Pretty Strong Thumping!

 Know how Alabama feels...

  

...Thanks for taking part!

 

 ...  will do a little post mortem next few days.

Although Silenced Today At The SECU Annual Meeting By The Board...

At SECU, an audience will always exist who will expect and demand that you tell the truth!

 

"Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth."  -  Mahatma Gandhi 

As one member-nominated candidate so aptly said: "You can't shut us up, and you won't shut us out."

Commenter Points Out The Real Life Consequences Of Risk-Based Lending On SECU Members...

 

A blog commenter on October 4, 2024:

"And just think. All these people stranded in the mountains with no mail service and no internet service and 100 other problems are probably going to miss a payment or two. Whoops! Now they’re in the bottom credit score tier for the next 7 years." 

✅ Really bad things happen to really good people... including all SECU members. The SECU Board  - in its elite wisdom - however doesn't want to hear about it. You are your credit score and with RBL "We" will penalize you with higher interest rates on your loans.

✅ After 85 years of highly successful results, the SECU Board in 2021 dispensed with the statewide member loan review committees at SECU. The Board evidently felt that volunteers had become a problem, a liability, and no longer understood the "complexities" of a modern day credit union. After all, what does a member-volunteer know about loans anyway? There was no consultation with the members of the committees, no discussion with the SECU membership; the "We Are SECU" crew simply pulled yet another "We Know Better Than You" move. 

Credit committees and loan review committees have been a cornerstone of credit union principles and practices from "Day 1" - part of the original charter and bylaws of SECU, still a part of federal and state credit union laws. The idea behind a credit committee - a member-volunteer led loan review and appeals board - was sound and simple. Each member loan request deserved a thorough and fair review by the credit union - who could argue with that idea?   Our real flesh-and-blood neighbors and co-workers are at the heart of every loan request.  The loan is important to the member; the member is not there asking, just for the fun of it.

The loan review committees were composed of local, member-volunteers, who were empowered to make the final decision on all SECU loans! Risky business? Not really, the volunteers knew whose money they were lending - theirs!  As an appeals group, the loan review committees dealt only with the most difficult and exceptional loan decisions, generally involving families in severe financial crises. The meetings were difficult work, emotional, often heart-wrenching - and always very, very personal.  Local member peers taking the time to listen to a fellow member always was an invaluable plus - building a unicorn takes time, requires trust, and caring.

✅ But, let me introduce you to David Spaugh, who served on a loan review committee for over 25 years. David was a rock, an anchor. He didn't prejudge; he wanted to hear the whole story; he wanted to make the best decision; but most importantly, he wanted to make the right decision.

David Spaugh said two things about his service on the loan review committee. David said: "Some people think we're here to give people a break, I think we're here to give people a chance!" He also once said he didn't feel he was serving the purpose of the Committee well. Asked why? David Spaugh said this: "I have a tendency to be overly compassionate."

Lets all hope that State Employees' Credit Union is willing to take the risk of living in a world, where people care too much. 

Expert lenders know that a loan decision involves more than just "crunching the numbers"- amateurs (even when hiding behind an "SVP" title) don't. You can't listen to numbers. A credit committee gives members the chance to explain, to clarify, to be heard. A credit committee gives the credit union a chance to listen, to make sure the best loan decision... the right loan decision is made. 

✅ Is there a downside to a second opinion, an open dialogue, a concerned discussion? A downside to caring too much about a member-owner, asking for help? 

 

SECU members in western North Carolina are getting ready to find out....

"Organizations Tend To Falter From The Top Down" - Warning Signs?

   ✅ Check all which apply:

◻ "Big thinking", resulting in needless complexity, overspending and overcapacity.

◻ Lack of justification for decisions.

◻ Top heavy bureaucracy.

◻ Excessive office politics.

◻ Too many middle managers who deliver questionable value.

◻ Duplication of efforts and soaring costs.

◻ Lack of accountability for decline in performance and failed initiatives.

◻ Creation of antagonistic relationships with members.  

◻ High employee turnover and low morale.

◻ Failure to listen and respond to criticism .  

◻ Corporate narcissism - a brash sense of overconfidence and unjustified hubris.

  ... "We're SECU"?

.

Members (And Staff!): Did You Really Mean To Book A "Window Seat" At SECU?

  While we wait "quietly" for the 2024 SECU Annual Meeting... 

😎 See if this article doesn't sound familiar and very close to home ...

✅ ‘I’m Not Trying to Cause a Scene. I Just Want to Get Off This Plane.’  

From Politico 2/24/2024: [link to entire article]:

"In 2018, Ed Pierson decided that he could no longer work as a senior manager for Boeing’s 737 MAX program.

"At the company’s production facility in Renton, Washington, he had watched as employee morale plummeted and oversight and assembly procedures faltered.  ... then fatal MAX 8 crashes occurred in 2018 and 2019. Five years later, after a door plug blew off of a 737 MAX 9 in the middle of an Alaska Airlines flight last month, Pierson is again trying to sound the alarm."

 Don't mind a little fresh air, but... 

"I have always had the greatest respect for the airplane products that The Boeing Company makes. I had no reason ever to doubt it. Before I started working in the factory, I had been around airplanes my whole career. I flew airplanes in the Navy.  

You go into the production environment, and you’re like, “Oh, my God, I had no idea it was this complex.” It’s stunning how complex it is. At first, I didn’t understand how all that came together. And it gave me a great respect for the people that were building the plane — it’s incredibly impressive to see. And then everything started to change in 2017 and into 2018."

"I realized how the leadership was treating employees — very disrespectfully, very embarrassing. Standing up in front of teams and just calling them out, and it was horrendous. I thought, this is not a healthy environment to build airplanes. I can’t support this as a senior manager. I just felt this was really wrong"

"The leadership doesn’t get down there and get involved with the people that are building the products. They don’t value the engineers, they think the engineers are replaceable. You can’t take a 20- or 30-year employee and just dump them off to the side and think that you’re going to find somebody off the street that’s going to be able to do what that person does."

"Boeing’s board of directors — they have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that their products are safe, and they’re not in touch. They’re not engaged. They don’t visit the sites. They don’t talk to the employees. They’re not on the ground floor."

"But one thing’s for sure: Continuing to fly them, completely disregarding the root causes of these problems, not admitting that these problems exist will ... " [link]

Since 2021, there have been many turbulent crosswinds, cross purposes, cross currents, cross employees, and even a double cross or two at SECU...

  At a crossroads... but keep your fingers crossed!

What Has Been The Greatest Loss At SECU Over The Last Three Years?

 

 Elissa McCarter Laborde, CEO World Coucil of Credit Unions

 

BOSTON—  The World Council of Credit Unions goal is to improve the lives of millions of members around the world through a global network of more than 82,000 credit unions, that reach more than 400 million members. [link to article] 

Elissa McCarter Laborde, the president and CEO of the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), touched on many themes in her opening remarks to the World Credit Union Conference. Most importantly, she said she wanted to emphasize one final point before closing. Ms. Laborde  offered a reminder over how something that credit unions have earned over decades can disappear in a moment.

Her Final Point:

 

 “We are all custodians of this movement, entrusted with its growth and care. That 

means guarding against mission drift. As financial cooperatives we must hold 

ourselves to a higher standard. We hold the trust of our members and their hard

earned money. We know trust is earned over decades and can be broken in an

instant.    Trust is what sets us apart.”

  But can... "disappear in a moment."

 At SECU... "We must hold ourselves to a higher standard."