CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 195 Gordon Flammer Datava

 Is the company name pronounced Datava, Data-va, or, what’s your guess?

Just as the pronunciation of the company’s name may prove slippery for many, so too is it difficult to neatly sum up exactly what Gordon Flammer’s company does.

But I can tell you this: when American Heritage Credit Union worked with Flammer, it grew by $1 billion. Organic growth, Not acquisition.  That has to grab your attention. Here’s a link to a CUBroadcast show about this $1 billion miracle fueled by Flammer’s unique way of looking at credit unions and their data. 

Here’s a link to a press release about the same fantastic growth.  

His starting point: a lot of software and tech tools sold to credit unions do not do what they are promised to do and, importantly, they do not solve the problem the credit union wants solved.

So Flammer takes a different kind of look at what ails a credit union and he comes up with different kinds of solutions.

Much of what the company works on is creating better sales tools, dashboards, monitors, and so on.  But there’s more in Flammer’s tool box.

Along the way in this podcast Flammer explains why his company is a CUSO – he is a big booster of the format – and he also muses about the plusses and pitfalls of working with venture capitalists. For some – point a finger at Flammer – a CUSO is simply a better path.

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

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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 Are Who You Eat Lunch With: Fintechs and Credit Unions at Table

By Robert McGarvey

You learned this in high school: You are who you eat lunch with. That is fact.  You might have fancied yourself a brainiac…but if you lunched with the sweat hogs, well, the world knew otherwise.

Which brings us to this cautionary wisdom shared recently by Kirk Drake, founder of the CU2.0 consulting firm and CEO of CUSO Ongoing Operations.  There are three kinds of fintechs, said Drake. There are those that want to eat your lunch (think Rocket Mortgage). There are those that want to sell you lunch (Zelle). And there are those that want to lunch with you.

Drake offered that observation at a small CU2.0 gathering of credit union executives and fintech entrepreneurs – so that made this especially pointed commentary.

By Drake’s measure, credit union executives want to dodge the first group of fintechs – you are zebra on the savannah and they are hungry hyenas.

As for the second group, there are some that want to sell you lunch who are worth paying.  Do you want to develop your own core system, for instance? 

But the ones you really, definitely, want to get to know are the fintechs that hope to partner with credit unions in relationships that are intended to benefit both parties.

And the good news on that front is that nowadays there are lots of startup and mid-stage fintechs that are hungry to share a meal – and maybe earn some money – with credit unions.

Case in point of a fintech that wants to lunch with credit unions: Quilo, a quick installment loan company – its AI driven technology offers loan decisions literally in seconds – that is co-founded by Don Shafer, who also co-founded Kasasa, which was formed to offer community financial institutions – credit unions – competitive checking products.

The Quilo game plan is similar.  Shafer’s plan is to put Quilo loans into the services of credit unions and community banks who will own the paper and set the loan decisioning terms.  Quilo also encourages credit unions to enlist their local merchants in offering Quilo to their customers.

It’s not Buy Now Pay Later, it’s not a conventional credit card – but Quilo is a way for a consumer to set specific terms and payment schedules for the purchases they make.

At Carter Credit Union in Louisiana, CEO Joe Arnold told me he is an early Quilo adopter and that’s because he sees the fintech’s tools helping his members, merchants in his communities and the credit union.  

Arnold also indicated he believes Quilo will bring in more members to Carter – very probably younger members.

Want more details on Quilo and how Arnold sees it helping the credit union? Listen to this podcast with Shafer and Arnold.

Know too that there will be many more fintechs such as Quilo.  Why? Credit union money is looking to seed them.

An advocate of this trend is Ray Crouse, CEO of Parsons Federal Credit Union and board president at NACUSO.  In this podcast Crouse presents the case for credit unions investing in CUSOs that are set up to stimulate fintech innovation.  That investment strategy is permitted under NCUA regulation and it is gaining favor, said Crouse. Crouse has skin in this game because, as he discussed, Parsons has made sizable fintech investments and his plan is to make more

More optimism – and money – comes from Martin Walker, a vice president at venture capital firm Next Level Ventures which administers the Curql fund, formed to help fund fintechs with potential to help credit unions grow. Curql has a warchest available for investing of $250 million which makes it a real player. The ambitions are large but, said Walker in this podcast, the interest on the part of fintechs in helping credit unions grow is real and growing.  

Add this up and there are fintechs with good ideas and increasingly they are getting investments aimed at involving them in credit unions.  

So remember to be picky about who you eat lunch with. You were and always will be who you lunch with.  With tech make sure the companies are ones that sincerely want to lunch with the credit union.

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 193 Elan Mevasse on Very Good Security – Is It a Better Way to Secure Member Data?

 Ask Very Good Security – a San Francisco based fintech – what it does that is different in terms of securing member data and the answer is blunt: what it does is different, better, even very good. To quote from the company’s website about the question that spawned the solution: “Was there a way to secure the data, take it out of scope of liability, and still allow it to be used and exchanged? There was. Their solution became Very Good Security, a new type of data security company with a revolutionary way for companies to secure data.”

Bold idea?

Absolutely.

But face up to reality: data security has been a train wreck for some years. How many times have your credit card numbers, even SSN, been stolen by hackers in the last decade?

There has to be a better way.

Very Good Security believes it has that way and Elan Mevasse, the company’s credit union lead, is on the podcast to tell what the company does and how it does it.

There’s some technical speak in this show – “tokenization” and suchlike – but on the whole this is a PG rated episode that will be accessible to all.

Listen to the end too. There’s a minute or two devoted to how Very Good Security helped Ukraine based engineers and their families relocate to safer ground as Russia invaded the country.

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

CU 2.0 Podcast Special Edition: Tech in Ukraine, Surviving the War

 Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s tech sector was a brilliant, bright spot in that Eastern European nation. By most tallies it brought in revenues around $6 billon in 2021, around 4% of GDP.  Foreign investment has been brisk.  The future definitely had been bright.

Is it still?

In this podcast the guests are Anatoly, CEO of CXDojo, a Ukraine based firm staffed by software engineers and business consultants, and Maksim, business development manager for CXDojo. Consumer experience is a key focus.  

Our talk is about the war, the future, why agile matters as a business philosophy, maybe now more than ever, and why Ukraine is a great place to look for computing talent…and why it will again be once the bombs stop falling.

Along the way you will also hear a lengthy discussion of agile as a business philosophy – and how war maybe is a stark reminder of the need to stay agile.

To get more of team CXDojo, here is a podcast they did with Kirk Drake, founder and CEO of CU2.0.  It’s a fun, informative romp that tells why making wine is a lot like starting a fintech.

Listen up: this is a podcast that is unlike any of we have recorded before. 

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

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 192 Laura “Lo” Trujillo Array on Credit Scores and Your Members

 It’s called Array for good reason.  That’s because this fintech offers an arsenal — ok, an array – of credit score tools such as a a credit score, a credit score simulator (what happens if you pay off that mortgage?), three bureau credit scores (they do differ), dark web monitoring and more.

Credit unions that sign up for the Array services can pick and choose what tools they want to offer.

Isn’t it simpler – and cheaper – just to point members to Credit Karma?

You bet. But why don’t you just tell them to apply for a loan there, too, because Credit Karma makes its money by funneling users into financial products. Products that aren’t yours.

Now do we have your attention?

In this podcast, Laura Trujillo – call her Lo – director of credit union sales at Array – tells why you want to know about Array and why your members will be eager to use the tools.

You want more member visits to your site and your mobile app? You want sticky tools?  Then you probably want credit score tools because many frequently check their credit score, especially if they are dreaming about a new home or rental or maybe a new car and who isn’t these days? Is your credit score high enough to qualify? Don’t guess, know. Use the Array tools at your credit union – and get loan or mortgage there 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

Live from CU2VIP-Live Event #4 Don Shafer Quilo/Joe Arnold Carter on Newstyle Lending

 Time travel back 20 years. Imagine going into a credit union or bank and asking for a personal loan for $500.  

Reality: unless you are a very established member/customer you would be shown the door.  Empty handed.  That’s because, in those days, there was no way to profitably make that loan.  

$50,000? Sure.

But $500 for some emergency dental work? Nah.

But now we are in 2022 and, suddenly, fast, inexpensive loan underwriting is a reality as is loan processing. Enter Quilo, a startup co-founded by Don Shafer, well known as a co founder of Kasasa  (click here to hear CU2.0 Podcast #23 on Kasasa).

Quilo’s business is making quick instalment loans to credit union members where the member chooses the payback timetable that works best for him/her.

In most cases, too, the terms are more favorable than buying over time on a credit card.

Loan decisioning also is very fast and loans can be offered on credit as well as debit transactions.

Quilo’s business model is direct to credit unions and community banks. 

The company also plans to help participating credit unions market the availability of Quilo financing to merchants in their community who will be encouraged to make their customers aware of this opportunity.

Sound good? The other guest in this podcast is Joe Arnold, CEO of the $500 million Carter Credit Union in northern Louisiana. Arnold says he wants to offer Quilo to both his members and merchants in his community. He also indicates he believes Quilo will help bring new members into Carter. That means it will help solve two concerns: the need for new members and putting Carter deposits profitably to work.

This is the fourth and last quick podcast from the recent CU2VIP-Live event that brought together perhaps three dozen credit union and fintech leaders. The conversation with Armstrong and Shafer that you hear in this podcast is representative of the kinds of conversations that participants enjoyed over two and one-half days.

Wish you’d been there? Take heart. A follow up event is planned for late summer/early fall. Stay tuned.

And…listen up.

Live from CU2VIP-Live Event #3 Jeter + Butcher on CISOs, Fintechs, Security and Your Credit Union

 Build a fintech from the ground up with security in mind – especially and crucially if the fintech wants to work with credit unions.

That is the one sentence takeaway from this 20 minute conversation with Shane Butcher, director of CISO Services of CUSO Ongoing Operations (and a past CU2.0 Podcast guest, episode 85), and Gary Jeter, chief technology officer at Trustone Financial Credit Union.

At credit unions – and the federal regulator – security is a non negotiable must have.

Along the way you will also hear about the differences between CIOs and CTOs, where a CISO resides in a credit union (and why), and – listen closely – Jeter tosses out a fascinating idea for a newstyle 21st century safe deposit box that is there for data protection and, he suggests, it just might bring in revenues down the line.

Right there is what made the CU2VIP event special – clever ideas just pop up if you are listening for them.

Listen up.

Live from the CU2VIP-Live Event #2 Ray Crouse on CUSOs and Fintechs

 Money talks.

Fintechs are hungry for money.

Ray Crouse, CEO of Parsons Federal Credit Union – and a CU 2.0 Podcast veteran (episode link here) – talked in detail at the CU2VIP-Live event about how credit unions and fintechs both can harness the money raising ability of CUSOs, credit union service organizations.

Ray, by the way, is also chair of the board of NACUSO, the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations.

Parsons, incidentally, is not a huge credit union. It has assets of around $265 million – but Crouse has found a few million dollars that will get invested in CUSOs.

Why? In this short podcast he tells why he sees CUSOs as crucial to credit unions today, maybe especially today when many are looking for new income sources.

Consider this all you wanted to know about CUSOs and credit unions but didn’t know who to ask.

Listen up.

Live from the CU2VIP-Live Event #1 Martin Walker Next Level Ventures on Venture Funding for Fintechs

 The inaugural CU2VIP-Live event will become a Woodstock like meeting in this sense: yes, hundreds of thousands went to Woodstock but if you  asked for a show of hands of those who were there be ready to count well into the millions.

Five years from now many will say, yes, I was there at the first CU2VIP-Live event.

We were actually there and what you will be hearing this week are snippets of short talks with participants – who also were there.

The first episode: Martin Walker with NextLevel Ventures with its $250 million-plus venture fund for investments in fintech oriented CUSOs that will bring next gen tech to the credit union industry.

The big idea: to stay competitive with mega banks and fintechs credit unions have to up their technology game.

The better idea: by investing in early stage fintechs credit unions can get a sizable jump on the market and just maybe will gain competitive advantages.

Sound good?

You bet.

Keep listening and you will also hear why Walker attended CU2VIP-Live and what he got out of it.

Listen up.

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 188 Clint Lotz TrackStar AI and Smarter, More Inclusive Lending

How many loan applications does your credit union reject because of the applicant’s credit score?

Harder question: how many times are those credit scores erroneously lowered due to faulty information in credit reports?

Listen to Clint Lotz, ceo of TrackStar AI, and the answer is that plenty of loan apps are rejected for exactly those reasons.

What if your institution could harness machine learning tools to swiftly analyze a credit report and identity probable errors that when fixed would result in a 50 to 100 point jump in the credit score?

Sound good? That’s why you want to listen to Lotz as he talks about contemporary, cutting edge credit repair tools that will enable a credit union to empower a loan applicant to quickly initiate repair of his/her credit report and, in the process, position the credit union to comfortably grant the credit the applicant seeks.

How good does that sound?

Why haven’t you heard of similar before? Probably, says Lotz, because it is all new, enabled by the emergence of inexpensive cloud based computing (think AWS, Amazon Web Services).  But powerful cloud on demand computing is here and that has made it possible to analyze loan apps and credit reports in wholly new ways, says Lotz.

Along the way you want to hear what Lotz has to say about FICO.  No hints here as to what he says. But buckle up when this moment arrives.

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