WASHINGTON--Coverage from day two of CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference here.
From the GAC Audience, to the GAC Podium as Congressman
WASHINGTON—One member of Congress has a unique distinction when it comes to CUNA’s GAC: he used to sit in the audience and listen to members of Congress such as himself.
Rep. Pete Aguilar speaks to GAC.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, the newly elected Democrat from California, is a former employee of Arrowhead Credit Union who attended GAC as a credit union staff member, including Hiking the Hill to lobby at the very building in which he now works.
“I am more used to being in those seats than up here,” Aguilar told GAC. “I look forward to being a credit union champion in the halls of Congress, as well.”
“Eleven years ago I came to my first GAC,” he told the meeting. “I worked to advance the important issues for our industry, and I came to Washington armed with stories about our members, about their hopes and dreams, about their need for access to capital, and how the credit union played an important role in achieving those things.”
Aguilar shared his experiences in working for eight years at Arrowhead Credit Union, and he credited its then CEO, Larry Sharp, for helping to infuse him with the passion for credit unions. Sharp recently passed away. “Larry was probably my biggest advocate,” said Aguilar. “He would have loved to have been here to heckle me.”
While working at Arrowhead Aguilar said he learned three things that have helped him in Congress:
- Always look out for your community. “It’s all about your district. Your district is your field of membership.”
- If you make decisions with community in mind, everything will fall into place.
- There is such a thing as too much regulation. “Credit unions weren’t part of the mess that led to the downturn, but all of you have felt the overcorrection,” he said.
“Advocacy is what I did as a credit union professional, and it’s so important,” he said. “You need to take what you hear today. There are 5,000 of you, but there are hundreds of CU professionals who could benefit from your lessons and knowledge. The future of the credit union movement lies in your ability to tell your story.”
Sharing words of advice from his grandmother who always tells him to never forget where he comes from, Aguilar added, “I can tell you that as a newly elected member of Congress, I will never forget my work in the credit union industry and the credit union professionals who helped make me what I am today.”
Support For Credit Unions--But Not On Everything
WASHINGTON—Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown was among many Senators who told a credit union audience of his unwavering support for credit unions—but not for every position the CU community as a whole has taken.
Rep. Sherrod Brown at GAC.
“I know who you serve,” said Brown. “I know what you do. You’re the ones who step up for small business, who give people their first checking accounts, their first loan.”
But Brown told credit unions he didn’t agree with their recently announced stance on the CFPB structure.
“I know that many of you feel that many of the Dodd Frank regulations meant to address the activities of bad actors now affect you, and I agree we’ve got to find ways to address this for small financial institutions and credit unions,” he said. “But we can’t compromise on consumer protections. I was disappointed to hear credit unions support change in the leadership structure of the CFPB. We don’t need to undermine consumer protections.”
Brown told credit unions of his support for the expanded threshold for Qualified Mortgage status, is sponsoring a bill to allow CUs to be part of the FHLB system, and continues to support legislation eliminating the need to send privacy notices when no changes have been made.
A member of the Senate Finance Committee, Brown said he expects tax reform will receive considerable attention in the current Congress.
“But I want to be clear that no proposals to change the tax status of credit unions will not be considered,” he said to strong response.
'Take This Message to Capitol Hill'
WASHINGTON—Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), whose first exposure to credit unions was as an exchange student in Africa where his host family ran a small village CU, turned to American history to express his support for credit unions.
Sen. Jeff Merkley speaks to GAC.
“I was thinking about the role all of you play and the broader principles of our nation,” said Merkley. “The Constitution begins, ‘We the People.’ Lincoln said ‘Of the people, by the people, for the people,’ and that seems consistent with the mission that you have, so thank you for that terrific work that you provide.”
Merkley, who has belonged to Pentagon Federal, Congressional Federal, Unitus CU and Senate Federal in his life, called for taking action in Congress to “solidify the foundation for families,” including more investment in infrastructure and quality public education.
He told CUNA’s GAC that credit unions have grown to 100-million Americans because “it nice to have a financial partner operating 100% in your best interest.”
“That brings us to where we are today,” said Merkley. “There are some challenges. And one of those is regulatory creep. Are we making sure rules designed to take on the Wall Street casino don’t impinge on the effectiveness of our credit unions? I hope you can take that message to Capitol Hill. Make sure those lessons are not misapplied to the credit union system.”
Remembering Those Who Remembered Him
WASHINGTON—Sen. Gary Peters told credit unions he remembers those who remembered him.
A first-term Senator from Michigan, the Michigan CU League endorsed Peters when he first indicated he would seek an empty seat.
Sen. Gary Peters speaking to GAC.
“One thing I’ve learned is that when you get elected to the U.S. Senate, you get a lot more friends after an election,” said Peters. “But I will tell you, you never forget the people who were there for you before you were elected, and I will not forget you.”
Peters joked that as the lone Democrat among 13 new Senators that he is now the president of the Democratic Freshman class, and “I can say that our class speaks with one voice. And that one voice believes in the mission of America’s credit unions.”
Peters credited credit unions for fueling the economic comeback, especially the Michigan league’s Buy America program, and also stressed he will be a “staunch defender” of the credit union tax exemption.
His current priority, he said, is cyber-threats and data breaches. A member of the Homeland Security committee, he called breaches “a scary thing. You know it. You see it everyday. What we know is that no institution is completely protected. The problem for you is that when a retailer has a breach, customers blame you, even though you had nothing to do with it whatsoever. So not only do you get blamed, you get stuck with that bill. And that is wrong, and that’s why I believe that those who had the breach ought to be paying for it, not our credit unions.”
Credit Unions The 'Antidote' To Big Banks
WASHINGTON—Calling credit unions the “antidote” to big Wall Street banks, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said it’s time the government addresses the growing size of the mega-banks.
Sen. Bernie Sanders at GAC.
“When six huge Wall Street financial institutions have assets equivalent to nearly 60% of GDP—close to $10 trillion, and when these institutions underwrite more than half of the mortgages in our country and provide more than two-thirds of credit cards, they have enormous political power,” Sanders said during CUNA’s GAC. “I know what Teddy Roosevelt would do if he were here today—he would say ‘if a bank is too big to fail it is too big to exist’ and that it is time to break it up.”
CU Tax Exemption Not A 'Loophole'
WASHINGTON—Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) hopes to someday drive through his California district and see more credit union signs than payday lender shingles, saying the growth of credit unions is critical to the expansion of the U.S. economy.
“You are helping people get in the habit of saving, get a loan at a reasonable rate that they can pay back, and this is a role best played by a member-owned tax-exempt not-for-profit,” Sherman told GAC attendees. “And I emphasize tax exempt.”
Rep. Brad Sherman at GAC.
Sherman said he will support preserving the CU tax exemption, which he emphasized that opponents will continue to attack, saying it is a loophole.
“But I am a former CPA, and I know what a loophole is. Your tax exemption is not some weaslely loophole found between words in the code. It is there for a reason and we will keep it there.”
Advice To Women: 'Sleep Your Way to the Top'
WASHINGTON—Arianna Huffington has this advice for women executives at the GAC: “Sleep your way to the top.”
Despite what’s implied, what the publisher of the Huffington Post really meant is that getting enough sleep, having restraint in trying to tackle too many tasks, and disconnecting from technology are the ways to succeed in business and in personal lives.
Arianna Huffington speaking to GAC.
She said living under too much stress is not thriving, it’s only surviving. “Allowing for more time and space in life enhances our living, and our ability to perform,” she told the meeting. “Many of us have stressful jobs, but we have the capacity to deal with that, and not internalize all that stress.”
Huffington talked about how stress leads to the majority of health issues, including her own physical collapse.
“People are too connected to their precious smartphones. I know, I used to feel stress when my low battery light came on in my iPhone. I started worrying about where I would go to recharge my phone.”
Huffington said businesses and leaders need to move beyond metrics of success being money and power.
“We are all addicted to technology now. When we finish work we take the office home with us. We need to retrain, learn to unplug, recharge. Today we are realizing the incredible cost of the way we are living. Burnout is not the way to succeed—sleep, meditation—or just some something like fly fishing, where we are not multitasking, is so important.”
Huffington talked about steps people can take to improve their lives, among those:
- Get an extra 30 minutes of sleep each night and take more until you feel you are getting enough.
- Ask this question of yourself, of all the projects in my head, how many will I actually complete. This tasks in our heads drain energy. “I have taken a new approach with tasks—I compete some of these projects by dropping them.”
She noted that Google autocompletes search requests. “The top auto request for “Why am I,” is “Why am I so tired. Clearly there is something wrong. Think about this, have you ever hear someone say ‘George was amazing, he increased market share by 20%.’”
More Details On CUNA's New 'Member Appreciation Program'
WASHINGTON—Credit unions were given a much more detailed look at CUNA’s new Member Appreciation Program (MAP) by the CEO of one of the credit unions that has been co-piloting the member engagement/advocacy effort.
The CUNA chairmanship has passed to Susan Streife, CEO of Woodstone Credit Union, from Dennis Pierce, CEO of CommunityAmerica CU.
Tony Budet, CEO of University FCU in Austin, Texas, shared with CUNA’s GAC the valuable lessons that have been learned during the pilot, including lessons that may seem counter-intuitive to many, including himself.
As CUToday.info was first to report, MAP is aimed at turning members into ongoing advocates for credit unions, rather than only being contacted during crises. Two primary lessons that have come out of the initiative, according to Budet: Members want to “members” and like to be contacted.
The more often they are contacted, the better engaged, and the better engaged, the more products/services those members have with their CU, he said.
“People want to be called members, not customers,” said Budet of the early lessons.
Saying he hoped other credit unions will be “inspired to explore the path of member engagement,” Budet said he has learned that credit union members will say “This is my cooperative and I’m a member here, and when you need my support you’re not making me aware of how you can help me.”
The MAP pilot was conducted at University FCU and CommunityAmerica Credit Union in Kansas, where various email tests were sent to 35,000 members at each CU. “The goal was to see how members react to email asking them to engage,” said Budet. “With each email we varied the sender and the subject line, the message, the frequency and the tone, all in an effort to track how members responded to these messages. It’s all about overcoming the fear that we seem to have as a movement about doing anything quite like this.”
Among the discoveries:
* “Members” have a considerably more positive view of credit unions that those who consider themselves “customers.” “Some of our members consider themselves customers. Quite frankly that’s JV performance, and it deserves attention.” Some credit unions, said Budet, are hesitant to ask members to articulate the CU difference because they don’t know the difference. “We should fix this together.”
At GAC, Bill Herring, center left, CEO of Cincinnati Central CU, and Catherine Herring, CEO of Communicating Arts CU, both in Cincinnati, were recognized for their work in credit unions. Their mother was CU pioneer Louise Herring. At left is CUNA CEO Jim Nussle, at far right, then-CUNA Chairman Dennis Pierce.
* “Credit union” has a 97% positive brand rating. “Interestingly, the ratings actually rose with the frequency of the contacts we made with our members. The more we contacted them for advocacy purposes, the more they thought of us. More is more.”
* Members who receive frequent advocacy outreach have a stronger bond to credit union, especially when the message comes from the CEO.
- An anti-bank subject line is more effective than a pro-bank message.
- A direct, sincere tone works best.
- Cooperative-oriented language should always be used.
- 82% of members who receive advocacy messages from their CU want to do more of their banking with their credit union. “And to think I once feared this,” said Budet.
- “There is nothing to fear,” said Budet. “Such efforts must become as routine as a marketing campaign and other things with which we are very, very comfortable. This is simply a part of doing business.”