Gadgetwise Blog: Tip of the Week: Customizing Folder Previews

If you would prefer to give your desktop folders a more distinctive look so you can find certain ones more easily, you can choose a specific picture to peep out of each folder instead **** Gadgetwise Blog: Tip of the Week: Customizing Folder Previews:

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Sunday Reading - Where Beatniks Come From

Where Beatniks Come From An introduction to the Beat Generation The Beat Generation was an American literary movement that rose to prominence in the 1950s. A loosely affiliated collection of poets, novelists, playwrights, publishers, and other artists reacted to what they considered an anti-intellectual and homogeneous social order following World War II. The writing of the Beat Generation used experimental forms, surreal imagery, and vernacular language, and emphasized the importance of " spontaneous prose " to mimic the improvisation of jazz. Although the Beats praised canonical poets like William Blake, Arthur Rimbaud, and Walt Whitman, much of their work sought to rebel against literary tradition. The Beats' radical politics and nonconformity influenced several subsequent countercultural ...

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Why First Responder Credit Unions Are Built to Adopt Blockchain Faster

For years, blockchain in financial services lived mostly in the world of experimentation—proofs of concept, pilot programs, and innovation labs that rarely touched day-to-day operations. That era is ending. Today, blockchain adoption is moving from experimentation to scale. Across payments, capital markets, and banking infrastructure, financial institutions are beginning to operate on new rails—powered by tokenized money, programmable assets, and always-on settlement models. For credit unions serving first responders, this shift presents not just a technology opportunity, but a strategic one. Blockchain Is Becoming Core Infrastructure The most important change isn’t the technology itself—it’s how it’s being used. Blockchain is no longer about testing what might work. It’s increasingly being deployed as infrastructure to solve long-standing problems in financial services, including slow settlement, trapped liquidity, manual reconciliation, and limited operating hours. Cr...

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No New Pennies, New Rules: Treasury Sets Guidance For Cash Transactions

WASHINGTON—For credit unions and their members, the penny’s long goodbye is no longer theoretical—it’s operational. Just before Christmas the U.S. Treasury quietly released a detailed set of Penny Production Cessation FAQs, confirming that the federal government has stopped manufacturing new pennies and laying out how businesses, financial institutions, and consumers should prepare as the coin gradually slips out of everyday use. The move reflects a basic math problem: It now costs 3.69 cents to produce a single penny, nearly triple its cost a decade ago. Treasury estimates halting production will save taxpayers $56 million annually, while acknowledging that the coin’s purchasing power—and relevance—has steadily eroded in an economy dominated by electronic payments. What Changes At The Register—And What Doesn’t Despite the halt in production, pennies are not being eliminated. Roughly 114 billion pennies remain in circulation, and the Federal Reserve will continue recirculati...

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Economic and Industry Issues

Weekly News Summary - July 30, 2020 Press Release For Immediate Release Weekly News Summary Hello NCOFCU Members, Here are some things that were in the news last week. Please share these articles with your Supervisory Committee and Board of Directors. If you missed previous editions of the weekly news, summaries of those can be viewed at our archive . Have a great week! Mike Richards, CPA The Callahan Credit Union A...

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TruStage To Launch TSDA, Bringing Stablecoin Infrastructure To Community FIs

MADISON, Wis.— TruStage Tuesday today announced the planned launch of TruStage Stablecoin (TSDA), a fully reserved U.S. dollar stablecoin. At its core, TSDA is designed to broaden access to digital payment infrastructure for community-based financial institutions, TruStage explained. “A trusted partner of credit unions for more than 90 years, TruStage currently works with more than 93% of 4,300+ credit unions nationwide, which collectively hold more than $2 trillion in assets. TruStage Stablecoin will be among the very first stablecoins specific to community based financial institutions and is supported by decades of industry relationships, financial strength, and operational excellence,” TruStage said. “In my career working with credit unions, I’ve never witnessed the level of engagement surrounding any technology advancement similar to what I’m seeing with stablecoin solutions right now,” said Brian Kaas, president and managing director of TruStage Ventures, the venture capital arm o...

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As Mortgage Rates Continue to Rise, Refinancings Plunge

10/02/2022 10:40 am CUToday WASHINGTON–With mortgage rates hitting highs not seen in more than a decade, refinancings continue to plunge and volume is considerably below where it was one year ago. Mortgage application volume declined 3.7% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index, after what some analysts called a “strange rebound” the week before. Applications to refinance a home loan declined 11% for the week and were 84% lower than the same week one year ago. They are now at a 22-year low, the MBA data show. Meanwhile, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages wi...

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The NCOFCU Podcast: Clear Insight. No Jargon.

Every week, we cover the latest trends and developments within the credit union industry. At NCOFCU, we are dedicated to providing you with insightful discussions that cut through the clutter. Our podcast features expert opinions, in-depth analyses, and an exploration of the challenges and opportunities that credit unions, directors, and staff face today. Join us as we navigate the evolving industry and empower associations with the knowledge they need to thrive. https://ceohp.podbean.com/ ================================================= Remember, you're not alone with NCOFCU.org Join/Upgrade Check out some of NCOFCU's additional features: First Responder Credit Union Academy Financial Literacy Podcasts YouTube Mini's Blog Job Board

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7 Things to Do (And Avoid) with SMS/Text in Credit Union Marketing

By not using SMS text messaging for marketing, you are missing a channel with a 98% open rate and a rapid response rate. Consumers love the convenience and are open to receiving personalized and relevant texts from their bank and credit union. Naturally there are some caveats to be aware of. Here are seven pointers. Are you content to have your customers take 90 minutes to respond back to a communication you’ve sent, or would 90 seconds be better? That’s the difference in average response times between email and SMS text. Then there is the open rate: SMS texts have high open rates — up to 98%, according to Gartner and 82% by another source. The average open rate of email is around 20%. If you send an email with a link to a survey to find out what a consumer thinks about the virtual meeting with a lending officer they just had, it may linger in the consumers’ inbox for days, at which point the experience is no longer top-of-mind or the consumer decides to simply delete the ...

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Next Gen of Payments Could Leave ACH System Behind, Bank CEO Cautions

NEW YORK–The next generation of payments could leave the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system behind as stablecoins and tokenized deposits move into the banking core, according to one bank CEO. Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long said during a discussion with TheStreet Roundtable host Scott Melker that the “tokenized dollars are going to be big. Yes, there’s a distinction between tokenized bank deposits and stablecoins. Yes, right now, all the activity is in stablecoins, but we’re going to link the two in a safe and sound way.” During the discussion, Long cited Citi’s upgraded forecast for the sector, which now projects between $3 trillion and $4 trillion in stablecoins outstanding by 2030, according to Yahoo Finance, which noted Long believes even that range is far too conservative. “Those numbers are still too low,” she said. “I think they’re way too low.” According to Long, the innovation lies in embedding blockchain technology directly into the banking infrastructure rath...

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Mastering Mortgages - A little History for the Day

Mastering Mortgages Background Mortgages are a type of property loan that financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, can offer when a prospective buyer decides against paying a property’s full cost in cash. The lender provides funds to the borrower to purchase the property, and the borrower pays them back over a fixed time period, typically between 10 and 30 years. On top of paying back the base cost of the property, also called the “principal,” the borrower pays monthly interest to the lender. Most buyers also pay a down payme...

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