When looking for an HVAC repair company to save you from the Summer heat, or a cell phone repair company to fix your cracked screen, a quick Google search produces current, relevant and targeted information that fits what you're looking for. Gone are the days of tabbing through a bulky phone book only to find pages of listings for the same service with no way of knowing if they're still in business, hours of operation, or even service the area you live in. The big directories were over-sized and underwhelming in their usefulness. Printed material begins to depreciate in value the minute it's printed, not to mention the incredible waste of paper and fuel it can leave in its wake. Yet, the famed yellow book was dropped on doorsteps all around the country long after most people had moved on, becoming more of a burden than a tool. Are member statements headed to a similar fate of recipients just turning from the mailbox to the trash bin with their monthly statements? Absolutely. It's time to keep your member statements from becoming a burden by employing a paperless strategy with eDocuments and eStatements.

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A member's credit score is only one number, yet knowing and understanding that number is very important. A great credit score leads to great deals — on loans, credit cards, insurance premiums, apartments and cell phone plans. Bad scores can limit choices or cause members to pay more. The lifetime cost of higher interest rates from bad or mediocre credit can exceed six figures! This means that helping your members know their score and how to improve it is extremely valuable. Education is key to member services, and it begins with helping members find and understand their credit score.

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They have been called many things, from entitled to humble, hardworking to lazy, overly reliant on their parents while at the same time independent. Tom Brokaw even famously tagged them as "the greatest generation since The Greatest Generation." An enigma for retailers to attract and an adjustment for businesses to employ, Millennials (the generation loosely defined as those born between 1981 and 1996) have been simultaneously torn down and put on a pedestal by their peers and elders. But data doesn't lie. With over 56 million in the US workforce according to US Census Bureau data, Millennials make up the greatest percentage of employees today, and are proving that they are just as hardworking and perhaps even more balanced in their approach than generations before them. Hiring Millennials and keeping them happy and engaged at your credit union is heavily reliant upon the traditional motivators: money and benefits. However, what sets this generation apart when it comes to job satisfaction is the level of importance they place on purpose and technology... working for a credit union whose mission is in-line with their primary values, and one that provides them with the latest technology to get their job done efficiently are major factors in retention.

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Non-bank competition is increasing with the rising popularity of mobile payment apps such as Venmo, Zelle and Square, just to name a few. Millennials and younger credit union members, in particular, have discovered the convenience of these apps and the ease with which funds can be exchanged and transferred. Using P2P (peer-to-peer) mobile payment systems, restaurant bills and bar tabs can be paid, pizza money contributed and concert tickets repaid with just a few clicks, all while never leaving the couch. However, with all this virtual money exchanging hands, should there be concerns these transactions are being adequately protected and secured?

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According to a LinkedIn study, Millennials will change jobs an average of four times in their first decade out of college, compared to about two job changes by Gen Xers in their first ten years out of college. This in contrast to their parents and grandparents, who seemingly "stuck it out" for longer, with the mentality of "why leave a perfectly good job for an uncertain one." even if the promise of greater money and benefits was appealing. While the reasons for younger generations to job hop more frequently are not limited to just factors of pay and benefits, a study by Utah-based Thrive Communications found that over 20 percent of Millennials would actually quit a job if the employer did not offer fast in-office technology. Technology is such a central and crucial aspect of this generations' lives that businesses who do not adopt new technologies will not keep the hearts of younger generations for long. It is not so much a lack of loyalty as it is a shift in priority. For this very reason, credit unions who wish to attract and keep Millennial members must build a modern banking experience, and do it well. 

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Amazon has been a threat to retail for many years. While brick and mortar stores have pointed fingers at Amazon for their decline in foot traffic, some credit unions are beginning to fear competition from Amazon as well. Amazon has yet to implement any banking features in the U.S. but they have already begun taking deposits in India. Delivery staff can now accept cash as payment upon delivery, as well as collect deposits through a Cashload feature in a version of Amazon Pay. Amazon allows their India-based customers to deposit any surplus cash from their purchase into their Amazon Pay account, and they can deposit additional funds to be used toward future orders or bills within partner websites and apps. Amazon allows deposits up to 10,000 rupees ($143 U.S. dollars), which is quite a bit, considering the average Indian household makes about $50 per month. Could such services be on the horizon for U.S. customers? Here’s what we can expect from Amazon in banking: Read More

Baby Boomers were once the ultimate buyer, and the target market of banks and CUs, as well as industries across the board. Now, a new generation is soon to be the biggest player in the market: Millennials. This generation will become the largest group of first time home buyers, and by the year 2020, they will control $7 trillion of U.S. assets. Among all the generations, there is the biggest gap between Boomers and Millennials as their values, habits, and interests are very different. This has spurred a lot of change for businesses, as they need to adjust several facets of their operations to fit the needs of this new generation. It has reached the point where this change is inevitable, and those who ignore the needs of Millennials will lose out to the competition. Here’s how you can redesign your credit union to fit the needs of the ever elusive Millennial member.

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Not too long ago, there was a lot of skepticism associated with digital banking. Many assumed it was not secure, and even more people would not have considered a digital-only model for their credit union. Today the financial landscape is changing, and rather than being skeptical of digital, people are becoming impatient with traditional banking institutions… particularly Millennials. Younger generations are demonstrating their lack of trust in the traditional banking system at an unprecedented rate. Here are trends financial institutions can expect in 2019.

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Credit unions thrive on personal interaction and service. After all, many credit unions were founded for a lack of personalization in their local banking community. However, technology has brought on an opposing, yet competing, banking solution. Digital-only banks are low-cost solutions for those who want to manage their banking needs exclusively online. Digital-only financial institutions are defined as strictly digital banking solutions. So banks and credit unions that have in-branch service and brick and mortar options that also happen to offer full digital service, cannot be considered a digital-only bank. Digital-only institutions are more commonplace overseas but they are gaining momentum here in the United States. Here is the scoop on digital-only institutions in the financial industry today.

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The success of your credit union is intimately connected to the technology you choose and how it's applied. When it comes to credit unions operating as financial institutions versus technology institutions, the lines have become increasingly blurred. Credit union CEO's are progressively finding themselves operating more like CTO's. This may be an unwelcome amendment to their job description, but the nature of the business requires this balance to be found.  A dangerous mistake that an executive who is not comfortable with technology can make is the mentality of “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. This can be a risky tactic, as ‘broken’ technologies are not always easily identifiable. Your credit union core system may work, but it could be creating inefficiencies that are not quite as obvious.

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