❓What is so important in H. 410 that the Carolinas' Credit Union League (CCUL) is willing to sacrifice anything and anybody to get it passed?
§ 54-109.28. Other credit unions and specially designated common bonds. [Changes are underlined]To facilitate the provision of financial services to underserved populations and communities, any credit union organized under Articles 14A to 14L of this Chapter may also permit membership of the following located in this State:
(1) Individuals and families that earn income at or below the federal poverty threshold
👍Those proposed changes sound very positive, don't they! Who in there right mind - especially if they were not-for-profit credit unions organized to serve North Carolinians of modest means - would object to that?
New data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau, measuring poverty and income, provides insight into how North Carolinians are faring. The data finds that last year, 1.4 million North Carolinians lived in poverty, making North Carolina the state with the 15th highest poverty rate.
👍As the graph and blurb above shows, every state-chartered credit union in North Carolina would be able to add 1.4 million North Carolinians as potential members - and who needs credit unions more than North Carolina families below the federal poverty threshold?
But there is a potential catch and it "lies" in those words "all" and "may". Every state-chartered credit union is not required to take advantage of this new opportunity to help those most in need in North Carolina.
If Dan Schline and the Carolinas' Credit Union League are being honest about their sincerity and desire to help North Carolinians living in poverty, then certainly Mr. Schline will have no objection to changing "any" to "all" and "may" to "shall" would he?
👍Hope the Senate will be sure to ask him!
Would also assume that all state-chartered credit unions will remain "united" behind passage of H. 410, when the new law reads: "... all N.C. state-chartered credit unions shall permit membership for families living below the federal poverty threshold." [Even better, CCUL can add language requiring low/no cost "Lifeline Accounts" for these new members!]
North Carolina banks are required to serve low income folks in North Carolina - on what basis could Dan Schline and CCUL justify not accepting this small positive change?
Fair is fair, right? or....
Videri quam esse - "to seem, rather than to be"?
Maybe baby?
Well, that kinda got the smoke and mirrors out of the way. What say you Mr. Schline??
ReplyDeleteThis change is being made ONLY for SECU.!!!!
ReplyDeleteAll other smaller CUs and banks will be harmed by it. SECU will quickly move to raise fees and then merge in all of the CU’s they process for. Get ready Greater Kinston, First Carolina Peoples and others. If you say no they will just raise the processing costs. Just ask Local Government. Only difference is LGFCU was big enough to attempt to go it alone.
But as soon as they can take the “group” of Local Government members, how much you want to bet they start soliciting their members to join SECU. I can hear it now. “Hello Mr. LGFCU member. Why don’t you move your account here to SECU? I hear that in a few months you want have any branches to visit and now you can join SECU.”
All of this made possible because Dan Schline lied and the bill passed.
I suspect this is one of their primary goals (along with being able to invest members' money in
Deleteout of state stocks and securities). Once LGFCU rejected the merger proposal, SECU decided to try and "kill off" LGFCU by no longer allowing access to the branch network. That, combined with this new bill, would give SECU the ability to absorb many of LGFCU's members.
They're getting their merger, just with extra steps.
More steps yes. But since the have a puppet in Schline to do all the work for them, it’s much better because they get to control it all and none of LGFCU Executives or Board Members are in the way.
DeleteAll about that Growth and Power, nothing else matters to Haze and Company. Doesn't matter how many small credit unions fail or how many jobs will be lost, they are just interested in SECU's dollars and member size.
DeleteHow ironic, SECU's new direction with the help of Schline will be toward giving Aid to those at or near poverty level. Two months ago their direction was giving many of these same folks higher loan rates (risk based lending)than other members, first time in SECU history. But, their goal is to help all their members...really?
DeleteSECU lays out various reasons to support H410 (outlined in post 4/24/2023). Let’s take them in order.
ReplyDelete1. H410 will permit individuals below the poverty line to join a credit union.
It’s nice that SECU is showing such concern for those of few means, but it seems there is a contradiction between the concern around admitting those below the poverty line and their new practice of tier-based lending. Just a few months ago, every SECU member could get an auto loan for maybe 5%. Now, the most unfortunate members (those with lower credit) will be offered roughly 11%. Is this a blatant contradiction or is the goal to admit all of these poor folks and then bleed them dry?
2. H410 permits those residing in areas where the center of population is more than 8 miles away from a bank branch to join a credit union.
If SECU is so distressed about branch access, why won’t they continue their partnership with LGFCU to ensure that their members have access to branches? Moreover, why has SECU pulled staff out of their own branches so that they are now understaffed?
3. SECU asserts that H410 protects the democratic cooperative principles of member control and keeps credit unions accountable to their missions.
If societies, corporations and other entities composed of, owned or controlled by eligible individuals may be admitted to membership in the same manner and under the same conditions as an individual (54-109.28 – part of the free for all membership), how does this not dilute the individual member’s voice? Is it still one member, one vote? What happens when all of those members of modest means are outnumbered by the new corporations, societies and associations? And, why would these groups need to join in the first place if they are controlled by eligible individuals who can already join themselves?
On the subject of missions, has anyone noticed that SECU has modified their mission statement as well as the list of core values? https://www.ncsecu.org/AboutSECU/MissionStatement.html
54-109.28 also states that any credit union organized under Articles 14A to 14L may permit membership of any other credit union organized under the same articles.
4. SECU states that H410 will allow more flexibility for state-chartered credit unions to invest in small businesses and other financial instruments, but that will not make it susceptible to out-of-state control.
Small business sounds good. Note that 54-109.82 #14 outlines the part about the small businesses but has no requirement that it be a business in NC. It also states that the small business be principally engaged in the development of inventions, technological improvements, new processes, or other fintech products. I suppose an NC-owned and NC-run roofing company is out then?
54-109.82 #15 outlines the ability to invest in stock, securities or other instruments. Again, there is no NC focus here. Not only that, what are these other financial instruments? It seems like there was a little trouble with a few other financial instruments in 2008…
SECU is a cooperative within and among its members. It has also always been cooperative with other credit unions. It looks like the days of cooperating with other credit unions are numbered. Why not consider changing "any" to "all" and "may" to "shall" to extend the spirit of credit union cooperation?
This is THE MESSAGE! Mic drop. So many truths and it addresses the questions every SECU member should be asking.
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