SUNNYVALE, Calif. -

BROCKTON, Mass. - Text messaging and e-documents may be the latest, but they’re not always the greatest.

MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin’s CUs have thrown their support behind a bill introduced in the state legislature that would enact some of the Payment Card Industry data security rules as law and make parties responsible for data breaches pay the costs accrued by their customers, including credit unions.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Golden 1 Credit Union has introduced a web-based college planning service offered by Collegiate Funding Solutions (CFS).

BOSTON - Mobile operators anticipate that 25% of subscribers will regularly use mobile banking by the end of 2009, compared to approximately 7% at the end of 2007, a new study shows.

LAS VEGAS–CheckFree is preparing to unveil a new release of its online banking platform.

MADISON, Wis. - Clever images, elaborate passwords and maiden names aren’t enough to secure members’ accounts online. So credit unions seem to be bolstering those popular multi-factor authentication (MFA) features with stronger measures: digital certificates and biometrics.

SAN DIEGO - Cost efficiencies may be the most often cited reason for outsourcing, but there is another critical, emerging driver for the trend: risk management.

LAS VEGAS - Affinity FCU has completed a beta on a branch item capture solution that it is projecting will pay for itself within one year.

FACEBOOK.com - Twenty credit union executives logged in to Facebook.com in two weeks to post their technology plans as part of the Technology Wish List 2008–and revealed that social networking and mobile banking are the technologies to watch this year.

SAN DIEGO - In my opinion, every core system is a rewrite waiting to happen.

LAS VEGAS - When a consumer goes online to shop for a mortgage, there’s a chance they will shop their credit union’s website. But there’s an equally good chance they’ll search Google or Yahoo or LendingTree, where it’s unlikely their CU will ever appear.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Don’t think for a minute that KeyPoint Credit Union just wants to hook up with Generation Y as a result of the pioneering mobile-banking service it launched last month at Facebook.com.

SAN DIEGO - Originally intended as a tree-saver, the document management system at USA Federal Credit Union here evolved to shoulder the weight of the credit union’s business continuity plan (BCP) during the recent California wildfires.

Last year we used in our planning recommendations from your tech panel on technology issues to prepare for in 2007. Could your panel again provide a checklist of tech issues to be aware of, plan for in 2008?

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Fire Credit Union here is the best financial institution in the city, says the online community at the local yelp.com, a U.S. city review site. And not surprisingly, membership growth is also something to shout about: the credit union adds 4.5% to its membership annually.

LAS VEGAS - Credit unions are making a lot more decisions about core processing changes than banks, according to one company that serves both types of charter.

LAS VEGAS -

LAS VEGAS - A reduction in the amount of fee income banks are earning means that banks must now change the way they charge fees and package those fees, according to one analyst.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. Pawtucket CU said yesterday it has contracted with Open Solutions for the company’s image based and processing solutions.