Links in “Credit Unions”

The FTC has issued a final telemarketing rule that might have some adverse effect on the payment systems used by credit unions. The new amendments affect state-chartered credit unions, but not federally chartered credit unions, and third party telemarketers used by both, could, in particular, raise issues with remotely created checks. [12/14/15]

More details are emerging about the massive criminal enterprise through which a group of five individuals hacked into the highly secure servers of JPMorgan and other large financial institutions, ran an illegal payment processing scheme and, for a shorter time, took over a very small New Jersey credit union to help launder money. Federal prosecutors and federal regulators are not saying why the scheme was able to go on for over three years without detection. [12/14/15]

FinCEN receives on average 55,000 BSA reports from more than 80,000 financial institutions and 500,000 individual foreign bank account holders each day. If you think that means your CTRs and SARs are getting lost in the pile, FinCEN reports that it also receives an average of 30,000 information search requests from 9,000 different law enforcement agencies on a daily basis. [12/14/15]

Richard Cordray, Director of the CFPB,  says that implementation of the new TRID disclosures is going smoothly.  Not so, according to a recent report from Moody’s that found over 90% of the mortgage loans reviewed by third parties contained TRID compliance violations. The CFPB declined the request from credit union trade associations that had pushed for a safe harbor from liability period while credit unions and other financial institutions worked through the complex disclosure requirements. [12/14/15]

In its fall 2015 semi-annual report, the CFPB points out 5 areas of heightened fair lending risk it encounters. Using recent enforcement actions, AffirmX Regulatory Counsel Chris McCullock illustrates what poor fair lending patterns attract the CFPB's eye. [12/11/15]

If you’re already working on your 2016 New Year’s financial resolutions, you may want to consider those things that are likely to cost more in the coming year.  See why the price tag for rent, borrowing money, high-tech home appliances, college costs, health insurance, and automobiles are all expected to increase.

The former head teller for Essential Federal Credit Union in Louisiana is going to prison for stealing $508,000 from her cash drawer, most of which was deposited in an account at another credit union. The theft was ongoing over the course of four years before it was detected.

The CUNA Board has approved a revision to the bylaws to eliminate the dual membership requirement. In addition, the board voted to expand CUNA membership to individuals and industry organizations and to reduce the size of the board. CUNA credit unions will vote on these measures in early 2016. [12/11/15]

The now liquidated Helping Other People Exceed Federal Credit Union (insert joke here), which was one of New Jersey’s smallest credit unions, has now been tied to a massive criminal enterprise that led to a large bank data breach.  A senior executive at the credit union was allegedly paid $175,000 in bribes to allow money to be laundered through a bitcoin operation. The $290,000 asset credit union was conducting $30 million a month in ACH transactions. [12/10/15]

The 732 data breaches that have occurred so far this year have exceed the total number of data breaches for last year. This translates to the exposure of 176 million consumer records. The latest data breach victim is the Elephant Bar restaurant chain. [12/10/15]