TAMPA, Fla. — GTE Federal Credit Union has added the MoneyTracker personal finance management solution to its online banking service.

The $2.2 billion credit union becomes the 15th to deploy the service since it was launched by Jwaala, a two-year-old startup that's now a CUSO of Amplify FCU in Austin, Texas.

MoneyTracker will allow the 70,000 online users of www.gtefcu.org to aggregate account information, set and track budgets, view statements, store documents and create alerts and RSS feeds on their own.

“Having developed our own online banking application, we evaluated several options for deploying personal financial management features, including developing one in house” said Sally Herrington, vice president of e-business at 202,000-member GTE FCU. “After seeing MoneyTracker's flexibility, extensive capabilities, user friendliness, and pricing, we quickly dropped our search.”

Prime Alliance Servicing
Adds Wright-Patt CU

FAIRBORN, OHIO — Wright-Patt Credit Union has selected Prime Alliance Loan Servicing to be its mortgage servicer.

“We find ourselves today in a state of uncertainty and change. Servicing requirements are changing daily, based on regulatory and investor changes. Additionally, as we expand our services to other markets, we decided that choosing a partner with focus and expertise in these areas was imperative,” said Tim Mislansky, senior vice president of Wright-Patt.

Wright-Patt is based in Fairborn, Ohio, and has 20 member centers throughout southeastern Ohio. Established in 1932, Wright-Patt has more than $1.3 billion in assets and over 165,000 members. Wright-Patt considers originating mortgages a core competency, as well as creating first-time homebuyers. Through their CUSO, myCUmortgage, it processes and closes mortgages for credit unions throughout the country.

Pasadena Service FCU CEO to Retire at Year End

PASADENA, Calif. — After more than 36 years in the credit union industry, Pasadena Service Federal Credit Union CEO Charlene Bowman is retiring, effective Dec. 31, 2008.

Since joining the credit union in 1985, Bowman has helped the credit union triple in assets to over $72 million while maintaining a strong capital ratio. Under her leadership, Pasadena Service FCU has formed many partnerships within Pasadena establishing its reputation as a local resource for organizations and schools in the community.

“I can't say enough about Charlene,” said Pasadena Service FCU Board Chairman William Hyland. “You can't really tell the whole story of all her contributions in just a few sentences. Just the fact that she got along with her board members for the last 23 years is remarkable to me.”

Not wanting to cut all ties with the industry, Bowman's post-retirement plans include serving as a credit union volunteer and teaching college business courses to aspiring young leaders. She said a little traveling and time with friends and family is also on the horizon.

CO-OP Financial Services
Ties Up Ohio ATM Deal

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — CO-OP Financial Services has struck a deal with the Ohio Credit Union League to make its surcharge-free ATMs and other services easier and more affordable for Ohio credit unions.

The deal between CO-OP and the Ohio Credit Union League Services Corp. will enable OCUL Services to offer CO-OP products and services at preferential prices.

“Identifying strong business partners in the credit union industry is a priority of OCUL Services Corp.,” said Dave Fearing, OCUL Services' vice president of business services. “CO-OP is one of the strongest partners out there, and with over 28,000 surcharge-free ATMs, remote deposit capture and Fast Branch, CO-OP aligns nicely with the products and services that credit unions need to offer its membership in order to be successful.”

Providing credit unions with access to innovative business solutions is a commitment shared by CO-OP and OCUL Services, according to Stan Hollen, president/CEO of CO-OP Financial Services. “Ohio is the seventh most populous state in the U.S., and we are proud to offer credit union members access to our extensive network of ATMs, through out the great state of Ohio as well as nationwide.”

SELCO Staff Volunteers

EUGENE, Ore. — Now a five-year tradition, employees of SELCO Community Credit Union used the Columbus Day holiday to spread a little goodwill by volunteering at more than a dozen local agencies.

The agencies supported included FOOD for Lane County, NextStep Recycling, Relief Nursery and the Cascades Raptor Center. Team members did a variety of light gardening, construction and cleaning duties depending on their interest and physical abilities, said SELCO.

SELCO's “Day of Caring” began with breakfast, a short kickoff presentation from President/CEO Bob Newcomb and the annual presentation of team service awards. After that, teams of five to 20 employees collected their box lunches and were deployed to the agencies for an afternoon of cleaning, sorting, digging and hauling.

“With so many consumers worried about the financial markets–and the stability of their own financial institution in particular–the management and team at SELCO believes this annual effort is more important than ever,” according to a press release.

Newcomb stressed that the 270-employee Eugene CU has deep roots in the community and “it's important that our neighbors see our faces out there making a difference and understand that we'll be here to help them, too, regardless of the changing financial landscape.”

Countrywide Loses Foreclosure Lawsuit

LAS VEGAS — A Nevada family prevailed in court last month against Countrywide Home Loans on charges of wrongful foreclosure against the subprime lender.

The Supreme Court of Nevada ordered Countrywide to pay $1.3 million after it foreclosed upon the wrong condominium.

An address error that was not caught in time led to the verdict. Although Gerald and Katrina Thitchener had been late with their mortgage payments, they became current on their mortgage at about the same time another owner in their condo complex started showing up as delinquent. The Calabasas, Calif.-based company had intended to foreclose upon the other condo in the Thitcheners' complex.

The Thitcheners presented evidence of multiple warning signs indicating that Countrywide knew of a potential mix-up as well as evidence indicating that Countrywide continued to proceed with the foreclosure despite knowing the consequences of doing so.

The family was temporarily residing in Arizona because of Gerald Thitchener's Air National Guard deployment. Because they expected to return, the family left the power on and left many of their belongings at the residence in Las Vegas while they rented a place in Arizona. When the contractor hired to handle the foreclosure inspected the unit, he assumed that the place had been abandoned and hired another man to “trash out” the premises.

The Thitcheners were informed by neighbors and family that their belongings had been thrown out on the street and that a property management sign was hanging in the window.

Bank of America recently agreed to rework the loans of 400,000 people who obtained mortgages from Countrywide Financial Corp. to settle a series of predatory lending lawsuits. The bank estimated the cost of that settlement at $8.4 billion.