Firefighter Credit Union Newsroom

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—No Share Insurance Fund premium will be needed now to bolster the NCUSIF, the NCUA board stated Thursday, as the equity ratio of the fund stood at 1.23% at the close of the second quarter and is projected to be 1.28% at year-end. However, two board members shared concerns over the fund’s status. The 1.28% is eight basis points away from the 1.20% statutory floor for the fund, when a restoration plan would be required. NCUA reported second quarter financial statistics show the NCUSIF recorded net income of $46.3 million and total income of $60 million. Operating expenses were $51.1 million for the quarter. READ MORE

SALINAS, Calif.–allU.S. Credit Union has switched to Dolphin Debit for management of its ATMs. The credit union, which serves the employees of Monterey County as well as the local community, said it moved to Dolphin Debit, the full-service ATM management company, after tiring of its former service provider’s inability to maintain the fleet in good working order or even to determine when some of the ATMs went completely out of service. As an example, CEO Patrick Redo recalls thieves actually stealing one of the ATMs that the credit union had placed in a Monterey County facility. The previous provider didn’t realize the theft had taken place until the county’s security people discovered it, according to the company. “On a weekend the thieves came in and attached a chain and dragged it through the door,” Redo said. “But it was typical because our prior vendor never knew when the ATMs were operating or not.” If ATMs went down, the credit union usually learned of the outages from card...

WASHINGTON–Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), believes one of the benchmarks being proposed as a replacement for LIBOR has “no clothes.” Gary Gensler In remarks before the Alternative Reference Rates Committee’s SOFR Symposium, Gensler said he was sharing his own views and not those of the SEC, and his view does not align with many of those backing a move to the Bloomberg Short-Term Bank Yield Index from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). “As some of you may know, when the topic of LIBOR comes up, I sometimes find myself thinking about Hans Christian Andersen and Warren Buffett. Others of you might be wondering why I’d mention these two men — born 125 years and an ocean apart — in the context of LIBOR,” Gensler told the meeting. “Well, as Hans Christian Andersen wrote in his famous folktale, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ the emperor has no clothes.” And who is the emperor? It’s many of the replacement rates being suggested to fill LIBO...

ARLINGTON, Va.—On a seasonally adjusted basis, overall consumer prices rose 0.3% in August, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting the overall consumer price index (CPI) grew 5.2% over the 12-month period. Economists with both credit union trade associations saw some good news in the numbers. NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long noted that this is the "slowest increase in both CPI and Core CPI since February." Core prices (excluding food and energy costs) rose 0.1% compared to July. Year-over-year core CPI growth was 4%. "Prices dropped for used vehicles (-1.5%), hotel rates (-3.3%), and airfare (-9.1%) after rapid increase earlier this summer," said Long. "This is the first decline in auto prices since January." Energy prices rose 1.6% during the month, following a 1.5% rise in June. From a year ago, energy prices were up 23.6%. Additionally, food prices rose 0.7% in July and were up 3.4% compared to this time last year....

  OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.––WEOKIE Credit Union has become the latest to announce a significant reduction in its overdraft fee. The $1.3-billion WEOKIE said it is reducing its NSF charge by nearly 50%, cutting the fee to $15 per occurrence from $27.50. WEOKIE Federal Credit Union is the first financial institution in Oklahoma to announce a decrease of their members’ overdraft and non-sufficient funds service charges by almost 50%. The applies to all accounts, including checking and savings. “WEOKIE strives to be a positive force in the community, and many Oklahomans are facing financial hardships in the face of a pandemic and inflation,” said WEOKIE President and CEO Jeff Carpenter in a statement first reported by the Cornerstone CU League. “We are eager to step up and help our members’ financial well-being by delivering real solutions, building trust, and helping our members grow their savings. ‘Do The Right Thing’ “WEOKIE’s mission statement is, ‘Do the right thing,’ and I believ...

New car loan balances continued to decline. The Fed’s Consumer Credit Report released Wednesday showed credit unions held $61.5 billion in credit card debt July 31, up 1% from a year earlier — the first 12-month gain since April 2020. Balances rose 0.9% from June to July, compared with an average June-to-July gain of 1.2% from 2015 to 2019. Recovery from pre-pandemic levels was slow. Card balances were still 6.5% below February 2020 levels at credit unions — unchanged from June. Balances at banks were 9.1% below February 2020, an improvement from June’s 9.5% deficit. Credit unions held 6.4% of the nation’s credit card debt as of July 31, unchanged from a month or a year earlier. Banks held $860.3 billion in credit card debt July 31, up 0.9% from a year earlier and up 0.5% from a month earlier. Their share was 90% in July, unchanged from June and up from 89.7% in July 2020. CUNA’s Monthly Credit Union Estimates released Sept. 3 showed credit unions held $1.23 trillion in loans as of Jul...

NEW ORLEANS Greater New Orleans FCU has been managing its own ATMs, but was seeing increasing service delays with its previous provider, according to the company. “It was definitely all about service,” explained Heather Rodgers, chief operating officer for the credit union. “Repair times are critical to get a machine up as soon as possible. Now, if a machine goes down Dolphin informs us before we even realize it, and has technicians on the way.” Greater New Orleans FCU has ATMs at each of its three branches, and is in the process of adding a drive-up machine at its busiest branch, in addition to the walk-up machine already in place. ATMs are an important part of the credit union’s member service strategy, as GNOFCU serves a large number of special employee groups, as well as the local underserved population as a CDFI, noted CEO Shelley Sanders. Can’t Have Long Lines “We are a shared branch credit union, so we service other credit unions,” Sanders said. “Our members need these ATMs to...

In an act of revenge for being fired from a New York City credit union, a Brooklyn woman accessed the computer system and deleted its mortgage applications and other sensitive information maintained on a file server, according to federal prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York. Juliana Barile, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of computer intrusion during a federal court hearing on Tuesday in Brooklyn. Court documents only identify the credit union in New York City as “an entity the identity of which is known to the United States Attorney.” Prosecutors do not say in court documents why they are withholding the name of the credit union. Barile’s attorney declined comment. A transcript of the 60-minute plea hearing indicates that Barile signed a plea agreement with prosecutors on Aug. 30. Barile was fired from her position as a part-time employee with the credit union on May 19. Two days later, she remotely accessed the credit union’s file server from her Brooklyn home, and within...

NEW YORK—Last week’s disappointing employment numbers were labeled a “big jobs miss” by two economists in credit unions, who offered their thoughts on how the report might change things. According to the federal government, just 235,000 jobs were added back to the economy in August, the lowest number since January of this year and below the expectations of most forecasters. Nearly a year and a half into the recovery, the U.S. economy remains 5.3 million jobs short of where it was in February 2020, before Covid-19 threw a wrench into the gears, noted CNN Business. During August, 5.6 million people said they hadn't been able to work or worked reduced hours because their employer was affected by the pandemic. Despite the low numbers, the unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in August from 5.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. CUNA Response “This report reflects the impact that the Delta variant has had on the economy,” said CUNA Senior Economist Dr. Dawit Kebede. “The lower-th...

Join fellow firefighters, police officers and staff of credit unions serving first responders. It is not too late to register for our 2021 Fort Worth, TX conference. Check out our full schedule HERE to see our our many informative speakers, exhibitors and attending credit unions. On-line Registration   Hilton Hotel Fort Worth is the 12th-largest city in the United States, known for Texas hospitality and a dozen remarkable districts full of culture and fun. The historic western Stockyards featuring the world’s only  twice-daily cattle drive ,  Billy Bob’s Texas , the world’s largest honky-tonk and the new  Mule Alley . A connected downtown with the 35-block  Sundance Square   entertainment district. The stunning museums of the  Cultural District , the  Botanic Garden  and nearby  Fort Worth Zoo , named “ Best Zoo in North America” by USA Today .  See you in Fort Worth. Grant J. Sheehan CEO National Council of Firefig...

  While AMOCO FCU is one of Dolphin Debit’s newest clients, the 81-year-old Texas City-based credit union, with more than 90,000 members and over $1 billion in assets, has been working with Dolphin since late 2017. “Before I was over ATMs, I never knew how much work went into them,” said Ashley Carner, chief operations officer at AMOCO FCU. “Machines constantly need attention and third-party maintenance and cash vendors need to be managed. They take a lot of staff time to manage when we should be spending that time serving our members.” According to the company, AMOCO FCU looked into outsourcing its entire ATM fleet, with Carter stating, “Dolphin Debit gave us exactly what we were looking for.” The SEG-based credit union deploys its ATMs at its 10 branches and at SEG partner sites, such as colleges and hospitals, the company said. “We couldn’t be happier now,” Carner said. “I know someone else is always watching my ATMs. Dolphin Debit proactively reaches out to us, alerting us to a...