credit union

by Robert McGarvey

 Latino Community Credit Union was founded in 2000 in Durham NC when the community was rocked by a wave of robberies – even murders – of Latino workers who were paid in cash and were believed to walk around with their pockets stuffed with cash because they were unbanked.

Enter John Herrera – whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast 142 – and a handful more helpers and visionaries who founded the credit union which now has about $600 million in assets.

Among the early volunteers was Luis Pastor who was in the US from his native Spain because his wife was pursuing graduate school and he had time on his hands. But soon he was offered the job of CEO and he took the offer. It’s a job he is still in 21 years later and, he says, the fulfillment the job brings is what keeps him in it. 

Like what? Pastor tells of borrowers who have been deported who are still paying their loans – that seems unthinkable but it is a reality in Durham because this is a credit union that engages in helping people who have been ignored by traditional financial institutions. Extend a helping hand to them and these are people who remember that and value the relationship.

A proof is that in 2020 Latino Community had a lower delinquency rate on loans than it had had in 2019. Despite the pandemic. And despite the fact that few of its members got stimulus checks.

Another pandemic fact about Latino Community Credit Union is that it did not close any branches. “Our community needed us,” said Pastor. He adds that the credit union is planning an expansion into South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia and it now has 15 branches but plans are afoot for adding three more.

Pastor has a word of advice: “If credit unions are trying to steal members from Bank of America we are going to lose this battle.”

Focus instead on the people who really need the services you offer and aren’t getting them elsewhere.

Along the way, you will hear about some truly out of the box thinking. For instance: the credit union has sponsored vaccination days, where – working with Duke University – it has put shots in the arms of some 7000 members. You’d heard that Latinos are vaccine skeptics? True enough. But when people trust a place where their money, they also trust that institution to get them vaccinated. 

Listen up.

Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees’ Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine’s thinking in this CUInsight blog.  

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

Hosted by Robert McGarvey

Anil Aggarwal is an entrepreneur who knows a thing or two about providing venues where executives come together and good things happen.  He was co-founder of Money 20/20, an event that redefined how financial services executives and fintech executives could profitably come together.  After that venture was sold, he co-founded Shoptalk, a meeting venue for retail execs and technologists. That was sold off. And now he is creating his next new thing, Fintech Meetup, and you want to know about this June 15-17 virtual event that will link financial services execs with fintech execs in double opt-in meetings that last 15 minutes.

Why 15 minutes? Aggarwal says he has found that’s the optimal time.  If the two parties find they have more to talk about they can arrange it.  Or they can part with smiles on their faces because it was only 15 minutes.

And you did notice these are dual opt in meetings.  Both parties have to accept for the meeting to be scheduled.

And it’s all virtual in our pandemic era.

Understand too that the tools and technologies are battle tested.  That’s a big plus.

Joining Aggarwal in this podcast is CU 2.0 founder Kirk Drake who has thoughts about why this event is a must for credit unions and free admission is just one of the attractions for credit union execs. There’s a link in the show notes to how to claim free admission.  

Know this. Your host is a grumpy, cynical veteran of too many financial services events to count, most of which were tedious.  I am a huge fan of the early Money 20/20 events so when I heard the guy behind Money 20/20 was the force behind Fintech Meetup my interest went from tepid to torrid.  

And credit union execs get in free.  

That is a great deal.

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.

 PSCU called it a growing credit union threat.  CUNA Mutual called it one of the fastest growing malware threats. Security company Arctic Wolf has said there was a 520% increase in ransomware and phishing attacks in the banking sector between March and June 2020.  NCUA has even issued a punchlist of steps to take to protect against ransomware attacks.

Color me surprised.  I had thought ransomware – where hackers “lock” a site or a database and demand a ransom to unlock it – was a thing of the past.  Data redundancy in the cloud had eliminated the threat, I thought.

I was wrong.

Crooks are nimble and in today’s iteration of ransomware, yes, the site still is locked – but before that happens the crook makes a point to copy key files.  Tell the crooks you won’t play ball, or simply ignore their demands, and they up the ante by posting a sample of their data theft on publicly viewable sites. Imagine if the Social Security numbers of 10,000 of your members suddenly sprout up online. How ugly is that?

Would you pay to avoid that?

Crooks also know that increasing numbers of credit unions have what amounts to ransomware insurance coverage and they also know how much the insurers will pay.

Don’t underestimate them.  Brilliant hackers they are not necessarily – some in fact simply use ransomware kits they buy online – but here is what it takes to defeat them: recognizing that security is a 24/7, 365 days a year job, says Robert Siciliano, a longtime cybersecurity expert who works with many organizations to help them raise their defenses.

It is not being paranoid, believing we are under continuing attacks, insists Siciliano in this podcast.  It is just being prudent

This is not a podcast overloaded with technical jargon.  What it is is a podcast intended to light a fire under all of us because we need that zeal if we intend to win, says Siciliano.

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.

by Robert McGarvey

At 29 Randy Icelow said he was a temp worker for a bus company in California’s Central Valley and flashforward to now he is 38 and CEO of a $63 million credit union, Rolling F based in Turlock CA, where its SEG is Foster Farms, one of the biggest chicken companies in the country.

This podcast grew out of a post Icelow put up on the CU 2.0 Facebook group where he recounted his story. Reading his story we knew he had to be a podcast guest because his is an inspiration story of success in the face of failure. He graduated from college in 2008 with a finance degree and you remember how dismal the credit union and bank job markets were then. He bounced around a bit, took more classes, got a job as a school teacher in Stockton, which proceeded to file bankruptcy. He was back working as a temp and he lucked out. He got a gig at a credit union which liked him so much they hired him onto regular staff.

After a while he applied for a CEO job at a bank – didn’t get it but learned a lot – and then applied for the CEO job at Rolling F which he did not get. A retired banker got the job but the board advised him to hire Icelow and train him up to be his successor, which came to pass in three years.

You like that story? Of course you do.

But there are other great stories in this podcast. For instance, Icelow says that a Rolling F specialty is refinancing car loans – and many come in with a loan that has a rate of maybe 29%, which Rolling F can in some cases get down to 5.5%. The monthly payment goes from $500 to half that and an extra $250 per month in that worker’s pocket is big money.

Magic happened in Icelow’s personal life but now he is making magic happen in the lives of the hard workers who are his members.

Can Rolling F survive with $60 million in assets? Listen to his answer – and as you hear it remember that $500 monthly note on a 10 year old Nissan Sentra, You just may be persuaded by his math and his passion.

Listen up.

Along the way, mention is made of the CU 2.0 podcast with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusive, the trade group for CDFis.  

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

by Robert McGarvey

Credit union profitability is sliding downward. One consultant, Megan Cummins at Fiserv-owned Raddon Performance Analytics, insists that the fix is to nurture a sales culture within them.

You know that Fiserv is a sales culture. It lives to sell, simple as that, and it sells to live.

Would something similar work in a credit union?

As for the claim that credit union profitability is tumbling, Cummins points to Raddon data that say only 29.8% of the 300 credit unions it measures data for are profitable. That’s down from 33.9% two years ago.

Cummins told CU Today: “‘There are credit unions that definitely have a sales culture, but there are still many that don’t,’ Cummins said, recalling a recent meeting with a credit union during which the topic of sales was addressed. ‘They wouldn’t even let me say the word sales in the meeting because you can’t say sales at this credit union. They said they never use the word because they don’t want to sell to their members.’

‘In that meeting the credit union said they never want to feel that they’re selling. But at this point we have to sell to the members we have. We have no choice.’” (Emphasis added.)

Continued at CU 2.0

 by Robert McGarvey

The building still stands at 420 Notre Dame Avenue in Manchester NH.  That’s where the nation’s first credit union – St. Mary’s Bank – opened its doors in 1908, to serve founding French American mill workers (and, yes, much of the original paperwork was written in French).

St. Mary’s Bank outgrew that space, moved into other facilities, but some years later it recognized that it wanted to preserve its original history and an attempt to buy it from its then owner was made.

It did not succeed.

As for how therefore the building now houses the America’s Credit Museum you want to listen to this podcast with Stephanie Smith, executive director of the museum.

The museum now is deep into an effort to capture and preserve the memories of a generation of credit union leaders who are entering retirement.

Words of advice: don’t throw away your archives without first contacting the museum.  You may well have pieces that the museum will covet as it seeks to document the how of the rise of America’s credit union movement. You’ll hear more about this process in the podcast.

 You will also hear how and why you want to visit the museum – which is about an hour north of Boston. Of course the pandemic has impacted the museum – it is presently open only by appointment. But that will change and, even better, the pandemic has prompted the museum to step up its efforts to digitize its collections which will put them within reach of us wherever we are.

Ultimately, said Smith, the mission of the museum is to capture the credit union difference – and that happens through the histories of the many in the movement who have shaped today’s credit unions.

Listen up.

Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees’ Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine’s thinking in this CUInsight blog.  

Also mentioned is Bucky Sebastian. His podcast is 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

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

by Robert McGarvey

Before logging into this call, I studied up on who John Herrera is.  He was born in Costa Rica, then came to the US to go to college at the University of Delaware and one thing led to another and instead of going back to Costa Rica to build a better society he stayed in the US and has worked on building a better society for all of us but with a special focus on Hispanic immigrants such as himself.

My first question to him, off mike, is how did he get from there to here.  The podcast starts off with him telling that saga.  

Today Herrera is a senior vice president at Self-Help in North Carolina, where his focus is on Hispanic relations and he has been busy building banking relationships with immigrant communities in North Carolina but also Illinois, Florida and California.

Also on is resume is that he is a co-founder of the very successful Latino Community Credit Union in North Carolina.  That credit union got its start some 20 years ago when there was a wave of robberies and murders of immigrant workers who got paid in cash and often carried large sums.

He is the founder of El Pueblo in North Carolina which focuses on civil rights for immigrants.

He was named an immigrant innovator by President Barack Obama.  

He was the first Hispanic immigrant elected to a North Carolina municipal office. He served as an alderman in Carrboro NC.

He was named by Time Magazine as one of 31 people who are changing the South.

In this podcast he offers rich and deep insights into how to serve immigrants – especially Hispanics – and he muses on how the United States is soon to become a minority majority nation (by 2045 according to many demographers).  This is smart, sensitive commentary.  Take notes. It’s a primer in how to serve a crucial US demographic.

Listen up.

Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees’ Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine’s thinking in this CUInsight blog.  

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

 by Robert McGarvey

CUNA is still at its “Open Your Eyes” to a credit union campaign and Teresa Freeborn is still heading the effort.  Regular listeners will remember Freeborn from her podcast two years ago, episode 29, and when she asked for a return we gladly said yes.

You probably heard that CUNA paused the campaign last year for what was called a re-set. Freeborn tells what happened.   

Along the way, CUNA spun the campaign off as a separate company January 1, 2020. The campaign now is led by CU Awareness, LLC

Freeborn also tells what is happening now where about half the nation’s states are on board with supporting the campaign and more are on tap to go online this year.

Freeborn stresses in the podcast that this is a critical chance for credit unions to join together in lifting what has been a long stagnant market share.  The big banks keep getting bigger.  Credit unions need to fight the trend.

Freeborn’s belief is that the cooperative structure and nature of credit unions is a huge advantage – but it is not always cleverly deployed. The “Open Your Eyes” campaign is a step in that direction.

(On that note, do read the CUInsight blog “Credit unions, Quo Vadis,” which draws on a conversation with retired credit union CEO Jim Blaine to develop the theme that the cooperative foundation is the key to success in credit unions.)

In this podcast Freeborn clearly discusses her disappointments in leading this campaign and at the top of the list, there is meager participation among credit unions with over $1 billion in assets.  By her count just 98 of the biggest 320 credit unions are supporting “Open Your Eyes” – and their maximum annual contribution is capped at $500,000. Freeborn does not know why the biggest are holding back and she is plain in her unhappiness about this.

“We are trying to build the credit union brand,” said Freeborn and her point is that a rising tide lifts all ships.  The campaign will benefit all credit unions.

Why don’t more people join and make real use of credit unions? They don’t believe they can join one and if they can, they don’t believe it could have the national reach of the biggest banks.  The facts are different – but many in the consuming public just don’t know.  Thus the need for a continuing campaign to put credit unions on the minds of many of us.  

By the way, “Open Your Eyes” is an entirely digital campaign and you may think, I have never seen an ad.  Freeborn says she too has never seen an ad but she is happy about that because the campaign  is targeted – specifically at Millennials – and she is not in that group.

So if you are not seeing ads just maybe that means the campaign is functioning as designed.

Just coincidentally, on the day we talked for this podcast, Xceed, where Freeborn had been CEO, voted to merge with Kinecta. 83% of voting Xceed members approved the merger, which has created a $6 billion credit union, the nations 35th largest.  Freeborn is staying on as president and has promised a return visit to discus in detail the merger and what it may mean for credit unions.

This podcast is only about “Open Your Eyes.”  That’s a huge topic on its own.  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

by Robert McGarvey

This is not an infomercial for Scienaptic, an AI vendor with a particular focus on lending.  

There are two guests on the podcast –  Eric Steinhoff, a Scienaptic executive vice president, and Kevin Willborn, vice president of consumer lending at $3.3 billion Gesa Credit Union.

Essentially you will hear that Scienaptic’s tools are a way to speed up loan decisioning and also to make the decisions very possibly better.  It’s hard not to like better and faster.

Willborn also tells what loans he plans to run through Scienaptic – lots of different kinds.

This is a tight podcast but in it you will hear how Scienaptic in fact creates better tools for smarter underwriting.  It’s a short course in the secret sauce of an AI engine.

Steinhoff also tells why he prefers to work with credit unions over community banks.  You will want to hear this.

At Gesa, meantime, the determination is to up its lending game and that is why Willborn took a look at new tools for smarter processing.  When he heard the Scienaptic presentation he knew he had found the vendor for Gesa.

 Right now, Scienaptic has multiple credit union clients but it is looking for more.

Find out more about AI in CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 138, a lively talk with CU 2.0 founder Kirk Drake. Link 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

 by Robert McGarvey

On July 1, Sundie Seefried, longtime CEO of Partner Colorado Credit Union, makes a huge career change. On that day she resigns the credit union job to become the CEO of Safe Harbor Financial, LLC, a Partner Colorado subsidiary formed for the purpose of handling cannabis related banking.

When Safe Harbor was created in 2015, it was a groundbreaking institution for conducting compliance based banking that would satisfy regulators.  

Safe Harbor has become a big, consuming business and, said Seefried, it’s helped put credit unions into the conversation of cannabis banking – and, increasingly, that is a conversation that is being heard as more states legalize marijuana.  Included are multiple big states: California, Washington, Michigan, and Illinois. In only a handful of states is marijuana fully illegal.

In this podcast Seefried talks about the process of validating the cash that flows through a marijuana business. She also talks about the early days of Safe Harbor – and the hostility and ridicule she faced.

Who’s laughing now?

By any measure, Sundie Seefried has emerged as the queen of cannabis banking.

What would her father, a Baptist, missionary think about this? We ask her.

Just as we ask about that uncommon first name, Sundie.  

We ask about being perceived as a maverick in a credit union industry that does not always revere its mavericks.

The one question she is asked that she doesn’t answer is the question, are there plans to take Safe Harbor public?

Her podcast with CUInsight is mentioned. Here’s a link.

Reference is made to how much it costs to open a Dairy Queen franchise – and surely you want to know how that came up.  Listen for it.

Earlier CU 2.0 cannabis related podcast guests include Paul Stull, also multiple guests on two long cannabis podcasts, episode 20 and an early unnumbered show.

Listen up. This is a fun episode.

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