MADISON, Wis. – Discover innovative lending practices and strategies to deal with the challenges created during the current economic crisis at the 15th annual CUNA Lending Council Conference, taking place Nov. 1-4 in San Diego.

Learn how to turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s successes during "Earning Your Way Out." This Monday morning breakout session will reveal the strategic and financial opportunities available to credit unions in mortgage lending and housing finance, among others. Speaker Joe Brancucci, CEO and chair of Prime Alliance Solutions, will disclose six lending strategies and one super strategy with the potential to reshape credit unions.

On Tuesday, the "Lending to the Newly Credit Impaired" panel will explore the challenges and potential opportunities of lending to this growing category of Americans. The panel will offer best practices for combining evaluation of members’ character and historical experience with their current credit situation. It will also address needed risk assessment measures for lending to these borrowers and reveal some of the most current tools for assessing credit history and credit trends.

The roller coaster ride of the past year has been enough to turn anyone’s stomach, so we’re focusing this conference on smart lending practices to help credit union professionals turn the corner and stress less," said Bill Vogeney, co-chair of the council’s conference committee and senior vice president and chief lending officer for Ent FCU in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Additional conference sessions tackle a host of important issues to help lending professionals succeed in current market conditions, including:

• Importance of loan review,
• Loan fraud in the new economy,
• Regulatory compliance for 2010,
• Effective consumer loan portfolio management,
• Loan growth best practices panel,
• State of the auto lending industry, and
• Finance 101 for lenders.

A luncheon will take place on Monday to honor the winners of the Credit Union Excellence in Lending Awards, sponsored by CUNA Mutual Group and the CUNA Lending Council.

Participants may register online at
www.cunalendingcouncil.org
by clicking on the "2009 conference information" link. For any questions pertaining to conference registration, call (800) 356-9655, ext. 4400, or e-mail
reginfo@cuna.coop. For program information inquiries, contact Edith Thayer, CUNA Councils program coordinator, at (800) 356-9655, ext. 4047, or by e-mail
ethayer@cuna.coop.