SECU - Consider This: Chapter 23 - Tax Prep, The Missing Voice?

  From the SECU members... 

... really hate to bother you, but.

Here's the test question on tax prep from Chapter 22 [link]:

✅ "If your job, your career, your future at SECU (let alone the mortgage, car payment, childcare, and that long hoped for cruise!) depended on you solving those tax prep operational difficulties in the next 90 days, could you do it?"

😎 You don't have to comment on that question, be glad to answer it for you: "Yes, h*ll yes!" Over several decades at SECU, we all saw the improbable, the difficult, even seemingly impossible challenges overcome time after time - at local branches and at the regional, organizational levels.  

Never saw the SECU staff fail - stumble and misstep, sure; fumble the ball, yep; err occasionally, oh yes; but persist? - without question! And their record of performance and success over the first 85 years speaks for itself.

As you've read in the comments, the tax prep program was becoming an operational problem for the branch staffs - could probably put a good bit of that blame on a highly disruptive pandemic! SECU management "for whatever reasons" ignored the branch requests for system improvements, more staff, better training.  The "for whatever reasons" definitely weren't lack of demand from the SECU members (the 100,000+!), lack of "profitability" and member savings, lack of benefit to the North Carolina community (EITC), nor lack of expertise and capability by the SECU staff (see "We Board" comment below!)

But here are the bizarre "whatever reasons" given by the "We Board" for dropping the tax prep program (check out their hubris for yourself on their infamous "Fireside Chat" videos):

"Although our staff diligently and competently prepared tax returns for several years [10+ years], we've come to believe that members are best served by receiving tax preparation services from..." ... someone else!

Current SECU leadership continues to do "market research" on the services SECU members need by using the "raise your hand" method in controlled groups. 

When the "We B" group arbitrarily makes a decisive mistake (..."we've come to believe ..."), the actual facts appear to be irrelevant... why bother?

So, who is "The Missing Voice" in this tax prep discussion: Well, 100, 000+ SECU members!

Why don't you ask those 100,000+ members to "raise their hands"?

Wanna bet on how that vote comes out?

The Earned Income Tax Credit In North Carolina: Or, How To Kill A Unicorn Without Even Thinking.

  A few other facts and voices on why the elimination of tax prep for 100,000+ SECU members was yet another blunder by the "We Are SECU Board". A case of "We B" ivory tower syndrome? Another step backwards for SECU members and North Carolina...

Governor Cooper Encourages Eligible North Carolinians to Claim Earned Income Tax Credit

✅ February 14, 2023 - Governor Cooper recently joined the United States Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service in encouraging eligible North Carolinians to claim the tax credit on their upcoming federal taxes.

“North Carolina families should take a moment to determine if they are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “This can help hard working families with tax relief they deserve.”

For over forty-five years, the EITC has been supporting hardworking people by offering tax credits to low- to moderate-income workers and families. The EITC, combined with the Child Tax Credit (CTC), lifts over nine million people out of poverty annually – half of them children.

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✅ 9/26/2023– NCUA is co-hosting a webinar today with the Internal Revenue Service about the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program on Sept 7. The webinar will begin at 1 p.m. ET.

The VITA program is an IRS initiative designed to support free tax preparation services for underserved communities. The webinar is titled “Make a Difference in Your Community by Participating in the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program.

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  By design, the EITC only benefits working families. Children are one of the primary beneficiaries of the EITC since families with children receive a much larger credit than workers without qualifying children. For its potential as a strong economic support to families, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that boosting a family’s financial security can reduce child abuse and neglect by improving parents’ ability to meet the family’s basic needs, provide quality childcare, while reducing parental stress and depression.

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.... but y'know the "We B's" know best!