This one is hard to write, but it is a glaring, real life example of what has gone missing with the new culture/new direction at SECU "("The New/New"). What's gone missing? Take a listen...
Ms. Leigh Brady is the COO of SECU, the number two position at the credit union. Ms. Brady is a 30+ year employee, smart lady, who came second - on a 6 to 5 vote - to the current CEO in the SECU executive search process two years ago. Rumor has it that Ms. Brady and Hillary Clinton still suffer traumatic nightmares.
As mentioned in a prior post (May 22, 2023), Ms.Brady had asked to make a presentation about SECU to the SEANC Board. Back in February, 2023, SEANC had voted unanimously to ask SECU to rescind the introduction of risk-based lending (RBL), until the two organizations could discuss that change. SECU agreed to a meeting, but in the interim introduced RBL anyway (see March 26, 2023 post). Ms. Brady wanted to clear the air on the issue of risk-based lending for the SEANC Board.
Ms. Brady summed up her far from convincing explanation of the benefits of RBL - it was weak on only two points, facts and substance - with the following personal story. She indicated that her recent, college graduate daughter had just bought her first car. Being a young female with little credit experience, her daughter had not qualified for the A-paper best rate at the credit union. But that wasn't a problem, because Mom just co-signed the loan which then qualified her daughter for the A-paper rate. See, RBL works!
There was a moment of somewhat stunned silence in the room among the 40 or so SEANC board members. It was one of those: "I can't believe she just said that" moments.
Then a young, female, Af-Am SEANC board member rose and said politely: "Ms. Brady you need to understand that most of us don't have an affluent parent who can cosign loans for us."
And, it was obvious to all in the room that Ms. Brady (and "New/New" SECU!) either doesn't understand the financial realities of most SECU members, or simply doesn't care.
It proved useless to point out to Ms. Brady - though several SEANC board members tried - that her own personal example with her daughter, confirmed that risk-based lending discriminates against young people (credit scores generally -43 points below average), females ( -12 points below males), AF-Ams (-26 points below Caucasians) and people of modest means - all confirmed by independent research on credit scores.
The board members of SEANC were too polite to ask Ms. Brady if she felt her daughter represented a higher risk of default to SECU as her credit score indicated? Surely the credit score isn't lying, if not...
...then who is?
Just trying to give you a little "heads up, Marie!" (... or is that "head's off"?)
* SEANC - the State Employees Association of North Carolina
Did you know there was an SECU luncheon to "celebrate" the implementation of Risked Based Lending (Discriminatory Based Lending)? Absolutely true! Attended by the top officers in Loan Administration and Executive Management.
ReplyDeleteIf there was any doubt these folks have no understanding of SECU's members that was the nail in the coffin. How far removed do you really have to be from the lives of real folks not to understand they are not profit centers but people? Not a credit score but real folks with unforeseen problems that branch staff used to be able to help them with successfully. Executive management has literally removed the decision making process from the branches - the employees that know their members best.
They think THEY know best and THEY know nothing, except how to alienate members and employees and ruin the financial status of a one time powerhouse financial institution.
Their arrogance is truly insufferable.
#GiveUsOurTiesBack
#GiveUsOurCreditUnionBack
Does this even sound like a group who would know anything about People helping People? And to think This Exec Team is the Equality pushers ...Celebrating with a meal paid for by the very group of Members who they just raised loan rates on for being victims of life's struggles. Can't think of many SECU employees who would have attended that luncheon.
DeleteLoan Admin Leadership have definitely lost their SECU way, hard to distinguish between them and the Interlopers now.
DeleteI cannot believe (well I can believe it I've met her briefly) that she is so out of touch with the membership that she would suggest cosigners for anyone like her daughter who is below A paper. That's not possible lady.
ReplyDeleteDoes the current BOD and leadership not know about credit washing? Plenty of free resources available to all on how to 'clean' up your credit and get an A paper rating only to default because the lender doesn't have the full information. Anyone can clean up and fake a great credit score, at least for a little while.
Risk based lending sounds more like it means a risk to the credit union than it sounds like evaluating members for their lending risks.
You know, when most people do something they know is wrong, they figure out a good story to tell at least. And, then, they have the decency to be quiet about it!
ReplyDeleteSECU’s rationale is a story about an affluent parent cosigning a loan to get their kid the best rate. Because THE KID CAN’T GET IT ON THEIR OWN. Doesn’t that actually DISPROVE their point?
Then, they throw a party celebrating the fact that they are charging members double the rate they used to. All while members are dealing with inflation everywhere else.
SECU can’t even come up with a good story or shut up about it! This is a crisis of principles and judgment. They can’t even roll out gouging the members properly! Wonder how much all that celebrating cost.
So I am curious. What criteria did SECU use before Risk Based Pricing? Did they not use Credit Scores at all?
ReplyDeleteEveryone got the same rate. You were approved or denied. That's it.
DeleteWe used our brains.
DeleteYes, always looked at the complete credit reports (not credit scores) which showed entire lending profile of members. if problem with an account, member had a chance to explain or we consolidated loans to clear up delinquency and lower payments.
DeleteAlso, a lot of low credit scores I’ve seen are due to medical collections. Which prior we didn’t take account for, but with RBL you have to because the credit score accounts for medical collections.
DeleteI was taught how to read a credit report (not simply look at scores) and ask questions if necessary.
DeleteGo to the top of this page and click on risk based lending. Mr. Blaine did a thorough job of explaining it in a series of articles.
DeleteLol!! And we all just off the phone with the employee survey “town hall “. What a S—t S—w! Am I the only one? We will all be managed out because we are not effective in “our” roles!!
ReplyDeleteCan you elaborate? I'm not sure what this is referring to
DeleteShe sure did scurry off when specific questions were asked. Crickets from her support execs
DeleteNot only that the survey is supposed to be "confidential". Apparently it's not. If they know which "team" branch it came from then they know who exactly completed the form.
DeleteCan someone give more insight on this comment?
Delete100% sure SECU's problems right now cannot be attributed to the listeners on that phone call. Anonymous, Confidential Employee Survey, but WE know what teams have the problems and we will point that out to you SVPs and VPs in the report. As the guy from the company we paid thousands to conduct & analyze this survey kept saying - "that doesn't matter"....he is correct, what a waste of our members 'money!
DeleteOf interest to me was the number 8000. SECU has now gone from an estimated 6700 employees to an estimated 8000 employees in one year. Don't forget all the hardworking Legacy employees we have lost and all the new hires who said quickly, this place is not for me over the past year. Factor those job losses into an increase of almost 1500 additional employees and tell me why SECU has branch staff shortages in every branch, call center employees worked to death on horrible schedules, operations departments so understaffed and overworked they can't handle their load. Loan losses for 1st quarter 2023 are the same as total loan losses for the entire year of 2021-give or take a few- to the powers that be, it's just numbers and not coming out of their pocket.
Since October 2022, Members and Employees have been reaching out to This Board to get our credit back on the right path. We all see the decline caused by This Board by placing it into the wrong hands. And all these comments, requests for your actions, pleadings for stopping the nonsense will remain in print for everyone to see.
That was definitely the most botched meeting I've ever seen. Talk about transparency: Our February email "This survey is confidential." Today's meeting, "tomorrow you will be able to review the responses for your teams" and "we read over 6000 comments." SECU just lost the trust of all 8000 employees with this bait and switch. We'll tell you it's confidential so that you'll be open and honest then we'll read everything you wrote and track it for our use. Oh, and by the way, we expect managers to get the buy-in of their teams to meet SECUs expectations, even though employees aren't upset with their managers, they are upset with Executive Management and our New/New!! We need these emails posted for everyone to see what we are living with daily.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I never believed for one SECOND that the survey was anonymous. It's actually a pretty common thing done in other organizations (SECU employees that have never worked anywhere else are only now finding out how cutthroat and deceitful the rest of corporate America can be). That's the world these new execs have come from. You can't trust these snakes.
DeleteCouldn’t agree more. This is about Executive Management not local managers.
DeleteSpin cycle coming soon
DeleteA lot of us that read the blog are not employees. This blog is not just for employees-- a lot of members are reading too. Please do not assume we know what you are talking about.it is for members too. What was the survey? what was the phone call? were you required to fill out the survey? what happened if you did not? I take it that anonymous isn't anonymous anymore? Maybe you employees need to help us understand the bigger issues. No one anywhere is happy with their pay! Especially not us state employees!!
DeleteWhat survey was it?
DeleteWell there was 2 surveys. The first one came at the very beginning in September of 2021, but that was from NC business review magazine. That one was more than likely anonymous. The 2nd one at the beginning of this year, I highly doubt was anonymous the way it was setup.
DeleteSame, I am not an employee and i don’t know what this means
DeleteMembers - as with many companies surveys are compiled to gauge many different things. This one was employee engagement, employee support for direction, and commitment. It was anonymous per the third party company and SECU Culture Dept. The virtual meeting yesterday revealed what appears to be a breach of employee confidence in who has access to individual responses - both rating scale answers as well has written comments. It would appear the SECU Culture Department can now rate the effectiveness of departments and branches based on employee responses. There was well above a average participation in survey. People had a lot to say. The feeling is careers and raises are going to be impacted if they feel you are not effective. That may not seem catastrophic to a member. You want highly engaged employees assisting you. But we have also been hit with massive changes internally and these employee and salary surveys, we feel, will be used to cap some compensation, force some changes, and fill a narrative that is being fed to the Board. Just another check box for execs but another level of distrust that we can trust these new leaders - ton of which were hired from outside SECU as well as credit unions. Employees are at a loss as to how we reach Board. We have families to feed and have a career invested in what we have felt was of tremendous value to members and NC. Have to tow the line at some point and let what’s gonna happen, happen. Cross my fingers every day the Board gets a glimpse of what we see each day.
DeleteThe three Estates of SECU: Cleargy- BOD, Nobility- Executive "team" and the Commoners- the membership.
ReplyDeleteLeigh never did have any branch experience.
ReplyDeleteHer lack of empathy and understanding of other people are legendary in the organization. She is presenting to "this Board" and it is her perspective on life--which has absolutely nothing to do with the life of the working men in women who are members are NCSECU. She is one of the main drivers of the New New. they are all dug in. going to take an earthquake to dislodge Hayes, leigh, and "this Board".
Agreed!
DeleteAnd to think she was possibly This Board's second choice for CEO. Gonna be a good day when she hears go find your passion elsewhere and it will happen.
DeleteNo doubt about it, too much information coming out to show tremendous lack of judgement on SECU's Board of Directors
Deleteon many big issues. It's one thing for Six of them to make a mistake in hiring Hayes, but where are the other Five who got it right? And were they mislead in believing Brady could lead? I heard she couldn't even handle the SEANC Board properly at this recent meeting. Not enough for her to trample on credit union employees, she thought she could step on a few of our SEANC folks toes. Sounds like if the Board had their mind set on destroying SECU, they couldn't have chosen two more fitting characters to get it done. October is the time for SECU members to rattle the state. My question is can we replace more than 3 of these Directors? Don't think our credit union can withstand another year of this type leadership.
This lady needs to take her own advice and head for the door. I was told she was over employee education for years at the credit union and now she is telling those same people she trained to leave? Who does that and how can she even face them?
DeleteIn my 30 plus years I have never been as disappointed as I was today. You asked for information confidentially from employees. Then today you announce to management it WAS NOT confidential at all. That's how you lose the trust of employees. And then to not answer questions from my fellow vps and svps about this was very sad. I will have to explain that to my vps and their staff about the trust factor. Any talking points for that? I can never recall a meeting where someone had to say their name and title and then say, here at SECU. We all knew each other, the members loved us, and member service was provided efficiently for members. Never been about the money for those of us that cared. Now it's about the money and self accolades. I hope you let the state know about this Mr. Blaine with all those local papers you subscribed to. I'm sure a lot of us would contribute to the advertising fund.
ReplyDeleteAs a 20+ year employee I completely agree. I was astonished at the speed the Culture Dept got off the call once the real questions rolled in. The Culture Department had no answers except fake “we did track this survey.” What does the culture department do? I see them flying around the country, first class, getting awards at galas and conventions for what?
DeleteIn IS, culture officer Mia spent two hours explaining to employees that if they don't like the new direction, they should leave. That was the whole topic for the town hall in April: get with the program, or else. Just plain threats.
DeleteI suppose bullying is in the culture department's job description.
For those of us who were not on the call you are describing, please share more about what the call was for. Or, was it just like the IS town hall? To instill fear.
It was unbelievably dishonest and unethical. Employees responded in good faith believing their answers were confidential. What exactly is this new culture supposed to be? Tell me about the low scoring blue dots that “aren’t important to employee engagement.” How much of our members’ money was paid for this useless survey? How are we supposed to use this thing to get employees engaged when they’ve taken employees’ trust, thrown it in a dumpster and lit it on fire? Is there a NEW definition for confidential?
DeleteWhere are we going and why are we in this NEW hand basket?
How is that legal? Tell employees it was anonymous and then say it wasn’t after completion
DeleteWhat was name of third party survey company?
DeleteBefore September 2021, SECU has never had a Culture Department because All SECU Employees starting with the CEOs and branching out to all other staff members statewide - worked and lived by five simple words Always Do The Right Thing. Those words defined SECU's culture and it was real, not fake. And this culture could not just be found in SECU employees' heads but in their hearts as well. SECU leadership and employees were the REAl Deal and our Members knew it. We were trusted by our Members and we trusted one another. So simple, so basic, but so very effective was this culture - 2nd largest credit union in the nation with growth each
Deleteyear - Happy Members, Happy Employees.
What would change this winning model of a credit union whose Leaders' and Employees' primary focus was helping to make our Members' lives better?
New Direction - profits. New Focus- Them.
New Culture - erase the old SECU beliefs.
This Board, Hayes, Brady and all their new hires plus unfortunately some legacy SECU employees at the top, doing the right thing has been removed from their new direction and new fake culture. SECU Members are no longer top priority, this group named earlier feel they are top priority now. Members lose, SECU Employees lose and North Carolina loses.
#it's not about money or benefits for employees - it's about saving SECU for our members and future members.
I guess we take the EmmaMia approach to engagement. Members -‘mama mia’ if you don’t like what I’m doing - leave. Be gone. The reason IS employees are being bullied is they have replaced 8 SVPs with 20 + higher levels from FCB. They see you as expendable.
DeleteTime to lawyer up SECU
DeleteYes, so confidential that you can even sort it down to see job titles and responses, no commentary though. ATTENTION EMPLOYEES: DO NOT FILL ANOTHER ONE OUT EVER AGAIN!
DeleteYes. Also this is a third party that conducted this "confidential" survey. How the hell they know my age and ethnicity? What other personal information was provided? Our social, address and bank account number? Bunch of snakes.
DeleteJust curious, didn't Mia say SVPs and VPs would have access to the survey reports yesterday morning? So many things disappearing these days, superbowl ads, financial reports, legacy employees, sound decision making, trust, not enough room to list all that has been lost under this administration. What kind of culture has been brought into SECU?
DeleteDear October……hurry your a** up.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the way this Third Party confidential survey was handled - my immediate thought was in October we Members are putting our confidence in a third party conducted vote for Board of Directors of SECU. A new change in SECU voting by this Board under Haze leadership all of a sudden. If we can't trust them to tell their employees the truth, should we trust them with our vote. Voting should be done in person in Greensboro like always, can't trust these people with our credit union. They have proved that fact over and over
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree! I don't trust outsourcing the voting.
DeleteAlso, talk about outsourcing EVERYTHING. We can't even add up votes ourselves? For folks that don't know, we used to do everything for the members IN HOUSE. We could think for ourselves and we saved $$$.
It’s hard to “stay above the line” when are current ceo and exec mgmt is lying to us. Stating a survey was completely anonymous and then turning around stating it was not. How is this legal? Someone please explain. I’m not a lawyer, but this can’t be legal.
ReplyDeleteIt’s probably confidential to the specific person, but they likely know what branch/district the individual is in…. Still shady and misleading
DeleteYes they know which branch, how many ppl participated, demographics, titles...etc.
Delete#2 for sure.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the new voting procedures. Did anyone else take note in the recent wral article where they said "Publicly traded companies often hire election facilitators when facing opposition." Here is a link to the article. https://wraltechwire.com/2023/05/12/latest-change-at-state-employees-credit-union-hiring-of-ncr-to-modernize-digital-banking-experience/ Sounds like the board is feeling the heat and doing their best to silence the membership.
ReplyDeleteObviously a smart person would never use such a ludicrous example in attempting to justify RBL, especially after having days/weeks to think about what they were going to say on the matter. So if Ms. Brady is truly a smart person, the only logical conclusion is that she simply does not care. In her defense,I do not believe Ms. Brady is all that smart.
ReplyDelete