Posted by Bruen
at 12:01 AM PST
Friday, 27 January 2012
Too many names … ABRI Credit Union
This is a privately insured credit union located in Romeoville, IL. I spotted the name ABRI and as always was curious about the name. The “About Us” page only confused the question. It starts off by referring to Argonne Credit Union and then later the acronym ACU. The page uses ACU in the present tense and closes and commentary by using the ABRI name. I verified on the ASI website that the official name is “ABRI.” It seems like the credit union should pick one or the other.
Argonne Credit Union (ACU) began accepting applications for membership in January 1950. The value of each share was $5.00. The interim Board called the first meeting of the members on February 20, 1950 to elect an official slate of candidates. On that date ACU had 226 members with an additional 100 applications for membership and assets of $6,700.
Today ACU is one of the largest credit unions in the state of Illinois, with over $280 million in assets, serving more than 25,000 members from 10 branches. We are open to people that live or work in 6 different counties in Illinois as well as serving employees of over one hundred employer groups.
At ACU we put members first and continue to maintain our financial strength. It is our goal to give members the best “experience” they can have at a financial institution, and we truly believe in our mission: “Help our Members Succeed Financially”. This simple statement continues to be the driving force behind what we do each and everyday as we serve the members/owners of Abri Credit Union. [Visit website at ABRICU.com].
Posted by Bruen
at 12:01 AM PST
Updated: Thursday, 26 January 2012 5:05 PM PST
Thursday, 26 January 2012
The Return of the Bank Fees
Mellody Hobson is your go-to girl on all things financial every Monday morning on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show."
I was recently charged a monthly service fee for what I thought was a free checking account because I used a teller at my bank to deposit a check. How do I find out about new fees, and how do I avoid them? WANDA, Atlanta, Georgia
Unfortunately, this situation is going to become more and more common as banking institutions try to find creative ways to cover their losses from swipe-fee regulations and opt-in overdrafts rules. These aren’t small numbers. The losses from swipe fees, the seemingly insignificant charges that card issuers charge merchants for processing credit card and debit transactions is in the neighborhood of $6 billion, according to industry estimates. And the losses from opt-in overdraft rules are even higher, at $7.6 billion from their peak in 2009. With these kinds of numbers jumping off the balance sheet, you can be sure that some existing fees will be raised, and new fees will be created. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal even called this “the beginning of the onslaught.” [Read story at By: Mellody Hobson, BlackAmericaWeb.com].
Mellody Hobson is your go-to girl on all things financial every Monday morning on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show."
I was recently charged a monthly service fee for what I thought was a free checking account because I used a teller at my bank to deposit a check. How do I find out about new fees, and how do I avoid them? WANDA, Atlanta, Georgia
Unfortunately, this situation is going to become more and more common as banking institutions try to find creative ways to cover their losses from swipe-fee regulations and opt-in overdrafts rules. These aren’t small numbers. The losses from swipe fees, the seemingly insignificant charges that card issuers charge merchants for processing credit card and debit transactions is in the neighborhood of $6 billion, according to industry estimates. And the losses from opt-in overdraft rules are even higher, at $7.6 billion from their peak in 2009. With these kinds of numbers jumping off the balance sheet, you can be sure that some existing fees will be raised, and new fees will be created. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal even called this “the beginning of the onslaught.” [Read story at By: Mellody Hobson, BlackAmericaWeb.com].
Posted by Bruen
at 12:01 AM PST
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Kanjorski helped transparent a approach for credit unions to grow
In a 1990s, credit unions were fighting for survival.
Their nemesis, a American Bankers Association, assured a slight infancy of justices on a U.S. Supreme Court that credit unions were behaving over a range of a sovereign law in signing new members. The justice ruled that a credit kinship contingency extent membership to a strange sponsoring group. Credit unions, it seemed, would be gutted.
Then-Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a Luzerne County Democrat, introduced and shepherded a Credit Union Membership Access Act to explain a law and transparent a approach for credit unions to grow.
“He had been a believer of credit unions, though that act done him a favourite to credit unions,” pronounced John Kebles, former arch executive of a Choice One F.C.U. in Wilkes-Barre. “He was a voice of credit unions in Washington. When we had an issue, he carried a ball.” [Read story at Scranton Times].
In a 1990s, credit unions were fighting for survival.
Their nemesis, a American Bankers Association, assured a slight infancy of justices on a U.S. Supreme Court that credit unions were behaving over a range of a sovereign law in signing new members. The justice ruled that a credit kinship contingency extent membership to a strange sponsoring group. Credit unions, it seemed, would be gutted.
Then-Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a Luzerne County Democrat, introduced and shepherded a Credit Union Membership Access Act to explain a law and transparent a approach for credit unions to grow.
“He had been a believer of credit unions, though that act done him a favourite to credit unions,” pronounced John Kebles, former arch executive of a Choice One F.C.U. in Wilkes-Barre. “He was a voice of credit unions in Washington. When we had an issue, he carried a ball.” [Read story at Scranton Times].
Posted by Bruen
at 12:01 AM PST
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Three Learning Opportunities for Credit Unions
A Lesson for Credit Unions: Avoiding a "Kodak" Moment
Do you remember your first Kodak camera, that affordably cool little Kodachrome that always kept you coming back for more film. Today, this milestone of American business, Kodak, is on the verge of bankruptcy and is trading at penny stock levels. Taking note of what happened at Kodak may be a valuable exercise for credit unions that desire to remain relevant through the next century.
What Happened at Kodak
How did this icon of American business with more than 120 years history become irrelevant?
The short answer is a long series of managerial mistakes and entrepreneurial failures. They failed to come up with newer versions of itself and even though one of their own electrical engineers is credited with inventing the digital camera in 1975, they failed to exploit this new business opportunity. Kodak failed to anticipate how fast digital cameras would become commodities, with low profit margins. An ever-smaller percentage of pictures were being taken on digital cameras, being gradually displaced by cell phones and tablets' cameras. [Read story at CUinsight/by Scott Butterfield].
A Lesson for Credit Unions: Avoiding a "Kodak" Moment
Do you remember your first Kodak camera, that affordably cool little Kodachrome that always kept you coming back for more film. Today, this milestone of American business, Kodak, is on the verge of bankruptcy and is trading at penny stock levels. Taking note of what happened at Kodak may be a valuable exercise for credit unions that desire to remain relevant through the next century.
What Happened at Kodak
How did this icon of American business with more than 120 years history become irrelevant?
The short answer is a long series of managerial mistakes and entrepreneurial failures. They failed to come up with newer versions of itself and even though one of their own electrical engineers is credited with inventing the digital camera in 1975, they failed to exploit this new business opportunity. Kodak failed to anticipate how fast digital cameras would become commodities, with low profit margins. An ever-smaller percentage of pictures were being taken on digital cameras, being gradually displaced by cell phones and tablets' cameras. [Read story at CUinsight/by Scott Butterfield].
Posted by Bruen
at 12:01 AM PST
Updated: Monday, 23 January 2012 7:47 AM PST
Monday, 23 January 2012
A Credit Union to Bail Out People, Not Big Banks
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Jan 21, 2012 (IPS) - Occupy activists from Wall Street to San Francisco's financial district have dramatised their anger with big financial institutions by blocking JP Morgan Chase Bank doorways, dancing atop Wells Fargo counters, pitching a tent in a Bank of America lobby, hanging banners across Citibank windows, and accompanying the actions with the now-familiar chant "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out."
The Occupy Movement condemns the banks' role in predatory lending and the foreclosure crisis, the high-interest student loans they say enriches the bankers and impoverishes college students, bank investments in private prisons and more.
But protesting isn't enough for Occupy San Francisco activist Brian McKeown. He says a bank should be a transparent institution whose mission is to help people. And so, with like-minded partners, McKeown is putting together a plan for the People's Reserve Credit Union (PRCU). Occupy San Francisco is encouraging the venture.
In the next few weeks, McKeown says he'll be ready to submit the PRCU's application for a charter to the California Department of Financial Institutions. [Read story at IPSnews/by Judith Scherr].
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Jan 21, 2012 (IPS) - Occupy activists from Wall Street to San Francisco's financial district have dramatised their anger with big financial institutions by blocking JP Morgan Chase Bank doorways, dancing atop Wells Fargo counters, pitching a tent in a Bank of America lobby, hanging banners across Citibank windows, and accompanying the actions with the now-familiar chant "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out."
The Occupy Movement condemns the banks' role in predatory lending and the foreclosure crisis, the high-interest student loans they say enriches the bankers and impoverishes college students, bank investments in private prisons and more.
But protesting isn't enough for Occupy San Francisco activist Brian McKeown. He says a bank should be a transparent institution whose mission is to help people. And so, with like-minded partners, McKeown is putting together a plan for the People's Reserve Credit Union (PRCU). Occupy San Francisco is encouraging the venture.
In the next few weeks, McKeown says he'll be ready to submit the PRCU's application for a charter to the California Department of Financial Institutions. [Read story at IPSnews/by Judith Scherr].
Posted by Bruen
at 12:01 AM PST
Updated: Sunday, 22 January 2012 8:39 PM PST
Sunday, 22 January 2012
The Wag Bank
With banks on the receiving end of a lot of public wrath these days, it might not seem to be the most opportune time to launch a new one. But a bank branding consultant in Oregon is pushing ahead anyway, with a unique – some might say strange – concept for a niche web-based financial institution.
The name? Wag Bank. The target demographic? Dog lovers.
Occupy Wall Street protesters notwithstanding, most people in the U.S. don’t hate banks, says Jeff Stephens, president of Portland-based Creative Brand Communications, a marketing consultancy for financial institutions. Bankers’ problem, he says, is much more mundane.
“Most people are rampantly indifferent to banks,” Stephens says. “It’s because of the sameness of the products and the services, and the sameness of the experience. At most financial institutions, if you went inside and the logos were covered up, nobody would have any idea where they were.”
Stephens figures that if he can offer people a financial institution that represents something they feel passionately about, and creates a community of customers who have similar interests and can interact with each other in discussions about them, he’ll be able to capture at least some share of the market from his more buttoned-down competitors. [Read story at The Fiscal Times/by ROB GARVER].
With banks on the receiving end of a lot of public wrath these days, it might not seem to be the most opportune time to launch a new one. But a bank branding consultant in Oregon is pushing ahead anyway, with a unique – some might say strange – concept for a niche web-based financial institution.
The name? Wag Bank. The target demographic? Dog lovers.
Occupy Wall Street protesters notwithstanding, most people in the U.S. don’t hate banks, says Jeff Stephens, president of Portland-based Creative Brand Communications, a marketing consultancy for financial institutions. Bankers’ problem, he says, is much more mundane.
“Most people are rampantly indifferent to banks,” Stephens says. “It’s because of the sameness of the products and the services, and the sameness of the experience. At most financial institutions, if you went inside and the logos were covered up, nobody would have any idea where they were.”
Stephens figures that if he can offer people a financial institution that represents something they feel passionately about, and creates a community of customers who have similar interests and can interact with each other in discussions about them, he’ll be able to capture at least some share of the market from his more buttoned-down competitors. [Read story at The Fiscal Times/by ROB GARVER].
Posted by Bruen
at 12:01 AM PST
Saturday, 21 January 2012
ATM charges 3 percent for cash
Paul Volcker likes to say that the only worthwhile financial innovation of the past 20 years has been the ATM. So I suppose it was only a matter of time before that, too, was rendered evil.
Here, courtesy of Peter Eavis, is how the ATM at the Holiday Inn in Orlando now works — it doesn’t just charge $3 per withdrawal, but rather the higher of $3 or 3%.
I’ve never heard of anything like this before, although a bit of Googling turns up one page, aimed at ATM owners, saying that “Adult Entertainment clubs” frequently charge a percentage at their ATMs, and that although anybody going down this path “risks losing some transactions”, on the other hand it’s superior to simply capping the maximum withdrawal amount at some low level.
On the web, innovations are frequently found first on porn sites, and then work their way slowly into the mainstream; it seems the same thing is happening here, with strip-club innovations turning up at the Holiday Inn. [Read story at Reuters/by Felix Salmon].
Paul Volcker likes to say that the only worthwhile financial innovation of the past 20 years has been the ATM. So I suppose it was only a matter of time before that, too, was rendered evil.
Here, courtesy of Peter Eavis, is how the ATM at the Holiday Inn in Orlando now works — it doesn’t just charge $3 per withdrawal, but rather the higher of $3 or 3%.
I’ve never heard of anything like this before, although a bit of Googling turns up one page, aimed at ATM owners, saying that “Adult Entertainment clubs” frequently charge a percentage at their ATMs, and that although anybody going down this path “risks losing some transactions”, on the other hand it’s superior to simply capping the maximum withdrawal amount at some low level.
On the web, innovations are frequently found first on porn sites, and then work their way slowly into the mainstream; it seems the same thing is happening here, with strip-club innovations turning up at the Holiday Inn. [Read story at Reuters/by Felix Salmon].
Posted by Bruen
at 12:01 AM PST
Updated: Saturday, 21 January 2012 6:18 PM PST
Friday, 20 January 2012
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