Links in “Credit Unions”

At 1:00 (CST) today, CUNA is offering a free 30 minute webinar tour of its new CUNA Compliance Community where credit union compliance professionals can stay connected not only with CUNA, but with each other. The tour will show how to navigate the user-friendly platform, identify the benefits, and show how to share a question with a CUNA attorney or with compliance peers. [1/5/16]

You can tell a lot about a year by looking at its top news stories. We’ve compiled a list of the most popular Risk InboX posts from 2015 for a look back on the highlights (and perhaps lowlights) of this year in compliance. [1/4/16]

NCUA was busy over the holidays.  The $3.2 million First Hawaiian Homes FCU was liquidated and the assets, shares, and loans were immediately assumed by Molokai Community FCU.  The agency also issued a prohibition order against Brianna Lee Freel, a former employee of U.P. State Credit Union in Escanaba, MI.  Freel had pled guilty to embezzlement and false pretense and was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay restitution of over $54,000. [1/4/16]

In what is being called the biggest data breach of 2015, a database of 191 million voter records was  left unprotected for more than a week. Although the records did not include social security numbers or driver’s license numbers, the misconfigured database did include voter names, birthdates, email and snail mail addresses, telephone numbers, party affiliations, and state voter IDs. [1/4/16]

The NAFCU has set the protection of the credit union tax exemption as its top legislative/regulatory priority for 2016.  NAFCU CEO Dan Berger noted that regulatory reform and a continued push for a national data security standard are also top priorities for the coming year. [1/4/16]

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) has issued a report that finds “moderate to minimal initial reduction in availability of credit” among those who responded to various surveys. However, CUNA points out that the report does not consider the impact of the recent TRID disclosures. [1/4/16]

U.S. District Court judge urges the Fed Reserve Bank of Kansas City to seek a compromise with Colorado's Fourth Corner Credit Union, which was formed for the purpose of serving marijuana retailers. [1/4/16]

We’ve already seen the impact the recent rate hike to the federal funds target rates has had on Regulation D, but what does the rate hike mean to your loan rates? Most credit unions tie their loan rates, both variable and non-variable (to some extent) to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Prime Rate. Since 1994, the WSJ Prime Rate has been set at 3.0% above the federal funds rate. [12/23/15]

In response to a letter from the NAFCU, the CFPB has confirmed that the new rule concerning annual privacy notices was effective immediately upon signature by the President. The new rule eliminates the need to send annual privacy notices to members with existing accounts unless there have been changes to the previous notice that was provided. The CFPB stated that it is working with the various agencies to expedite the rulemaking process. [12/23/15]

Consumer complaints about money transfers are the leading source of concern identified in this month’s snapshot of consumer complaints filed with the CFPB. The majority of the consumer complaints in this area dealt with safety, accuracy and efficiency issues, and complaints from victims of fraudulent money transfer schemes. [12/23/15]