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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

What’s your mother’s maiden name? Your first car’s make? Your zip code? Face facts: it’s tedious at best to positively identify members who contact the credit union and, worse, scammers know the protocols and in some cases have masqueraded as credit union employees and gotten the answers from members so they could impersonate them. Nobody like the way this is now done at most FIs, except maybe a few scammers. There has to be a better way and there is: IDgo which uses biometrics to identify the member. On the show today is Rocky Scales, CEO of IDgo, who tells how the tool works and - importantly - says the implementation is very fast and effortless on the part of the credit union. But don’t take his word for it. Also on the show is Trisha Preston at $2.4 billion Corning Credit Union headquartered in New York State.  She offers an on the ground perspective into how IDgo really works for members and a credit union’s employees.   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, The first Greatest Hit - originally #277 - is with Michael Bell, the attorney who has been key in credit union - bank mergers. You probably are much more familiar with credit union - credit union mergers. But Bell believes - he explains in the show - that there are excellent reasons for a credit union to look at banks as merger partners. And know that many community banks - possibly most - are keen to get bought. This show is what you need to know. And the reason we are posting this show to kick off our Greatest Hits is this headline from a recent American Banker: “Midwest deal marks fifth credit union - bank combination of 2024.”  The date on that story: February 7, 2024. That’s a merger a week. Will the pace continue? 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

Credit unions and their members are givers - that’s just a fact but that fact also is central to the self identity of credit unions and how they see their role in their communities. Enter Givio, an entirely different kind of fintech.  Over the years of this show we’ve poked into all manner of fintechs but Givio is different, it’s something we haven’t seen before and it is exciting because Givio (as the name hints) is a new take on giving. I became acquainted with Givio when a longtime friend asked me to take a look at Dig Deep Vermont, a grassroots effort to raise $45 million to help farmers across Vermont deal with the massive damages done to agriculture by recent flooding and extreme weather.  Vermont is a state where farming matters, to the economy and also to the aesthetics. Vermont farms are just pretty.  Most are still family owned and operated.   And now some 350 Vermont farm families are fighting to survive. Enter Dig Deep Vermont, which is backed by a cross section of important local institutions, from the state’s ski resorts to the Association of Vermont Credit Unions (and there’s a show in the library with Joe Bergeron, CEO of the Association, who tells why Vermont credit unions are involved in Dig Deep.  Here’s the link).   How would people who want to help those farmers donate? That’s where Givio enters the story.  Literally within a couple days of entering the project Givio had created 15 website buttons that direct donations to 14 Vermont counties along with a state fund.  Donations pass through a 501 C 3, meaning they are tax deductible. Requests for aid also are vetted before money is turned over. Find the donate button here and see how smooth this transaction is.  Know you'll also be helping Vermont's needy farmers. As I learned about this I knew I had to talk with Gary Carr, Givio’s CEO - and I had a question to ask him: Could Givio’s tools help any credit union in the US raise donations to help cope with a disaster in its community? The answer is yes - and a mechanism can be set up literally in a day or two. There’s also Givio’s app - available in the leading app stores - which is free and it allows users to direct donations to literally thousands of charities with a few clicks on the screen.   Givio also has a donation tool - now installed at 30+ credit unions and banks, including Visions in New York State, Stanford Federal Credit Union, and American Airlines Federal Credit Union.  This version of Givio is behind the institution’s firewall - accessible only by members - and it can be deployed in various ways including a targeted campaign to assist a specific organization or a la carte donations by a member to his/her favorite charities.  Costs of installing Givio at a credit union are very, very low. Remember, credit unions and their members are givers. Givio makes it easy to give and to give wisely. 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 tak

Exactly what is the path to becoming a credit union CEO?  In this show, Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, tells the route to take to get there - and it’s a must listen for the ambitious. Kordeleski also talks about the stresses that come with the job and asks if you are really ready for them.  Be honest. There’s no shame in stopping the climb at CFO or likewise and the stresses at that level are much lower than in the CEO’s big chair. Are you aware that - increasingly - headhunters, executive recruiters as they call themselves, are a big part of the search for CEOs at the nation’s largest credit unions? How do you get on their radar? Kordeleski offers tips. One more topic that’s investigated is the changing character and background of the emerging new generation of CU CEOs. They are better educated, much more comfortable with technology and the digital than were their predecessors.  In many cases, too, they are more overtly competitive. Lastly, do you want to be on a credit union board? Alternatively: what should a CEOs relationship with the board involve?  Answers in the show. Listen up Hear episode one in Money Talks here.  Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here.  Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here.  11 is here. Episode 12 is here.  Episode 13 is here.  Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO? Part 2 of Becoming a CEO is here. Kordeleski on making events work for you is here.  Kordeleski on the first news about the creation of PARC Street is here - it’s a detailed explanation of the why and how this just might be a benefit to credit union clients. Episode 17 is here. Episode 18 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

Three words: social finance software. By the end of this podcast you will know what the phrase means and why an embrace of social fiance software just might be a brilliant move on the part of many credit unions, a move that could benefit the communities that are served and also the credit unions who grasp that social finance software just might be a path to winning many more young members. On the show today is Fonta Gilliam, and it is her passionate mission to spread the gospel of social finance software. She’s the CEO and founder of Wellthi, an app that is built with the credit’s union name, brand and voice.   Wellthi explains itself on the company’s website: “Wellthi is a fintech social enterprise. Our technology helps customers structure their financial goals with family and friends through your mobile banking app. Our company has over half a dozen industry awards and recognitions from organizations like the FDIC, Mastercard, Nerd Wallet, Discover and the Independent Community Bankers of America.” This is a lively show and, along the way, we also hear a first person account of how to get venture funding. 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

Meet the next generation of teen banking featuring a hefty dose of parental involvement.  That’s the gist of Boucoup by BankingON and you know BankingON. It’s the team behind the technology that powers Bank Dora, the innovative mobile banking app. About now your hand is probably waving because you want to point out a spelling error. Put the hand down. Boucoup looks like a spelling mistake, but, says Alexey Krasnoriadtsev, co-founder and CEO of BankingON, it’s no mistake. He picked the errant spelling because it’s a word that can be trademarked, the misspelling might per se win a little attention just because it is, and I’d add few Americans actually can correctly spell the French word anyway. But we all can kind of say it. And we know it means plenty. Right now lots of financial apps are targeting teens, even Chase is in the hunt.  But Boucoup is different in key respects from the main fintech products.  It’s white label, meaning the credit union name goes on it. It also gives parents tools to help teach teens about finance. There are gamification aspects as well. Also on the show is BankingON’s Aaron Villarreal 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

Catastrophic flooding and extreme weather hit Vermont in 2023 and this has caused an estimated $45 million in losses to farmers - and you know Vermont farmers from Ben & Jerry’s to Cabot Cheese. Farms are crucial to Vermont, economically but also in its self identity. But now some 350 farm families face severe economic hardship as they seek to recover from the flooding and severe weather,   An upshot is the launch of a new campaign, Dig Deep Vermont, which seeks to raise private sector monies to aid farmers in need.  It’s an ambitious, multi-pronged effort that brings together multiple sources of help from state government to Ski Vermont and the Association of Vermont Credit Unions. Just what role can credit unions play in this fundraising? On the show today is Joe Bergeron, CEO of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions, who explains why there’s a need for this effort and also why credit unions have a place in this campaign and what they can do to help. Credit unions around the country can learn from this.  Seemingly disasters are becoming routine - but there are important roles credit unions can play in helping recovery.  Learn from what’s happening in Vermont and if the spirit moves you, donate to the relief fund.  

You want more young members. That’s because credit unions have an aging problem - the average member age is mid 50s and yet the median age in the US is late 30s. Worse, as people enter their late 50s most have diminished interest in loans but they have high interest in big returns on their ready cash. Which brings us back to the young who of course often have an appetite for borrowing. Enter Barry Kirby of Union Credit.  A veteran of CuneXus, which was founded to help credit unions put more products in the hands of members, at Union Credit Kirby now is helping credit unions bring in new members, especially younger members. How? In the show Kirby talks about three tactics that he says are helping credit unions attract  the members they covet. Of course he’s aware of the ”liquidity crisis” that credit unions obsess about today but that “crisis” will vanish as we move into the next segment of the cycle. What will remain the same is the credit union failure to entice the young with what they want from an FI. Listen up to hear the how to. 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

Your credit union has the data. The insight you need is in there…some place. Enter Cinchy, which promises to deliver new ways to get more collaborative insights out of data.  That will also ease the pains - and costs - of data integration projects that often give credit unions more frustration than satisfaction. Sounds too good to be true?  The skepticism is understandable but on the show today to tell how Cinchy works is Ty Robbins, Field CTO.  But it’s the title Robbins used to have that jumpstarted my interest in listening to him. He came to Cinchy from First Service Credit Union where he had been Chief Data Officer and before that he had been SVP and CIO at People’s Trust Federal Credit Union.  Ty Robbins knows credit unions and their data, both the pains and the potentials, on an intimate basis.   Before joining Cinchy he had been a customer at First Service. He says he made the leap to Cinchy to spread the news about these tools to more credit unions. Face reality: credit unions are at an existential moment with data. Big banks use data to win. Credit unions need to get the same from their data. Robbins and Cinchy say they know how. 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