By Frank J. Diekmann
What do college students really think about credit unions? You know, those late Millennials and Gen Z’ers every credit union, bank, fintech and techfin is chasing like Democrats after votes in Iowa.
Turns out, many college students don’t think of credit unions at all, and when they do, it’s clear they skipped the lecture.
If you missed it, CUToday.info recently ran a 10-part interview series in conjunction with Zogo that featured real-life Q&As with students at the University of North Carolina. Zogo is a fintech that offers an app that pays people to become more financially literate.
In the Q&As conducted at random on the UNC campus, the students were asked about their own knowledge of personal finance, their own financial relationships, and what they knew about credit unions.
Of those that weren’t really knowledgeable about CUs (hint: that would be nearly all the students), the concept of credit unions had great appeal once it was explained. But, as the interviews also illustrated, just because you’ve explained what CUs are, and even if a light goes on as CUs assume, it doesn’t mean the uninitiated will run toward it like moths.
As one person said after the CU concept was explained, “It’s made me more open to the idea. I don’t think that statement alone will make me change. I think I would have to do more research.”
You can find the last in the 10-part series here; that item includes links to the other nine.
Save yourself the time and cost of a focus group and give them a read.
An Urgent Opportunity
Lots of credit unions have leased office space to other tenants, but as CUToday.info reported here, West Community Credit Union is a landlord unlike any other: it is renting space to an urgent care center.
The marketing opportunities seem endless: Financial emergency loans, bill triage, financial health check-ups, first aid for your sick auto, and more.
Let’s hear your marketing campaign.
Throwback Award
Redwood Credit Union recently announced during a financial reality fair it was sponsoring that it presented one high schooler with a “Fickle Finger of Fate Award” as he was attempting to balance a checking account.
I wonder if the student knew just how old school that reference really is.
While that’s the title of a 1967 film, the “award” is best known (among those who know it) from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, which aired on NBC from 1968-1973 and television networks still advertised they broadcast “in living color.” Which means the award not just predates the students, but likely their parents as well. Yet the alliterative four-word phrase lives on.
And if you have no idea what the reference is to here, here’s a throwback video for you.
BTW, whether you remember the once popular show or not, leaving your checking balance to “fate” will likely lead to you getting the finger in life.
Attention: Calling Mr. Pot
Late last year the Washington-based Tax Foundation has issued a research statement calling for the end of the credit union tax exemption. Perhaps it should be noted the organization in the same statement described itself as an independent tax policy nonprofit. You know, the kind of nonprofit with a tax exemption.
Nothing Theoretical Here
Dr. Stephen Happel, an emeritus professor of economics, recently told a credit union meeting he was at the beginning of his career convinced government can play a positive role in an economy. Even after he moved from Duke to Arizona State University in the “most free market state in the country,” he said he still held out some hope for government’s role.
What finally convinced him of the virtues of the free market and the ineptitude of government, he said, was learning the feds had seized ownership of a brothel that had been operating in the desert. It then went out of business.
“If you can’t sell booze and sex in the desert, well…” he said to laughs.
Don’t Talk Yourself Into It
2020 headlines are destined to be dominated by news related to the presidential election and a related issue, a potential recession. But could the country talk itself into just such a downturn?
“There is all this talk of a recession,” Brian Hamilton of CU Direct told credit unions recently. “Let’s not be the cause of that recession. Fears drove liquidity restraints, and that creates a downward spiral. Some people say in significant economic recession they stop lending. But many realize it’s the time to step on the gas and lend.”
A Shear Data Point
Worried you may have to take a haircut on your student loan portfolio? Your worries may be high and tight. Consider this: LendEDU recently uncovered an interesting finding in its analysis of student loan repayment rates/defaults. The big, hairy discovery: barber schools lead to student loan defaults at an unusually high rate.
Of the seven schools that were subject to losing their Direct Loan Program and/or Federal Pell Grant eligibility due to three straight years with default rates above 30%, four were barber schools, while a fifth was a cosmetology school.
If you considered making such loans but then backed off, I’ll allow you to insert your own close shave headline here.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or @FrankCUToday.