By Frank J. Diekmann
Credit unions have invested heavily with both time and money in financial literacy, especially in schools. It appears there is significant work remaining, as one recent finding makes clear. A study of Millennials conducted by LendEDU on personal finances and credit history, of the 29% of respondents who had missed a payment, 17% thought their credit score would remain unchanged afterwards, and almost 6% believed a missed payment made their credit score go up.
Before we blame Millennials, however, given deficit spending at the federal level and how a number of business people have cashed out turned a profit in bankruptcies, perhaps we should be more understanding given the role models Millennials have been exposed to.
A Zero Here, a Zero There–It Can Add Up
Having made my own share of headline errors, it pains me to point out this one that involves Redwood Credit Union and which appeared on the Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s website. Referring to the fundraising RCU and others have done, the headline read: “Band Together Fire Relief Effort Raises $17 for Low-Income Victims of Wildfires.” The actual amount: $17-million. And, ironically, the Press Democrat is among the organizers of the fund.
Barely CLEVR, Anyone?
Credit unions in the U.S. have gone through innumerable name changes, but most are pretty traditional. But we’re seeing a mini-trend in name changes outside the U.S., and it will be interesting to see if it crosses the oceans.
In the U.K., the former Blackpool Fylde and Wyre Credit Union is changing its name to CLEVR Money (you can find their website at www.clevr.money).
Meanwhile, in Australia, another credit union has changed its name to Bare Money (perhaps they could merge and create CLEVR & Bare CU, which is slightly better than Barely CLEVR).
In the U.S. we have seen one CU make a similarly non-traditional change: the former San Antonio FCU is now Credit Human.
Knockout of a Name
PSCU’s annual Knockout competition is creating and bringing to market a new solution or idea that will benefit credit unions and their members. While the ideas are worthy of note, and CUToday.info has coverage of the most recent winners here, some props also need to be extended to the names of the winning teams.
The most recent competition was won by Team Flaming Dragons from HawaiiUSA FCU for its “Creditbility” proposal. Creditbility is a service that seeks to engage current and potential credit union members by creating a card that merges the rewards of a credit card with the security of a debit card.
While Team Flaming Dragons seems timely in this age of Game of Thrones, however, my personal nod for best name must go to Team Cool Name Pending, made up of staff at Founders FCU in Lancaster, S.C.
Reverse Debt Collection
Every credit union knows what it’s like to attempt to collect on debt from members who just can’t make the payments and even deadbeats who never had any intention to repay in the first place. And every credit union has heard all the horror stories around debt collection, including third party firms that sell and re-sell debt.
But what about The Night of the Living Non-Debt horror stories of those consumers who do not have a debt but find themselves being hounded all the same? It’s known in the industry as “phantom debt.”
It happens often, unfortunately, and for those who find themselves trying to prove the debt isn’t theirs, it can mean throwing up one’s hands in defeat.
Then there’s the story of Andrew Therrien, who found himself being harassed over $700 payday loan that wasn’t his. Therrien didn’t go on the defense—he went aggressively on the offensive, working to figure out who had sold his name, who had gotten it wrong, who was calling him, and who was hiding behind those bogus phone calls.
His story is one of tenacity and a crusade. You can read it here.
Just Waiting on the Crash
Talk to just about anyone in credit unions about crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin and there seems universal agreement that its spectacular rise in value is eventually going to collapse in an even more spectacular crash. (Let’s also admit there’s a fair amount of schadenfreude taking place among all those who didn’t invest in Bitcoin at the beginning of the year.)
If you want an example of just how rapid Bitcoin’s appreciation has been in 2017, think of it in credit union terms. Bitcoin (as of this writing) was up 1,400% since the beginning of the year.
Had the U.S. credit union community, which closed out 2016 with assets of $1.29 trillion, seen similar asset appreciation it would now represent $16.8 trillion in assets.
That would be the good news. The bad news would be every CU’s net worth ratio would to the right of the decimal point, and there would be a mass conservatorship.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info.