Ed Roberts

A former branch manager at Nickleoid Employees Credit Union, LaSalle, Ind., has pleaded guilty to embezzling tens of thousands of dollars by adding numbers to her own home equity loan to obtain an additional credit of $163,585.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Manhattan Beach, Calif., said it has expanded its mortgage offerings to include government-backed Federal Housing Administration loans.

On Thursday the National Credit Union Administration will issue roughly $1.5 billion of 'NCUA Guaranteed Notes' backed by the cash flow of mortgage backed securities culled from failed corporate credit unions.

TMG Financial Services, Des Moines, said its credit union Structured Finance CUSO will finance mortgage lending for credit unions through myCUmortgage, a program put together by the Wright-Pratt Credit Union of Ohio.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union of Virginia, and North Island Credit Union, San Diego, this week signed a correspondent contract under which North Island will offer residential loans originated by the PenFed, one of the largest CU players in mortgage banking.

Mortgage fraudster Michael McGrath, who siphoned off $140 million of credit union funds through his company, U.S. Mortgage Corp. and its CU National Mortgage affiliate, will serve at least 12 years of a 14-year prison term meted out by a federal judge two weeks ago, according to prosecutors.

State Employees' Credit Union, Raleigh, N.C., late this week announced that it is eliminating appraisal fees for home equity lines of credit and closed-end second liens.

The FBI investigation into a massive fraud at U.S. Mortgage Corp. and its CU National subsidiary orchestrated by Michael McGrath was initially uncovered by one of McGrath's business partners, who was negotiating his own plea in a separate mortgage fraud case.

Michael McGrath, the disgraced former president of U.S. Mortgage Corp. and its CU National Mortgage unit, was sentenced late Thursday to 14 years behind bars for a massive fraud in which he sold $140 million of CU mortgages his company was servicing to Fannie Mae and kept the proceeds.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union, Alexandra, Va., said it plans to open at least ten additional offices for its PenFed Realty affiliate by yearend.