Volume 28, Number 17                                                  September 15, 2008

HEADLINE NEWS

Credit Union Day One Month Away
    
     Held on the third Thursday of October, International Credit Union Day© (ICU Day) is a day designed to educate and promote the credit union movement. With one month left until October 16, the time has never been better to start preparing ideas and ways to implement them to demonstrate how you and your credit union reflect this year’s theme. Here are some celebration ideas:

Plan a festive week in your CU
■    Hold an open house at the CU and branch offices. Conduct tours and serve refreshments.
■    Get the word out about the worldwide CU movement by displaying posters and offering international foods.
■    Invite your elected officials to a “Meet the Members” day.
■    Hold a “guest” day at the CU where members can bring guests for refreshments and to learn more about credit unions.
■    Let members “meet their credit union” by displaying your employees’ photos and biographies.
Product and service promotions
■    Offer loans or new share draft accounts for the same fees that the CU charged the year it opened.
■    Work cooperatively with other Delaware credit unions in supporting the annual “Credit Union Day Supplement” in The News Journal. Credit union advertising pays for this statewide supplement. Last day to submit an ad is today! Call Jane Bailey.
Focus on education
■    Offer a series of lectures on basic finance in the evenings or over the lunch hour. Topics can include managing a checking account, building a good credit rating, shopping for a mortgage, handling credit cards, and saving for college.
■    Teach a basic money management class at a local high school. You can get free NEFE education materials through Alice Smith at the League.
■    Offer your CU as an elementary school field trip destination. Give teachers an opportunity to build real-world experience into their students’ lessons.
Focus on the credit union difference
■    Sponsor an essay or art/coloring contest for young members or your entire membership. A short essay (100 words or less) about why the credit union is special would be appropriate. Publish the winning entries in your newsletter.
■    Organize a fun event to teach your staff and members about CU history and philosophy.
■    Reward employees for exceptional service to members. Recognize members for exceptional service to the community.
■    Participate in a community project – additional ideas are under “CU System News.”
     To find more suggestions on how to celebrate, go to www.buy.cuna.org and enter “ICUday” in the search box. Every CU in Delaware can do something to join the celebration – share your successes with the League.

Time Is Running Out for These Two Events…

     
The 12th Annual Volunteer Leadership Conference is scheduled for
October 24 - 26, 2008, in Ocean City, MD. The conference is designed for board and supervisory committee members. The registration deadline for both hotel rooms and the conference is September 23.

COMPLIANCE RECAP

Know Your Share Insurance Rules
     With the country’s financial markets in turmoil, more and more Americans are asking questions about federal share insurance coverage to determine if their money is safe. The Credit Union National Association’s (CUNA's) August Compliance Challenge posed several questions that deepen CUs’ understanding of how insurance works.
     For instance, the Challenge noted in one question that there is no “qualified beneficiary” distinction for irrevocable trust account beneficiaries. Such beneficiaries do not have to be a spouse, child, grandchild, parent or sibling.
     Another question clarified that the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has adopted the definition of “marriage” and “spouse” found in the Defense of Marriage Act (HR 3396). Under the Act, “marriage” is defined as a legal union between one man and one woman and “spouse” refers only to individuals of the opposite gender. Therefore, the Challenge notes, same-sex partners united in states permitting same-gender unions may not be named as a “qualified account beneficiary” who would thereby be entitled to separate share insurance coverage up to $100,000.
     And in a third related question, the CUNA compliance experts asked (and answered): How should account cards be titled to ensure proper share insurance coverage for “Payable on Death” (POD) and Living Trust Accounts?
     The answer: In the case of POD accounts, if the POD line or lines are filled in on the account card, the account is insured separately as a “revocable trust” with each qualified beneficiary, as defined above, being entitled to share insurance coverage up to $100,000. The account doesn’t have to be specifically titled as a “POD” and no trustees would be listed.
     In the case of a living trust account, the NCUA's “How Your Accounts Are Insured” booklet states: “Credit unions can establish a common revocable trust payable-on-death (POD) account without additional documentation; however, some trusts require additional, valid documentation to qualify for coverage.”
     For more information on this issue, the questions above, and many other challenges in the compliance world, visit CUNA's Compliance Challenge resource online at http://www.cuna.org/compliance/member/comp_challenge/08_08.html.

Mortgage Lending Registration Required Next Year
     Title V of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act brings new licensing and registration requirements for mortgage originators, and CUNA is advising credit unions on just what that means. The housing recovery measure was signed into law in July and is the result of problems with mortgage lending in recent years, especially with subprime mortgage loans. Under the new law, any individual who originates residential mortgage loans as an employee of any state or federal credit union will have to annually register with the “Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry” as a “registered loan originator.”
     The law calls for the federal banking agencies and the National Credit Union Administration to develop and maintain a system for registering the appropriate employees of banks and credit unions in conjunction with the Conference of State Banking Supervisors (CSBS) system, and this agency program has to be in place by August 2009.
     Credit union mortgage lending staff will have to provide fingerprints for a criminal background check, provide a personal employment history, authorize the CSBS system to obtain information about any administrative, civil or criminal rulings, and be assigned a “unique identifier” number that will facilitate electronic tracking and public access to this information.
     And who must be registered? Moss says any individual who originates residential mortgage loans as an employee of any state or federal credit union will have to annually enroll as a “registered loan originator.”
     Use the resource links below to access more information on credit union employee registration, licensed loan originators, and other provisions of the new law, which affect credit unions.

CUNA e-Guide on Mortgage Licensing Registry http://www.cuna.org/compliance/member/eguide/eguide_mlr.html
CSBS Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System
http://www.csbs.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Mortgage_Licensing

CU SYSTEM NEWS

Design Firm Rates New Castle County as a Great Place for New Credit Union Opportunities
     In a special report on facilities, published in the August 6 edition of Credit Union Times, New Castle County, Delaware, was ranked as one of the top 100 markets in terms of demographic and competitive potential. In fact, it was ranked as #11 in the “de nova” or new market ranking.
     The methodology was developed by design and build firm DEI. According to DEI strategic planning vice president Arp Trivedi, the ranking is a “sound new approach to determine which markets to enter and provides potential areas for credit unions to consider to be competitive with banks or just to locate in a growing economic area that they may not have otherwise considered.”
     The model was built using two broad categories of data. New Castle County ranked 125th in the demographic perspective, which uses items like population, absolute population growth, median household income, business, and other attributes (DEI factor). More importantly, New Castle County ranked 4th in the competitive perspective (CEI factor), which considers total deposits, deposit growth, and population per branch as components.
     Based upon this assessment, credit unions currently serving New Castle County can expect more competition from other credit unions and banks in the future.

Seaford Makes Dreamtown List
     The July 21st issue of the online newsletter, www.bizjournals.com, analyzed micropolitan areas – small towns that offer the best quality of life without metropolitan hassles. Seaford, Delaware, scored as #31. Bizjournals compared 140 micropolitan areas in 20 statistical categories, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. A micro consists of a central community with 10,000 to 50,000 residents, along with the surrounding countryside. It is, in effect, a small-scale version of a metropolitan area. Topping the list was Torrington, Connecticut.
     Seaford is located 82 miles from Baltimore with a 2007 population of 7,080 people. Since 2000, it has had a population growth of 5.69%. The median home cost in Seaford is $249,900. Compared to the rest of the country, Seaford's cost of living is 7.00% lower than the U.S. average.

Celebrate Credit Union Week With Community Projects
     At the recent League marketing council, credit unions shared community involvement projects. Obviously many Delaware CUs actively help in the community. But here are some other ideas your CU might implement for Credit Union Week.
► Take part in a fall “Paint-A-Thon” to help older members or anyone else in your community who is physically unable to paint his/her own home.
► Plant a tree in a nearby park or on your credit union grounds. Sponsor a community clean-up effort or other charitable event.
► Sponsor a safe Halloween program for local children.
► Hold a bike safety clinic for young people and donate helmets to needy children.
► Adopt a social service agency for the day or week and recruit staff and members to help out with tasks like serving meals, painting, and cleanup.
► Hold a fund-raising event for “Credit Unions for Kids” or another charity.
► Collect business clothes to donate to a local organization that helps people get back into the workplace or collect clothing for the Clothing Bank of Delaware, which is located at 1603 Jessup Street, Suite 3, Wilmington, DE 19802 (located in the Gateway Industrial Center on the corner of Jessup Street and Vandever Avenue).Telephone: (302) 654-1390.
► Sponsor a team for a walk or run for a good cause. Provide members of your team with t-shirts to identify them as credit union staff and members.

Know Your Audience – Who Is Joining Your Credit Union
     For credit unions, membership is the foundation they base their operations upon and remains the critical focus of how they serve their audience.  George Hofheimer, chief research officer with the Filene Research Institute, reveals the findings of who are the members in community-based credit unions in the new report, Who’s Joining Credit Unions? – a new resource in the League library.
     In seeking the regional composition of the members of credit unions now and moving into the future, Hofheimer based his research on the following three questions:

1. Do these new members look different?
2. Do they use different products?
3. Do new members want different things?

The results reveal some already held conceptions, as well as some unexpected revelations with how potential credit union members may view their services in the coming years.  Members may purchase the report, as well as previous publications and findings, at Filene’s official website, http://filene.org/home. The League also has a copy of this study in our lending library.

 DELAWARE NOTES

The Food Bank of Delaware was very happy to receive 434 pounds of food as a result of DEXSTA FEDERAL CREDIT UNION’S summer canned food drive held July 15 through August 15. Receptacles were in each branch location for members to drop off their donations. Many items from the Food Bank’s most-needed list, such as canned meat, peanut butter and canned spaghetti sauce, were donated.

     Elmeretta Frederick, a long-time credit union supporter, passed away on Saturday, September 6. Elmeretta began her work in credit unions when she and her huband, Peyton, helped to organize a credit union for Teamsters’ Local 306 in 1971. Elmeretta served as manager of the credit union until it merged with Chryco Newark FCU (now American Spirit) in 1986.
     After the credit union’s merger, Elmeretta went on to work for the Delaware League part time in the data processing department and even served a short stint as a teller at DPL FCU before returning to the League full time. She served as the League’s acting managing director in 1978.
     Elmeretta returned to DPL FCU in January 1983 as a bookkeeper-teller. In 1987 upon the retirement of Joseph Leary, she was named the manager of the credit union, where she remained until her retirement. During this time period, she also served on the League's board and was the board chairman from 1987-1988.  
  
     The Visions, Ink., family wishes to thank everyone who has prayed for and inquired about Chris Johnson and his beloved wife Elizabeth since learning of her illness. Elizabeth’s long fight ended on Wednesday, September 3. Chris is setting up a scholarship fund in Elizabeth’s memory. Information about the fund will be available through Visions (301-868-9577 or 866-844-4775).

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

September QuickBites Teleconferences
One-hour sessions run from 11 a.m.-noon:
•     9/24  Post Judgment Collections
•     9/30  Internet Security
The two-hour session runs from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
•     9/18  Account Administration
The fee for the one-hour sessions is $99; the two-hour session is $169. The deadline to register with Bernadette Hines is one week prior to the session.

Human Resource Council – Wednesday, September 17, from 10 a.m.-noon. Topic: Recruiting, training, and retaining Gen Ys. No fee for council members; $100 for non-members.

Security Solutions: Recognizing Emerging Fraudulent Practices Seminar – Wednesday, September 17, from 10 a.m.-noon at the League office. Topics: current scams, counterfeit checks, kiting, and prevention. Fee: $99 first enrollee; $75 all others. Registration deadline: September 16.

Business Mixer Golf Outing – Thursday, October 16. Sponsored by the scholarship funds of Louviers FCU and the Delaware League. Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, Newark. Format: 18-hole scramble with skill prizes. 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Fee: $125 per golfer; $400 per foursome. Register by October 3 with Louviers FCU.  

Volunteer Leadership Conference – October 24-26. Sponsored by the DE League and the MD/DC CU Association at the Clarion Hotel in Ocean City, MD. Fee: $300. Spouse fee: $90. Golf outing being planned for Friday morning. Information brochures are now available from Alice Smith at the League office. Registration deadline for rooms and conference: September 23.

   October 1   Credit Bureau Reporting, 9 a.m.-noon,
   October 7   FACT Act: Red Flags, 9 a.m.-noon
   October 8   Collection & Lending Council: Consumer Credit Counseling, 10 a.m.-noon

League Activities in August and September

COMMUNICATIONS/PUBLIC RELATIONS

          Credit Union Day Supplement. Members of the League’s marketing council met with two News Journal staff members on August 26 to discuss the October 14 “Credit Union Day Supplement,” which will be published again this year on a Tuesday (a slow insert day). If the same number of credit unions buy advertising in 2008, we will be able to publish a 20-page, full-color, glossy supplement. The emphasis this year will be the difference between credit unions and banks and the safety and soundness of credit unions in Delaware. In addition, various Delaware credit unions have provided quotes from their members, which we hope to use in a type of “man-on-the-street” interview.

          Delaware League News and Risk Alerts. The League emailed 14 news alerts and 4 risk alerts during June and July. Topics included the Homes for Our Troops initiative, economic news, and new ID theft and check scams.

          Top Newspapers Tell Consumers to Check out a Credit Union. In the past two weeks, credit unions have received favorable reviews in several top news reporting venues.     
          In the August 26 online edition of the Wall Street Journal, columnist Brett Arends recommended “For Better Banking, Check out a Credit Union.” CUNA talked with and provided background information to the columnist.
          The nationwide newspaper USA TODAY highlighted credit unions’ safety and soundness in an article, “How to Check the Safety of Your Credit Union,” on September 2 in its “Money” section. Financial reporter Matt Kranz answered a question – “How do I know that the money I have in my credit union is safe?” – by noting that credit unions are different from banks and brokers. He pointed out credit unions’ not-for-profit cooperative nature, their membership’s common bond, and their federal regulator, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
          Finally, credit unions were touted as a good source for mortgage loans in an August 31 article in The New York Times. Credit union mortgages are available to any consumers who meet a credit union's membership requirements, are not typically marketed through brokers, and have become more attractive in the past few months, according to the article, “Check Credit Unions for Deals,” by Bob Tedeschi. The article also directed readers to CUNA's website for a list of credit unions.

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

          Homes for Our Troops Completes Projects. America’s credit unions and other Homes for Our Troops partners presented wounded Iraq war veterans Staff Sgt. Travis Strong and Sgt. Marcus Kuboy with the keys and deeds to their new specially outfitted homes. Strong’s home in Denver was completed in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention and presented to him August 28. Kuboy’s home in Woodbury, Minnesota, was completed during the Republican Convention and presented to him on September 1. The nationwide Homes for Our Troops fundraising effort amassed over $350,000 for the two new homes. A full listing of Delaware contributions will appear in an upcoming issue of Together.  

          CULAC Candy Sale. Thirteen credit unions are participating in the annual fall candy sale, which will help Delaware reach its 2008 CULAC goal of $5,346.89. So far, we have reached 33% of the goal. The sale of 23 cases of candy bars will hopefully help to send Delaware over our goal.

LEAGUE SERVICES

          New Business Member. Acre Mortgage has been approved for a League business membership. Acre Mortgage assigns a loan advisor to each credit union with whom they work. This specialist is available in the credit union on a weekly basis (in-house) to meet with members, to hold closings, or just to greet members and assist them in any way they can.
               
          Third Party Due Diligence Session. John Morgan, NCUA examiner, presented the agency’s views on CU third-party due diligence with 25 individuals from 21 credit unions in attendance. The League is looking for ways to assist small credit unions with this compliance requirement, which is a top regulatory exam topic for 2008. For more information, contact Jane Bailey at the League office.

EDUCATION

          Quickbites and Webinars. The Delaware League continues to partner with the Illinois League to offer the QuickBites teleconferences. In order to encourage use of the teleconferences, the League is offering three free QuickBites to selected credit unions to entice them to register. The League held a drawing that included the credit unions that had not used QuickBites in the past year, and League President Pat Mahaney drew three credit unions - Delaware State Police FCU, Delaware First FCU and U-Del FCU. These credit unions may register for any QuickBite offered from September to December 2008.
          We also continue to partner with the North Law Firm in California to provide webinars on bankruptcy issues. The most recent webinar deals with filing proofs of claims in bankruptcy proceedings.
 
          Board Training. Pat Mahaney provided CU board development training for board members of Stepping Stones FCU, which is currently working to obtain a charter. In addition, Pat hosted two sessions on board duties and responsibilities for credit union volunteers in early September.

          Volunteer Leadership Conference. The brochures have been distributed for the Volunteer Leadership Conference, which will be held from October 24-26 at the Clarion in Ocean City, MD. Each credit union CEO/manager, along with board and supervisory committee chairs, received the full brochure. A postcard or email reminder was sent to all other volunteers, and information has been posted on the League website. The registration deadline for the conference and hotel reservations is September 23, 2008. Two new features this year include a golf outing on Friday morning and a pre-session on Friday afternoon on CUNA’s E-Scan, facilitated by Pat Mahaney.

August Education Sessions

TOGETHER is published on the 15th and 30th of each month by the Delaware Credit Union League,
4 Quigley Boulevard, New Castle, DE19720. Information to be published should be sent or phoned into the League no later than the Monday of the week preceding the publication date. Telephone: (302) 322-9341 or (800) 292-7875. This newsletter can also be found on the League website: www.dcul.org. Hard copies of the newsletter will be mailed to each credit union CEO/manager for distribution to those without computer access. Readers can receive a reminder when the newest edition is posted to the Web by emailing susan@dcul.org. Editor: Alice Smith (alice@dcul.org).