Ed Roberts

The National Credit Union Administration said it will receive roughly $5.25 million from HSBC for settling claims against the banking giant related to mortgage-backed securities it sold to five now defunct corporate credit unions.

A federal judge declined Tuesday to dismiss charges that Barclays Capital packed a collateralized debt obligation it sold to Eastern Financial Florida CU with junk, hastening the demise of the one-time $2.4 billion credit union, the biggest natural person credit union failure ever.

A federal judge has indicated he plans to reject Goldman Sachs & Co.'s motion to dismiss NCUA's suit and continue the case challenging the Wall Street bank over $1.1 billion of faulty residential mortgage-backed securities it sold to U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU, the two biggest credit union failures ever.

Credit union executives urged Congress this morning to step in and alleviate a rapidly growing list of new regulations affecting credit unions and banks.

In one of the most ambitious lawsuits of its kind so far, Space Coast Credit Union has filed a civil damage claim against several investment banking firms that sold $150 million of mortgage-backed CDOs to Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union, which failed in 2009, and was then acquired by Space Coast.

In a tax dispute that could be far-reaching, the U.S. Department of Justice told the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest appellate court, it believes that federally chartered credit unions should be exempt from the state's Mortgage Recording Tax because of the provisions of the Federal CU Act which exempt federal credit unions from almost all state taxes.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions told leaders of the Senate Banking Committee last week that the credit union industry, which is emerging as one of the most important players in the home loan market, is opposed to any mortgage reforms that would include elimination of the federal guarantee on loans sold on the secondary market currently through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A federal court in Newark has issued an order effectively requiring CUMIS Insurance Society to cover millions of dollars of losses suffered by Sperry Associates Federal Credit Union in the massive mortgage fraud committed by U.S. Mortgage and its CU National Mortgage unit.

The Federal Home Loan Bank System has made a pitch to the National Credit Union Administration that could tap the credit union movement for tens of billions of dollars in new funds.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Manhattan Beach, Calif., has opened a new mortgage loan center in Mission Valley, following the opening of another center in Rancho Penasquitos in December.

Navy Federal Credit Union, Merrifield, Va., the largest CU player in mortgages, plans to hire as many as 600 employees at its Pensacola, Fla., call center campus to accommodate growth.

The National Credit Union Association said Monday that a federal credit union may set the maturity date for modified or refinanced mortgages beyond the regulatory 40-year maturity limit, as long as the terms of the original loan were no more than 40 years.

NCUA proposed new rules for troubled debt restructurings that will cover how all federally insured credit unions account for delinquencies, charge-offs and income related to troubled home mortgages and member business loans, as well as for how those loans are reported on NCUA's quarterly Call Reports.

NCUA said Tuesday it disagrees with a tentative ruling by a federal judge that would dismiss its suit against RBS Securities in the failure of WesCorp FCU, a ruling that could jeopardize similar suits against JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo for the sale of risky mortgage backed securities to five failed corporate credit unions.

JPMorgan Chase late last week told a federal court in Wichita that NCUA's negligence suit against top executives of WesCorp Federal Credit Union proves it was the shortcomings of those executives - and not any misrepresentations by the Wall Street bank's sales force in the sale of MBS - that caused the failure of WesCorp and three other corporate credit unions.

The National Credit Union Administration is proposing new rules for troubled debt restructurings that will cover how all federally insured credit unions account for delinquencies, charge-offs, and income related to troubled home mortgages.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Manhattan Beach, Calif., posted a $30.6 million loss for 2011, citing problems with its mortgage business.

Alaska developer Lee Baker, Jr., known in Anchorage as "The Condo King," has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he lied on loan applications to Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union.

CUNA Mutual Group this week filed suit against RBS Securities, asking a federal court in Madison, Wisc. to order the Wall Street bank to buy back $72 million of failed residential MBS it sold to the credit union insurer's MEMBERS's Life Insurance Co., and CUMIS Insurance Society units.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has joined efforts to get credit unions exempt from the mortgage recordation tax in New York, ratcheting up the fight against the state levy.