There wasn't much to talk about for a while until the dust has settled, but seriously, how can credit union's hold their heads up and say that they represent their members right now?We went bonkers to protect the interchange income. Gee, who really profited from this in the first place? Not us and not our members? We actually stood against our members being able to get a discount for paying cash instead of using a debit card that might actually overdraw their account and garner us another fee? Are you SERIOUS? I saw recently that someone lamented that we have become an industry instead of a movement. Well, this proves it in spades! It used to be that if it's good for the members, it's good for the credit union. Now I guess the measure is if it's good for the bottom line!!!
Are we now so profit oriented that we put income over service? Well, if it's all about "making the numbers and sending the board to an off-shore planning session", then that may be true.
7 brave credit unions are attempting to bring this reign of "crass capitalism" to a close. A signal must be sent that you can not put the entire industry at risk because of excessive risk-taking. Management and boards will be held accountable for excessive risk taking on a personal level. We've all heard and know credit unions that are bank-like. Going forward, they might just find themselves in a suit or two, like our new CUNA President. It's a sad day when the best candidate for our national association is under two legal suits for potentially destroying the entire industry CUNA represents...... How ironic is that?
Then we have the still popular and undecided MBL. Let's see, Arrowhead is under conservatorship and the fist action of NCUA was the stopping all MBL activity. Could that be because Arrowhead had extensively and practically singularly promoted MBL for the last 4 years? They and other cu's, like the banks of the 70's, are chasing the lending product du jour. Everyone seems to be determined to raise the ceiling on lending limits. Surely, this will solve all our problems. Perhaps we should rethink the charter of the "natural person" credit union.... You know... the one we operate under! Patelco under a different ceo was rumored to come to SEGs and offer membership to the front-office people but not the back off folks. That was wrong then, and chasing business members while leaving the natural person members on their own is wrong now.
Now our industry acts as if the Legacy assets of USC and WesCorp have somehow mysteriously disappeared. We are fighting for MBL and interchange and we don't even know if we will survive the corporate debacle.
I find it surprising that everyone touted how well Arrowhead's eminent recovery was going to be.. and yet there wasn't one dime set aside this year for NCUA's assessment. Did they think there would be NONE? How about 10%, 20% or 40%, like most think it will be? Surely it's not zero! I wonder how many other cu's out there have turned a blind eye to the coming assessment and put nothing aside? Are we more concerned about how we look, or how truthful we show our financial position to our members?
NOTE TO CU'S THAT SEE THEMSELVES AS BANKS ----"DO US ALL A FAVOR AND CHANGE YOUR CHARTER ALREADY!!!"
If the credit union charter doesn't fit your business plan and your personal goals of glory and riches... We'd love to help you out -- Which way did you come in? Just leave your fair share of the assessments before you leave, please!
