By Robert McGarvey

$550 – that’s the annual fee for the Amex Platinum card and for some years I have readily paid it, plus $175 for a card for my wife, but this year I find myself asking, is it worth it?

The trigger is of course that the Centurion clubs – for me the prime attraction of the card (and before Centurion there was the rather broad access to carrier clubs) – are closed. Indefinitely. And definitely need a revamp when they do open and that throws into question the frequently tasty (and free!) buffet tables. There have also been capacity issues so how does Amex change access to make clubs less crowded (and thus safer) when too many want access to begin with?  Certainly the clubs will reopen but as what? With what rules? Nobody knows.

Besides, with business related travel now as sparse as it was in late 2001, I don’t much need the clubs anyway.

Also now lying unused in my hands is a $200 annual credit ($15/month plus a kicker in December) for Uber which I have personally used infrequently but often I gifted free rides to relatives and friends which made me seem a generous hero at no cost. But I have not summoned an Uber in two months and don’t anticipate doing so soon.

So do I renew the Platinum card or not?

You may face the same question. Particularly if you too have been a Centurion junkie.

As it happens, recently a friend who wants anonymity hit exactly the same moment of questioning.  Listen to his story: “In early April, my annual fee was due. I called and asked what they could do. Basically, I was looking for something like a $50 statement credit or something, just an acknowledgement that they are getting $550 from me and there probably would be nothing interesting for me. She said, ‘we got nothing, but we’ll defer your monthly fee for a month.’ I asked why that mattered. She said: You never know. I said fine.

“Fast forward to last week. Now the fee is due….So I call to cancel, knowing I’ll immediately be sent to the ‘retention specialist’ (AKA ‘saver’).”

And then what: “No counter offer. So I closed the card. First time in 35 years or so without a Platinum. First time since 1997 no Priority Pass.

“But the reality is Amex’s response here is irrational. They made me angry.”

Will I do likewise?

I go to the Amex website and what jumps out at me are two new benefits: a $20 monthly credit against a wireless bill (T-Mobile qualifies and I already have two lines there), also a $20 streaming video credit that I decide to apply to a new YouTube.TV account but could just as well use to pay my Netflix bill (which I realize I’d been paying via PayPal, don’t ask why).

Bingo, that’s about $280 in credits through the rest of the year. There’s no guarantee the credits will be offered in 2021, but I imagine about the time the credits lapse the Centurion clubs will be open again and there will be renewed need for Uber in my universe.

There’s also a new $200 travel credit that’s on top of the annual $200 credit against airline fees (for baggage check, booze inflight, a sandwich, etc). This new credit applies to purchases made on the Amex Travel Portal.

There also is elite status in the Hilton and Marriott BonVoy programs and I have activated both.

And I also discovered the card offers a $100 annual credit against purchases at Saks and that’s free money. I had not known about this perk until I poked around the card site. Do likewise and you may find neglected perks too.

Bottomline: I will renew.

Who’s right, me or my old pal?

We both are of course. Different people, different circumstances, different decisions.

The bigger point is that nowadays we all need to be assessing just about every fee- does it make sense? Should I do without? In a deep recession, with no end in sight, it only makes sense to monitor outgo.  

And don’t be shy about threatening to cancel. Sure, my pal got bupkis but on a different day, with a different vendor, there might be different results.  When I called T-Mo to drop one of my phone lines, the rep informed me that I am eligible for a special senior rate that basically provides two lines for the price of one. So I kept both lines but halved the rate just by asking.

When we called to cancel Cox cable, however, we were offered nothing meaningful – and cancel we did.

And maybe next year I too will cancel the Plat card. Times may change.

Are you assessing your renewals? Just do it. Something good very well may result.

Bill Kennedy has spent a credit union career moving from institution to institution. He has worked at 11 – “6 or 7 were turnarounds, 1 was a startup,” said Kennedy.

Often he’s been CFO, and he has also served as CEO. He’s seen a lot in his years at and near the top.

Know this about this podcast: Kennedy speaks his mind and he doesn’t soften his opinions.

And he has a very strong opinion about how many credit unions will close in the next year, mainly as a consequence of coronavirus.  It’s a big number. You want to hear it.

Along the way he says a huge credit union problem is poor board quality – and he does not mince words about that.

He also is worried about the industry’s comparative inability to attract smart young professionals as employees – the industry is aging out at a time when communicating with young consumers is paramount.

He asks as well how many young professionals you have mentored. He says he has mentored 80+ in the past 25 years.

That will be critical because he predicts around half of senior credit union executives will retire in the next few years. Who is on deck to fill their jobs? At many credit unions the answer is nobody – and that, by the way, is another reason many credit unions will close.  There will be a shortage of qualified senior executives.

Think this is a bleak podcast? It’s not a cheerful one. But Kennedy’s are provocative ideas you need to hear.

Hear the Kennedy podcast here.

Mentioned in this podcast is retired SECU CEO Jim Blaine – his podcast is here.

For a different perspective on boards, there’s the John Pembroke, CUES, podcast.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.comFind out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

From the future of branches (maybe brighter than you fear) to the profound impacts Covid-19 may have on your credit union, this conversation with longtime banking analyst Bob Meara, now a senior analyst with consulting firm Celent, will get you thinking.

For starters, accept that very probably Covid-19 will work lasting changes on how your credit union does business – and very probably there will be growing acceptance of digital tools that will last beyond the pandemic.

Face to face as a primary interaction will lessen as a result of the virus, he said.

But Meara also is something of a branch optimist, especially regarding credit unions.  Some mega banks are unquestionably over branched, he admits, but few credit unions are.  What he sees is that many credit unions need to make progress in deploying branches more effectively as tools for relationship building.

Members don’t need branches for transactions.

But many still want them for relationships, advice, help.

Along the way, Meara tells why video tellers have been something of a failure, and also why digital only banks mainly have sputtered.

But he also talks about where credit unions need to play catch up – think digital transformation and, especially, digital account origination (opening a new account needn’t necessitate a branch visit!).

Hear the Meara podcast here.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.comFind out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

By Robert McGarvey

It’s sinking in: changes triggered by the coronavirus will create lasting and big changes in how we live – and especially in how we travel.

Here are five transformational new realities that will make 2020 travel seem substantially different from travel in 2019 or 2009. In some ways the 2020 travel may well be more pleasant – so don’t boo all the changes. Some I too will join in booing. But others looks good to me.

Face masks are us. It won’t be volitional. We will soon wear a face mask whenever we fly as increasing numbers of airlines make them mandatory. It’s a good thing. Are masks comfortable? Nah. But many of us feel safer wearing them and that’s important as we slowly return to flying. Note: JoeSentMe members qualify for a deal on face masks. Stock up. You will be needing them and, honestly, while I am glad I discovered that airline amenity kit eye masks can be conscripted to stand in for a real face mask, the eye masks are harder to breathe through and not especially comfy when used as a face mask. Use the real deal. You’ll be glad when you are on flights.

I will not use airport clubs (so long Centurion, a longtime personal favorite).  Of course that is moot because Amex has closed the lounges – sniff – but when they re-open instead of dashing in I will closely inspect the offering and then decide to go or not. But I can say overcrowded rooms, buffet dining, and the rest of the Centurion experience just will not be on my personal dance card anytime soon.  So much about the experience just is wrong when looked at from today’s perspective.  I hope Amex does a deep rethink on the lounges – but they have a tough dilemma to unravel, between balancing high demand for the clubs and present-day, pandemic shaped health concerns.  Good luck, Amex (and they will need it).

I do not expect to set foot into a Centurion in 2020. 2021? I definitely hope to. But the virus, and the coherence and effectiveness of our response as a nation, will make the decision.

Goodby free buffet breakfasts. I am a longtime fan of free hotel buffet breakfasts – and, sure, I do not tell my cardiologist because these are feasts of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and other stuff (sweet rolls!) that I know I should not be eating. But I do and, because it is free, I feel obligated. Sort of. And definitely I shovel it in.

How hotels and motels reinvent the free buffet breakfast I have no idea. The whole point is to pile an obscene amount of forbidden foods on a plate and no one will do that for me.

But the agreement is wide: the end of the buffet is upon us (and don’t ask how the Las Vegas Strip will reinvent the buffet because I doubt anybody knows).

Expect to pay more for flights. Most experts see significant jumps in ticket prices because – very probably – most carriers will sell fewer seats (they may leave middle seats vacant, as they once typically were some decades past). They may also cut back on services – possibly no food items for sale in coach and also possibly no booze.

Consider such steps a death blow for cheap flights, which depended upon stuffed planes and impulse buys of overpriced snacks and drinks for their profitability. I remember buying roundrip tix to Madrid simply because they were so cheap it was a deal I couldn’t refuse. Ditto flights to London, often. Yes, and Paris too. Who could say no?

I do not believe I will be seeing those prices again. Sigh. But I am grateful for the emptier planes, which I view as worth paying the price.

Side note: expect to pay more at fine dining restaurants too. With many expecting to serve only half as many diners as tables sit further apart, prices will go up, a price needing to be paid to maintain social distancing.

I will not use public transit to/from the airport.  That hurts me, a lot more than skipping the Centurion Lounge.  I like light rail and I like subways (I forget how I used to get from SFO to downtown before BART was extended to the airport) and it’s been my most consistent “think green” action. Does it compensate for the carbon associated with the flight? Of course not. But it’s been my gesture. And yet, right now, public transit just strikes me as screamingly unhealthy. So I will not use it.

Things are indeed different today.

When will we revert to the old “normal?” Impossible to say, maybe never, but certainly not before there is a widely available vaccine that has been proven effective. I would not bet on that widely available vaccine until perhaps a years from now, very possibly longer. So get used to travel differently, We’ll be doing it for some time.

by Robert McGarvey

On March 23rd I took to bed with fever and worse. Ten days later I woke up and the fever had broken. Four weeks later – today is April 30 – I am still regaining my strength.

I have never been sick for nine days and I am a Medicare recipient who has suffered all the usual, mundane illnesses. But never for nine days

Did I have coronavirus aka Covid-19? I do not know and that is the damnable reality. It is what scares me. It is what should scare you.

I had the range of coronavirus symptoms. A fever (102F most times I checked and that was with Tylenol lowering it). I woke just about every night drenched in sweat. Then there were chills. A nagging cough. A sore throat some days. No taste – I lost 10 pounds. Mainly I slept, 16, 18 hours a day. My main memory of how I felt: very tired, very weak.

One day my wife asked me, “If you need to go to the hospital which one do you prefer?”

That is a creepy question to be asked. But I answered it because, just maybe, I might have needed to go.

I never did, nor did I see a primary care physician. Why bother? There are no drugs available (and, no, I have no interest in injecting Lysol). My breathing seemed okay (if occasionally labored). When I checked advisory sites they all said, stay put and so I did. I self-quarantined for three weeks because, really, that was all I could do.

Did I want a Covid-19 test? Sure. But I live in Arizona and a month ago we were close to a test-free zone. Still today, we lag in testing. In fact we rank last.

I would have needed a doctor’s prescription and also prayer that a space was available at one of the handful of testing facilities in Phoenix (the nation’s fifth biggest city, by the way). Tests were largely limited to health care workers, first responders, and the gravely ill. I opted to leave the tests for those who needed them more.

As of April 30, there have been 71,786 tests in Arizona. The population is 7.3 million.

But here’s the disturbing reality: The state says there have been 7648 cases in Arizona and 320 deaths. Both numbers are rubbish.

No one knows how many cases there have been because there has been essentially no testing.

Sure, the White House had insisted, for weeks, that there were plenty of tests. But that was – your pick – a lie or a failure to understand the reality on the ground where most states continue to grapple with inadequate supplies of test kits.

Bad numbers are not just an Arizona problem. They are a national problem and a result of a failure of the White House to use its powers to kickstart the supply chain to produce tests in the numbers we need (but does use them to force meat packing plants to stay open).

We need to triple the amount of testing we are doing, experts say. The Rockefeller Foundation says we need around three million tests a week, growing to 30 million per week. We are doing one million.

That’s important because without adequate testing we cannot safely re-open the economy. Not in Arizona, not anywhere in the US.

In Arizona the governor is under intense pressure to re-open the economy. Doing so would be suicide, a reality experts agree on because testing has been so inadequate.

That’s true in just about every state (New York, Massachusetts, and Louisiana are leaders in testing). Re-opening states and ending social distancing is about as smart as playing Russian roulette after downing a bottle of Stoli.

In Arizona, if the governor re-opens the economy on May 15, which seems plausible, I will personally ignore that decree and carry on with my own social distancing. My health, indeed my life may depend on it.

Do I have immunity because I say I had the disease? You probably are asking precisely that question because if I have immunity I can go mingle with huge crowds with nary a fear.

It’s a good question but it is impossible to say right now. Antibody tests that measure if a person has had the coronavirus are proving unreliable – many false positives appear to result and that is a dangerous turn because it may lead people to believe they have immunity.

And another thing we do not know is how much, if any, immunity is in fact conveyed by having had the disease. Nobody knows right now.

Let’s review:

• We do not know how many cases of coronavirus there have been in the US
• We do not have a way to test to see if a person has had it
• We do not know how many died from it
• We do not know what immunity a person who in fact had the disease may have

Add that up and you would be right if you say we don’t know bupkis.

And that’s a shame – for a disease that first surfaced six months ago, that has killed 231,000, and that is known to have infected 3.3 million of us globally.

Ignorance can kill. It’s happening right now in America. And it will happen at a vastly larger scale as state economies open prematurely and without adequate test data.

I will keep myself safe. Do likewise.

Bob Fisher, recently retired longtime CEO of $2.8 billion Grow Credit Union in Tampa, opens this podcast by relating a call he had a few weeks ago with the present CEO.  Bob said he told him, “I’m calling you with glee. I am so glad I am not in your chair now” and that’s because of coronavirus, the global recession, and the upheaval that has remade the world.

And yet you can hear this in Fisher’s voice: he truly believes smart credit union CEOs will see opportunities, even amid this chaos, they will seize it and their institutions will prosper.

“CEOs need to be dreamers,” said Fisher. Think big. Think how you can do it better. Think how you can invent the next way to bank before the others see it.

That’s success.

Fisher’s philosophy is plain: basically you grow or you die.  When he took over Grow it was in NCUA’s doghouse and it had around $240 million in assets.

Now it is a star even in the competitive Florida environment.

You will hear how he did that in this podcast and you will also hear why he views NCUA as a credit union’s friend.

You’ll also hear why you cannot build a credit union around Baby Boomers, not one that will thrive.

There is a long, provocative discussion about the board and governance and how management needs to work with its board.

Want to know how to make indirect lending work? Listen to this podcast. Fisher tells how.

He also explains the institution’s expansion into South Carolina (go Clemson!).

There’s a lot to unpack in this podcast and it’s all inspiring.

You will hear mention of prior CU2.0 Podcast guests – Bucky Sebastian, longtime BECU CEO Gary Oakland, and SECU CEO Jim Blaine.  Listen to the quartet and get an education from four of the industry’s best leaders in the past quarter century.

Hear the Fisher podcast here.

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

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

You have never heard a CU2.0 Podcast like this one.  This is a podcast where sacred cows are roasted on an open spit, criticisms are hurled at regulators, huge questions are raised about the wisdom of credit unions emulating bankers, and then there is the giant question about the industry’s future.

Welcome to the CU2.0 Podcast. This is your host, Robert McGarvey.  Today’s guest, Bill Brooks, presently serving as a credit union doctor who is helping to save an institution in Maryland.  Earlier he worked as an NCUA examiner.

Brooks knows where the bodies are buried and here he draws us a map.

He also talks abut the why of the 2008-2010 mortgage meltdown, the looming meltdown in car loans, and why many credit unions have betrayed their core mission of focusing on members of modest means.

Double whew.

Hear the Brooks podcast here.

In this podcast there are references to multiple guests on earlier podcasts including Jim Blaine, Bucky Sebastian, Maine Harvest, Bill Bynum, and Cliff Rosenthal. 

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

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

By Robert McGarvey

Sky Harbor and Ridesharing: The Update

It was just January when it looked as though Uber and Lyft were pulling out of servicing Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport, the nation’s 13th busiest, and the issue was that Phoenix wanted to tack a $4 charge on every trip (both pick ups and drop offs) and the ridesharing goliaths cried foul.

Riders have been paying $2.66 for pick ups at the airport. No fee for drop offs.

Why did Phoenix want to hike the fares? Phoenix faces the same issue every airport does. The ridesharing companies quickly have grabbed dominant marketshares – but in many cases are paying less than taxi companies.  Many government eyes across the country were on Sky Harbor because every airport faces the same problem of plummeting taxi usage and thus radically reduced income.

That made this fight important. What happened in Phoenix is going to happen across the nation.

Spoiler: You are not going to like how this story ends. And that is true even if you don’t step into Sky Harbor in the next decade.

Back to six months ago and the history that got us here.

Phoenix may have thought it had law on its side but Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed suit against the city, claiming the charges were unconstitutional. That gave the rideshare operators potent cover.

And so the sides were clearly drawn. Phoenix said it wanted and needed the increased fee revenue. Both Lyft and Uber – which account for 80% of commercial traffic at Sky Harbor – said no way, they would pull out before they would pay those fees or pass them on to riders.

In November, Lyft plainly threw down its gauntlet: “We have reviewed our options at Sky Harbor and believe we are obligated to prevent the unfair penalization of our drivers and riders,” Lyft spokesperson Lauren Alexander said in a statement.

Not a lot of wiggle room in that verbiage, is there?

Look again because apparently there is.

In early April, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled the fees are constitutional – and the game of chicken was on. 

The new fees kick in May 1, by the way.

It did not take long for one side to blink.

Lyft, earlier this week, said this: “While we remain concerned about parity across ground transportation modes and affordability, particularly during this challenging time, our full focus is on the safety of our riders, drivers, and team members,” Lyft said in a statement to KTAR News 92.3 FM.

“We will continue to operate at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to provide travelers with access to reliable transportation and earning opportunities for drivers.”

Uber has yet to be heard from but it will fold as well.  

It’s all about the money, baby.

Uber cannot afford to allow Lyft to control Sky Harbor and all the more so because for many of us airport transit is the gateway into ridesharing.  Use it instead of a taxi and, often, the cars are cleaner, the drivers are friendlier, and the fares are typically lower.

If we started using Lyft for airport transit, Uber has to figure, soon we would become Lyft regulars and Uber cannot allow that.

Probably, too, even with the $4 fee, it will usually be cheaper to take Uber or Lyft to the airport than a taxi.

Here’s the thing, don’t cry for Lyft or Uber.  Cry for yourself.  Cry for the other passengers. We are who will pay the $4 fee. Not Lyft, not Uber.  Nor the gig economy drivers. Us.

And we will pay it not just at Sky Harbor but at airports around the country, just about all of which are grappling with unbalanced budgets and slapping higher fees on Uber and Lyft just seems an easy thing to do.

They will see what happened in Phoenix, a light bulb will click and, watch, airport after airport will impose higher fees on rideshares.

And we will pay it. You and I.

Updated: Uber as expected has told the Arizona Republic it will continue to service Sky Harbor. It provided the paper no statement.

By Robert McGarvey

Survey data from APCO Insight throws out this shocker of a number: 83% of workers forced to work from home say they miss attending in person meetings and conventions.

78% say they will attend as many such events – or more – as they had been once the threat of coronavirus passes.

49% also want to extend federal aid to convention centers and suchlike – venues that have been wiped out by coronavirus triggered closures.

Do you agree?

Understand, I am on record that there won’t be any conferences to attend this year. I am also looking at research data that suggest such events are fertile breeding grounds for coronavirus.

Of course I understand the anxiety that envelops event planners who are looking at a cancelled year.  Only cruise lines have it as bad – they likely won’t recover until 2021, if then.

Hotels, my guess is, will begin a slow recovery this summer.  But there are glimmers of hope for that business.

Not in the near-term for events and conferences in my mind, and that’s despite the  APCO Insight poll. My guess is that most of us will be gripped with fear at the prospect of sharing an event venue with hundreds or thousands of others. Sure, we may say we miss such events – I confess I do – but that does not mean I plan to go to any soon.

I do not.

What about the White House’s apparent determination to reopen the economy by May 1?

What about it?  The White House may believe it has the authority to reopen the economy but it does not.  That power primarily resides with state governors, and most of the governors of the biggest state economies will not trip over themselves to cooperate with this White House.  

The power also resides with us, especially when it comes to events, conferences, conventions.  When we said no after 9/11, the sector effectively shut and really did not begin to recover until 2002.

In 2001 it was a powerful fear of flying that grounded us. This year it’s more complicated: it’s a fear of a communicable disease. But the CDC said fears about air travel in particular and the virus are exaggerated: “Although the risk of infection on an airplane is low, try to avoid contact with sick passengers, avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands, and wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.”

The plane itself may not be that high risk for a typical passenger. Right now may in fact be quite safe because passenger counts are very low and airlines have instituted new sanitary procedures.  

Would I fly today? Yes. I would be mindful, I would wear a face mask, I would wash my hands a lot. But I would fly.

But then there are the real concerns about the safety of large gatherings – which most states now ban or discourage. And that of course means conferences and conventions.

Many other large gatherings also are in trouble. Right now there are whispers – that get louder – that the fall college football season will be cancelled, certainly for the schools that play games in large stadiums.  That is hundreds of millions of dollars – perhaps billions.  

If college football is cancelled – and it is tantamount to a religion to many – nothing is sacrosanct.

Conventions and conferences also are huge business – certainly to Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago, Orlando, Anaheim, New York. But even to second and third tier cities such as downtown Phoenix (which is shockingly unpopulated, in part because there are no events now).

But the choice will be yours: Do you put your health at risk, especially in the absence of a coronavirus vaccine?

You and I will decide the recovery speed of the events industry.

When a vaccine is commercially viable, most fears will vanish – and good times will return for conventions and conferences. Some 70 vaccines are said to be in development, some experts are talking about vaccines on the market as early as this fall, and so there is plenty of reason for optimism.

But there also is plenty of reason not to want to see us rush into risky situations.  Social distancing seems to be working, crowds in some cases seem to be deadly, and when my life is on the line I am skipping the conference.  It’s the prudent choice, at least until a vaccine removes most of our fears.

What’s your choice?

Shane Butcher is a security guru at CUSO Ongoing Operations and lately has been busy helping numerous credit unions safely transition their employees to working from home.

The good news: credit unions that approach this methodically, carefully will probably be able to mitigate risks.

The bad news: credit unions that rush into this, haphazardly, with inadequate employee training may not.

One key: stress to employees working from home that they need to practice the very same security awareness as they do in the office. No shortcuts.

Butcher also warned that very probably cyber criminals are preparing to attempt to feast on remote credit union workers.  The risks are real.

Note, too, that Butcher’s OGO experience entails working with credit unions with assets under $100 million to ones with substantially over $1 billion. It’s a diverse customer mix but that gives him perspective on what is realistic, what is needed, what can happen.

“A lot of our customers are asking for help getting their remote workers online.”

His three word cure for a lot of today’s credit union security worries: training, training, training.

Butcher has significant concerns about BYOD access to the institution’s network – listen up find out why. But it starts with this: “we don’t know what’s on home devices” and that can range from malware to spyware to worse.

Hear the companion podcast on credit union remote workers with Kevin Langford of Georgetown Kraft Credit Union in South Carolina here.

Hear the Butcher podcast here.

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

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