The NCUA lit this bonfire when in early May it tweaked the criteria for a credit union to win designation as a low-income credit union. That matters because an LICU gains significant flexibility in how it can do business, notably it can accept deposits from any source and gain exemption from aggregate loan limits on member business accounts.

Continue reading “Low-Income Credit Unions: Scam or No Scam” →

Much ado has been made about “the growing fintech threat” in the credit union space. Well, most of that has blown over at this point. It’s pretty clear that most fintechs out there don’t want to be financial institutions. They just want to help out.

There are exceptions to this general rule, of course. Some fintechs are getting a little aggressive in their entryway into the banking realm.

But if you’ve been holding your breath waiting for the fintech threat to blow over…

Keep holding it.

Here comes big tech.

Continue reading “OK Google: What Do You Want with Credit Unions?” →

You may remember the Equifax security breach in 2017. If you don’t, here’s a refresher:

In late 2017, Equifax announces a cybersecurity breach that jeopardized the personally identifiable information of nearly 150 million people. Names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and identification were all compromised.

This week in July 2019, Equifax settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to resolve several investigations and a consumer class-action lawsuit. That settlement of $575–700 million contains a hefty consumer restitution fund to repay those affected by the breach.

This is to say that if your identity was compromised in the Equifax security breach, you’re entitled free credit monitoring or $125.

Continue reading “Updates in the Equifax Security Breach Settlement” →