NEW YORK–For one credit union CEO, one of the critical issues around rates isn’t just about the investment portfolio or dealing with members, it’s also about communicating with employees for whom the current rising rate environment is the first they’ve ever seen.
April Clobes, president and CEO of MSU FCU in East Lansing, Mich., shared her insights during NCUA’s Capital Markets Symposium held at the New York Stock Exchange. Clobes appeared as part of a panel and her comments also are included in separate reporting.
“A lot of young folks in the last 10 years only knew car loans at 1.99% and mortgages at 4% and when we needed to raise rates to be appropriate for the environment we’re in today, we not only had board education, I had an employee education, because they didn't know how to handle member complaints about rates,” Clobes explained. “They didn't live through when we had higher deposit rates and the savers called and yelled at us. They also needed to understand why we're raising rates, what that means. We literally had a vice president of consumer lending who said, ‘Well if we raise loan rates, we won't do any loans and what will I do?’ That's actually not true--we are at 17% year over year loan growth rate now and we've been raising rates steadily for the last eight to nine months.”
A Different Story
Clobes said she believes it’s it is critically important that credit unions also tell their story and provide the reasons for perspective inside the organization.
“Pricing is the biggest tool we have and that is what we use all the time,” she told the meeting.