service.

SALEM, Ore. - Twitter: some describe it as “Facebook-lite,” or a “mini-blogger.” To others, it’s tricked-out instant messaging–“but all of your friends see your message, so it is a little more of a broadcast note about what’s going on,” according to Robbie Wright, a “tweeter” and general manager, fi-linx, the CUSO of MaPS CU here. (See related story, page 25.)

HILO, Hawaii - The one-person mortgage department at $66-million Big Island FCU here doesn’t need to use pen and paper for any part of the lending process, from origination to reconciliation–and hasn’t for more than a decade.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Mobile banking is slow out of the gate at many credit unions, with most adoption rates idling well under 10%. But IT leaders wager that as members move toward devices with unlimited data plans and wireless services get cheaper, usage will spike.

IMGCAP(1)]

IMGCAP(1)]

IMGCAP(1)]

IMGCAP(1)]

Consumers lodged 70,951 complaints of violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by third-party debt collectors last year, 2.4% more than the 69,249 complaints received during 2006, according to the Federal Trade Commission's annual report, released March 21.

IMGCAP(1)]

IMGCAP(1)]

ORANGE, Calif. - Shoot off an e-mail. Pick up the phone. Have a face-to-face. And–at some credit unions–roll cameras.

WAUWATOSA, Wis. - A Harley Davidson owner logged-in and nicknamed his online account “07 Bagger.” One of the credit union tellers dubbed her checking account “Never Enough.”