"As cooperative financial institutions, credit unions are not reliant upon the capital markets for funding -- but are instead funded through member deposits," he noted. "As the credit crunch hits much of the economy, credit unions by contrast have money that they’re ready to lend out to their members." Another important contrast benefiting credit unions according to Radebaugh is the continued low level of loan delinquencies. "Credit unions did not make risky loans like others did, and so their loan portfolios are performing well despite the economy," he said.

(He's on the good side now.) With a seven week old in the house, I needed a break from the Baby Mozart to watch something more in line with my own tastes on a Sunday afternoon. Hoping to find a Man v. Wild marathon (I know, I know - it's largely staged but I heart it anyway), flipping through the channels brought me upon a string of commercials from a financial institution and then an insurance company both mentioning security and identity theft protection. It (and watching last night's LifeLock-sponsored IndyCar event) got me thinking about how we take precautions against ID theft.

Tomorrow, our online bill pay tools get an upgrade. And apart from the expected better interface and other UI bells and whistles, the system has improved on its anti-fraud features - in particular, confirmations will now be sent to a user both after a new bill is added and whenever a name/account number/address gets modified for a bill. Gotta stay a step ahead.