Links in “Credit Unions”

Yet another internal fraud case in Illinois has led to the convictions of two former credit union employees (a manager and a teller) at a small Illinois credit union. The two former employees were convicted of embezzling over $320,000 over a multi-year time period.  Prosecutors stated that a lack of oversight allowed the employees, which represented two-thirds of the entire staff at the $4.2 million credit union, to engage in the criminal activities. [7/16/14]

ABA's vice chairman, who is also a CEO of a bank in Georgia, testifies before House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit that the regulatory burden on community banks has increased tenfold over the past decade and that Congress must move from good intentions to actions in reducing regulatory burden on smaller institutions. [7/16/14]

As vital as websites are for financial institutions, they are becoming high-profile targets, not just for regulators, but for industry watchdogs and consumer advocate groups. Yes, balancing an effective website and a compliant website is a difficult task. However, we’ve put together a list of the five most common website mistakes we see to help your institution improve the compliance aspect of its website. [7/15/14]

Doug Fecher, CEO of Wright-Patt Credit Union, will testify for CUNA today before the House Financial Services Committee about the increasing cost of regulatory compliance and will cite the more than 108 new regulations that credit unions have been subjected to since 2008. The hearing will address a number of pending bills, including the American Savings Promotion Act, which would provide parity to financial institutions that want to offer raffle-related savings accounts, and the Regulation D Study Act, which would direct the government to conduct a study about the effectiveness of Regulation D. [7/15/14]

Employment-related claims and investigations are on the rise, while regulations are becoming increasingly complex. Learn how you can better protect your credit union and how you can ease the regulatory burden. [7/15/14]

84 credit unions were late filing their last 5300 Call Report and faced civil money penalties, with the highest individual amount of $106,000. NCUA, however, has offered all 84 credit unions the opportunity to reduce the penalty if they sign a consent form. Those electing not to sign the consent form could still face onerous penalties. [7/15/14]

Some mortgage brokers have been switching to a "mini-correspondent" model, and the CFPB is worried that these institutions—rather than intending to grow into a full correspondent model—believe that this status makes them exempt from consumer protection rules regarding broker compensation. Cordray stated that “they cannot avoid those rules by calling themselves by a different name.” [7/14/14]

According to 2010 data from the Small Business Administration, 99.7% of all businesses operating in the US were small businesses, 90% of which were microbusinesses. However, the needs of these small business that typically require no more than $35,000 in start-up capital and employ five or fewer employees are often overlooked by the banking industry. [7/14/14]

Despite what appears to be considerable evidence to the contrary, Charles Juska, former president of $25 million Tazewell County School Employees CU in Pekin, IL, pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and forgery. Prosecutors claim that Juska used an elaborate shell game that involved forging members’ signatures and creating numerous fraudulent loans in order to cover other delinquent loans and to hide delinquencies from his board and loan committee. [7/14/14]

Emboldened by recent court decisions, more cities and counties are filing "predatory lending" cases under the Fair Housing Act using the claim of disparate impact. Claims involve traditional redlining (excluding minority areas) or reverse redlining (targeting minority areas for high-cost loans). [7/14/14]