The CU2.0 Podcast

The credit union share of auto loans fell sharply in 2023, down almost 5% from 2022 numbers tracked by Experian. Does this augur a grim future for credit unions when it comes to financing cars? Or was it a blip on the screen? On the show is Will Ely, a solutions architect at Earnix, where he consults with clients seeking more effective auto lending strategies. According to Ely, data is king of this mountain. In particular he points to pricing analytics as the key to unlocking more and better loans. We also discuss why some credit unions have pulled away from indirect auto lending and, surprise, why super prime borrowers aren't always the best for a credit union. Listen up Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits show. There are over 300 shows in the library and yet a reality in the podcast business is that few of us ever even look at more than maybe the half dozen most recent shows. That’s why we are going to resurface some of the best and most popular shows as Greatest Hits. This is show #6 Matthew Butler on Charitable Donation Accounts and, no, I hadn’t heard of it either until I talked with Butler. I like it when people bring me something I hadn’t heard of it so I put him on the show. Now I’m resurfacing it as Greatest Hit #7. Here’s why: a CDA allows a credit union to make investments in otherwise impermissible vehicles where the kicker is that 51% of returns have to be distributed as charitable donations (that presently means a 501 C 3). But the credit union can retain the remaining 49% for its own uses. Why isn’t your credit union doing this? Probably because you had never heard of it either. And now you have. Listen up.

The answers you need are in the data. Of course you know that. But do you know - really know - how to mine the data you have, and you have a lot, and drill down to the information you need today? On the show is Anurag Mukherjee, the Head of the Analytics practice for Credit Unions & Community Banks at EXL, a large global analytics and digital solutions consulting firm headquartered in New York. What sold me on doing this show was when I poked around the EXL website and landed on a case study where EXL worked with DCU, the big Massachusetts based credit union, to transform how the institution managed and used its data. Here’s the concluding sentence of the case study: “Within six months, the IT team migrated 30 months of data consisting of over 5.8 billion documents into Amazon Redshift for analysis. The data is refreshed each night, enabling the business teams to access up-to-date information on which to base decisions. In addition, each sales executive has a self-service dashboard delivering them the insights they need to better support their clients.” For many years I have looked upon DCU as a genuine tech leader among credit unions and if DCU was turning to EXL for help in organizing its data I had to know more about the company. In this show we hear about the work EXL did for DCU but also about what all credit unions need to do to prosper in an ever more competitive environment. We also hear about a chronic credit union problem - data from many different tech vendors often is siloed and unavailable to use in other systems from other vendors. Throughout this is an upbeat, optimistic show where the credit union future is depicted as bright - if the institutions digitize and keep digitizing to let them compete against everything from Chase to Chime. Listen up. Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Imagine this: you and your spouse go to Appleby’s for a Valentine’s Day dinner. You pay the check with your credit union debit card and, shazam, you get 10% cashback. An impossible story? Not according to Joel Richard, chief experience officer at Interra Credit Union in Indiana. That cashback came to him because he was using a card linked to Cashback+ which delivers cashback to members who use their debit card at participating merchants and the merchant list is an all star collection including WalMart, BestBuy, Target, Amazon and as you will hear in the show the Cashback+ system is very open to including offers from a credit union’s business members. If you are thinking this is deja vu again you’re right. A few months ago we did a short newsflash episode with David Metz, CEO of Prizeout the company behind Cashback+. What’s different about this show is that Interra’s Richard is here singing Cashback+’s praises. Also on the show is Matt Denham, a Prizeout co-founder, who tells how the product has morphed and is now at an increasing number of credit unions. Face this fact: credit card rewards are probably going to shrink as Mastercard and Visa fees do. Cashout+ rides entirely different rails. This is about customer acquisition strategies deployed by sophisticated merchants. Probably, too, many of your members are fretting about balancing their household budget. Cashback can be a very sweet plus for many American households. And if you wonder who Andrea is, click here. Listen up. Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Can you pick out the bad apple? There are lots of retirement vehicles aimed at credit union c-suite executives but the fact is they aren’t created equal. Some simply are better than others. Back on the show today is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union and now a leading expert on credit union SERPs (supplemental executive retirement plan), and he offers tips on what to look for in a steady SERP…and keep in mind it has to hold up usually for several decades after an executive retires. Along the way Kordeleski tells what credit union board members need to know and do to properly review and select SERPs for their executives. And we also talk about how credit unions can compete against - and beat! - money center banks. Sure, they have the scale but credit unions have an edge they can use to win this David v Goliath battle. Kordeleski relates how he did it at Bethpage.

Your mother dies or maybe it’s your spouse and you’re a named beneficiary in the will so surely it’s a matter of presenting a few papers and some ID at the relative’s credit union and then you’ll walk out with a check. Dream on. When Saeid Kian’s father died from pancreatic cancer - meaning there had been time to get his financial papers in order - Saeid assumed it would be straightforward to gain access to his dad’s accounts. He assumed incorrectly. Months went by as he dealt with lumbering, inefficient systems at multiple financial institutions. These were months of frustration, aggravation and worse. Flashforward to now and Saeid is co-founder of Ribbon, a San Francisco fintech that aims to help credit unions produce a better experience for heirs seeking to collect inherited assets. Understood what’s in it for the FI to make this service smoother: Literally billions of dollars are pouring out of traditional FIs today as a generational wealth transfer of unprecedented magnitude unfolds and the heirs, in the majority of cases, are taking their inheritances to other institutions. Part of the reason they are is that many are fuming with the clumsy, lengthy process that most credit unions have in handling estate transfers. Ribbon makes it better, faster. It just may stop the money leak and help credit unions hold onto some of this cash. This is a good show about a service I hadn’t heard of - you haven’t either. And when you hear it you just may want to tie up with Ribbon pronto. Listen up. Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits show. There are over 300 shows in the library and yet a reality in the podcast business is that few of us ever even look at more than maybe the half dozen most recent shows. That’s why we are going to resurface some of the best and most popular shows as Greatest Hits. This is show #5 - San Francisco Fire Credit Union exec Josephine Chew tells about how the institution created its we want to be your side bank campaign and she also exudes humor, creativity and wisdom about how to market a credit union. She knows the other side of the street too. She came to credit unions after an eight year stint at Wells Fargo and along the way she put in time at Charles Schwab, Visa and other bigs. She knows their strengths but she also knows a credit union’s. Listen up.

It’s a war out there for deposits. You know it. But what you might not know is how to actually get more deposits, especially from new members. Psst. Here’s the secret: digital account opening. That’s what Apiture’s Jennifer Dimenna is here to tell us -but first there is this mind numbing statistic: about half of all credit unions do not have the capability to offer digital account opening. And yet this is 2024. How many potential new members simply log out when they realize they’d have to come into a branch to open an account - and they take their digital mindset and their dollars down the road to an institution that lets them interact digitally. Digital account opening is becoming a must have and Apiture wants to get more credit unions up and ready online. Dimenna also tells the necessity of embedded finance tools that will allow a credit union to bring in new members everywhere from a community college bursar’s office to a veterinary office. Make it easier for consumers to put their money in your vaults and suddenly you’ll be winning the deposit wars. For your background reading here’s a recent Apiture white paper on how to grow your core deposits. Listen up Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

SELCO, at $2.7 billion in assets, is a big Oregon credit union. It has had an active community relations - and giving - portfolio. And then an idea took hold: SELCO decided to organize its activities and out of this has grown SELCO Steps Up where the credit union reimagines, expands, and organized its community relations portfolio. Every credit union should be looking at doing something similar. This is the path towards getting the most for the community out of the credit union’s talent and treasures. “Through SELCO Steps Up, we are looking for ways to identify the changing needs of the communities we serve, and find new and innovative methods that will leave a lasting impact,” said Olivia Sorensen, Senior Community Development Specialist for SELCO. “SELCO has nearly a century of history when it comes to helping our communities. With that experience, we know that it is not enough to simply write a check. Our goal is to uplift and empower while addressing key societal challenges with a focus on issues that we can do the most good, namely financial education, removing barriers to education, and supporting students and educators.” On the show today is Sorensen who takes us through how the idea of SELCO Steps Up took hold, how it progressed through management ranks, and how it has been embraced by the communities SELCO serves and by the credit union’s employees. Take notes. Similar approaches just may suit your credit union. While we are talking about this, also listen to podcast #287, Givio on charitable giving and credit unions, and a CU 2.0 Newsflash where Joe Bergeron of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions tells why and how that state’s credit unions are helping local farmers recover from significant weather related damages through the Dig Deep Vermont campaign. Listen up. Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

It was two years ago when we kicked off the first Kirk Kordeleski Money Talks podcast where the onetime Bethpage Federal Credit Union CEO talked about the rising importance and adoption of SERP retirement plans for c-suite credit union execs but also about the massive changes that are transforming the credit union industry. There’s a monthly show, an hour of prime listening for those working in the credit union industry and also those who want to sell into it. That means there are approaching two dozen shows in the archives. But here is number one. It’s definitely still worth a listen.

Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits show. There are over 300 shows in the library and yet a reality in the podcast business is that few of us ever even look at more than maybe the half dozen most recent shows. That’s why we are going to resurface some of the best and most popular shows as Greatest Hits. This is show #3 - a reissue of CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 239 David Metz CEO of Prizeout and Darlene Johnson, EVP of Suncoast Credit Union, on Value Upping Gift Cards It’s a show with everything. A new twist on putting money in members pockets: ad tech. An eloquent credit union leader from one of the country’s biggest credit unions. And a CUSO makes an appearance. Potential guests often ask me what prep they should do. I always point them to the library. Listen to a few shows before we do yours. That’s the best homework possible. And this episode is a great example of a pairing that works between a CU exec and a tech partner. Listen up.

Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, said it and his endorsement in a Credit Union Times article was so glowing that I knew I had to talk with Austin Wentzlaff, CEO of startup Nook. said Kordeleski: “I firmly believe that Nook is at the forefront of something truly exceptional for the credit union industry. Drawing from my experience as a former credit union CEO, I can attest that every credit union grapples with similar challenges related to member loyalty and engagement – precisely the issues that Nook was established to address.” Just what is Nook? It’s a content serving platform that helps credit unions build closer relationships - and maybe sell more pertinent products to - select consumer groups. Once upon a time credit unions had intimate ties with members and genuinely knew a lot about them. When every member - and board member - worked at XYZ factory or newspaper or school it was rather easy to know them. Nowadays, as more credit unions have community charters and the SEG based institutions often have dozens of very different SEGs it’s gotten harder to know thy members. The degree of difficulty has escalated further as financial services have transitioned from in person transactions to remote, digital interactions. Nook’s aim is to use digital tools to build the same kind of strong ties credit unions used to have. Nook’s current clients include Dort Financial Credit Union ($1.6 billion, Grand Blanc, Mich.) and TopLine Financial Credit Union ($792 million, Maple Grove, Minn.) And it’s looking for more. Listen up. Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

The Callahan report on credit union financial performance in 2023 exploded like a bomb. Credit Union Times shrieked: “Credit Union Earnings Fell to Record Low in 2023, Callahan Data Shows.” The publication added a kick with its subhead: “But CU results are even worse when the most recent three months are extracted for earnings and originations.” Had the sky in fact fallen? Then I saw a post on LinkedIn by Kirk Kordeleski, the onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, where he sought to add context to what Callahan had reported and what it in fact means for credit unions. I immediately contacted him and said we have to do a podcast. In this show, Kordeleski emphatically says the sky hasn’t fallen for credit unions, nor is it about to fall. In fact he remains very optimistic about the future for the credit unions who in fact comprehend the competitive landscape. This is not to say all is rosy for all. The podcast begins with thoughts about the many recent c-suite terminations and the moral of that story is that now, probably for the first time ever, many credit union boards are using competitive performance data to grade their institution’s performance - and they are firing CEOs who don’t measure up. That’s a tectonic shift for credit union leadership. Kordeleski tells how this came about. But know this: as I said Kordeleski is very optimistic about the future. In the show he tells what a credit union CEO needs to be doing to succeed in today’s changing universe. Listen up.

Maybe 15 to 20 percent of your members have a neurodiverse condition - anything from dyslexia to color blindness - and, surprise, that means they will face big challenges everytime they log into a mobile banking app because that technology just isn’t designed with such conditions in mind. Enter Mahalo with its Thoughtful Banking mobile app which features a neurodiversity module. Mahalo elaborated on what this means: “Among the platform's new features are left and right-hand use modes, font color options for those with Dyslexia or visual impairments, and the ability to disable animations for individuals affected by Epilepsy.” On the show today to talk about neurodiversity and mobile banking are Denny Howell of Mahalo Banking and Tanya Holland of Park View Federal Credit Union, a $366 million institution in Virginia. It’s a provocative discussion and it leaves one wondering: why haven’t a lot more credit unions jumped aboard this neurodiversity issue? But understand this: the show is about a bigger issue which is how a credit union and a technology provider can collaborate to help solve a problem that impacts a lot of members and still wind up friends. Listen up. Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Do we still need to pay attention to a credit union’s core system? You bet you do. On the show today is Shanon McLachlan, president of Credit Union Solutions at Jack Henry and - honestly - he draws a picture of core systems that are genuinely exciting, that will grow with a credit union as its tech needs grow. Regular listeners know that usually when I mention core systems it’s wrapped in what some call sneer quotes. Mclachlan is determined to prove I’m wrong, that cores can and should be the brains of a thriving credit union. Is he right? Listen up for this perspective on a vital 21st century core.

You’re a credit union, therefore you want more business members. Business members bring a lot of revenue into an institution. Many credit unions in recent years have made a push for more small business members. Many have fallen well short of their goals. There are many reasons why but there also is a big reality: most credit unions need outside help to achieve those goals. They need to work with outsiders who truly get what building relationships with small businesses is all about. Enter Crux Analytics. They tell their story on their website: “We started Crux because we believe in the power of small business. We have experienced first-hand the challenges owners face and understand the role they serve in our lives and our economy. We have seen the current systems driving small business banking fall short for both owners and financial institutions. Small businesses need access to relevant, quality banking services to thrive. Financial institutions want to be able to engage more with small businesses, who are loyal, valuable, long-term customers. Crux is bridging the gap.” On the show today is Jacob Bennett, a Crux Analytics co-founder, who tells why Crux Analytics just may be what your credit union needs to really master how to serve small businesses - and, while doing that, genuinely benefiting your community because, honestly, much of America revolves around healthy small businesses. Crux is seeking credit unions to join a pilot. Hear how towards the end of the show. This is a show that will leave you feeling optimistic. Listen up Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits Show, episode the second. This show is with Peter Duffy on credit union - credit union mergers, show #274. Consider it a bookend with the first Great Hits show with Michael Bell on credit union - bank mergers. The reality is that mergers just are in the 2024 air as more credit unions face up to the reality that they need to bulk up to compete. Meantime, other credit unions are struggling in today’s tougher banking environment where it’s just harder to prosper as loan defaults multiply, new loans are hard to issue, and some fee income (NSF charges for instance) is under attack. Merger just may be an escape route for a struggling credit union. In this show Duffy tells what he tells credit union board members at retreats. It’s straight talk. Listen up Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take

There’s no charge to you or to your member - and yet both will get money out of the deal. In one case a member bought a $1000 CVS gift card and got an extra $80 in cash back. How cool is that. Of course you want to hear more. On the show today is David Metz, CEO of Prizeout and a past guest on the show. (Stay tuned: that episode will soon post as Greatest Hits # 3.) Today Metz is talking about Cashback+, a white label tool that puts money back in a member’s pocket with a debit card transaction. Note that: this works with debit cards, unlike most cashback which rides on a credit card. And that debit focus works well for credit unions where many members make heavy use of debit cards and that is especially true of younger members. Where does the cashback come from? Merchants who see the program as a customer acquisition tactic. And there’s no charge to the credit union or the member. Listen up. Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Hero or villain? It’s your choice. When a member writes a check, or swipes a debit card, but lacks the funds for the transaction a credit union has a choice: it can play the part of the villain and slap a big fee on the member or the credit union could use the patented toolset from DoubleCheck to resolve the situation in ways that can benefit both the member and the credit union. Face facts: you may not have long to decide what to do. The two dozen biggest credit unions - ones with assets over $10 billion - already are confronting a CFPB that seems to determined to change how they handle overdrafts. A bigger bomb dropped when NCUA weighed in with its idea to supervise how overdrafts are handled at credit unions with assets of $1 billion or more. That impacts some 500 credit unions. A revolution is afoot regarding overdrafts. Credit unions simply have to accept that changes are coming. That’s where DoubleCheck comes in. On the show today is Joel Schwartz, founder and Co CEO of DoubleCheck. He tells all you need to know about what’s happening in the world of overdrafts and how DoubleCheck can help credit unions who want to manage these changes in ways that will benefit members and the credit unions and satisfy regulators. Schwartz has been on the show twice before - in February 2022 and earlier in February 2021. He’s a good, lively guest and he knows this overdraft world. You need to know about it too. Listen up, Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

This is a show about Happy Money. Of course you have to smile at that. You’ll smile more knowing it’s the name of a company that is in the business of helping consumers with personal loans that in turn are issued by participating credit unions and of course the consumer is memberized along the way. So it’s also a member acquisition tool. The key Happy Money loan is the Payoff Loan - $5000 to $40,000 - that helps a consumer pay off credit cards. Rates are as low as 12.45%. Credit unions that work with Happy Money include Michigan State Federal Credit Union, Technology Credit Union, and Alliant Credit Union. Happy Money investors include a subsidiary of TruStage, formerly known as CUNA Mutual. On the show to tell all about Happy Money is CEO Joe Heck, a longtime CUNA Mutual employee who rose to vice president, business transformation. Earlier in his career he was a manager at CASE Credit Union in Michigan. Heck is an authentic credit union guy - if we used video you’d see him in a hoodie! - and he believes in the credit union mission and the credit union difference. He also sincerely believes Happy Money has a significant role to play in helping credit unions live up to their mission. Listen up. Listen up. Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters. Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto