Friday, January 17, 2025

Hurricane Helene Devastated Western North Carolina - SECU Could Easily Help Members Much More, But Hasn't...

Hurricane watches for Helen in Florida   

Western North Carolina - Fall, 2024.

Just to refresh your memory: The storm and its aftermath caused 1,400 landslides and damaged over 160 water and sewer systems, at least 6,000 miles of roads, more than 1,000 bridges and an estimated 126,000 homes. Some 220,000 households [!!] are expected to apply for federal assistance.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order to increase unemployment benefits for workers who are impacted by Hurricane Helene and are struggling to make ends meets. The Asheville metro area unemployment rate has doubled to 6.1%, in Mitchell County unemployment reached 8.9%, highest in the State. 

New Gov. Josh Stein’s inaugural address stressed hurricane recovery as the #1 issue facing North Carolina in 2025.

So, we've been "arguing" now for a couple of years about the "New/New" philosophy adopted by the SECU Board in 2021. That discussion has centered around risk-based lending, open membership, local vs. global, people before profits, providing service well above "industry standard".
 
http://www.buckleshop.com/images/4571.jpg Well, here's another unicorn opportunity for the SECU Board! A chance to once again distinguish and demonstrate that at "SECU - There Is A Difference" - helping members in North Carolina not only in unique ways, but with extraordinary care, forethought, and concern (as you did in the past!)
 
SECU has hundreds of thousands of members in Western North Carolina. Do you think that any of them may have lost a spouse, house, job, or were injured as a result of the hurricane? Yes they did!  Thousands of your fellow members were hit hard, some wiped out completely. Do you think any of them may have been late on a bill or completely missed a payment?  If so, what do you think will happen to their credit scores - for the next seven years? 
 
✅ With this disaster, you now have a terrible, real life, real people example of why risk-based lending is discriminatory and unjust. These Western North Carolina SECU members did nothing wrong! Hurricane Helene was a natural disaster and "act of God", yet thousands of our fellow members will be unjustly penalized by the SECU Board via higher "RBL" rates on their loans - for the next seven years. That sound fair to you? Would you, as a fellow SECU member, fix this problem if you could?
 
The good news is that the SECU Board can fix this unfair discrimination by simply rescinding  risk-based lending for all the members in Western North Carolina right now.  And give our fellow members a hand up, instead of another slap in the face . Don't we all want to help our fellow members in this simple way? Won't cost you a penny (far less than a Super Bowl ad!). Easy to do!  Why wouldn't the SECU Board want to help Western North Carolina?

✅ The SECU Board even includes a member of Governor Stein's Cabinet - a director who can make the motion! If it's good enough for "the Gov", it ought to be good enough for the SECU Board! Let's stop twiddling our thumbs, watching "our screens" and instead look up and help "our folks" in Western North Carolina!
 
😎 Hope this post makes the members of SECU - you - care enough to ask for action
 
... another chance to be the real thing... a credit union! 

22 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh!! What an opportunity for front page positive press!! social media would go wild!! Ok Mr. Wooten! The members are all watching and waiting! Sounds like the governor's got your back on this one so it is a very safe motion for you to make! Let's roll!!

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    1. This is what credit unions are for. Helping our communities. Not sending millions to elitist overlords.
      This is where we can make a difference folks. Let’s help our people.

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  2. Hope someone will send this to California credit unions. CU members in LA need this response too.

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    1. and send it to Governor Stein.

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    2. send it to Congress so they see why CUs are tax exempt

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    3. Stein just included Wooten in his cabinet. I voted for stein. Hoping he will do good things, but Wooten hasn’t given me any faith he cares about people.

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    4. I think the whole state of NC voted for stein @10:05

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  3. rescinding risk-based lending for all the members... period!!!
    Can't be a unicorn if you want to be like everyone else ...

    a little off topic but I hope our leaders of this state are discussing a plan of cleaning up all those downed trees in the western part before they become a fire hazard...

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  4. will they be our Sheppard or just a hired hand?

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  5. won't cost a penny? we would lose money on these loans and all other members, including depositors and A tier borrowers will pay for it. why don't you just start a go fund me for people impacted and require the rest of the membership to donate? why not donate funds already taken from members for the foundation?

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    1. Wealthy, white, “A paper” people lost homes and jobs to.

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  6. 10:24am You'd just rather overcharge the innocent? You don't seem to understand that quite a few SECU "A" members also got clobbered... and will see their scores plunge... you'll be overcharging your "best" members - get it now?

    They will not be happy with your "let them eat cake" attitude... and will never forgive the credit union for its "could care less" indifference.. nor ever forget it!

    "Go Fund" and ask people to contribute because our credit union is overcharging members who were flattened by a natural disaster.????!!!.. not a big fan of your disdain for your fellow human beings... nor your PR astuteness.

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  7. well your idea would be nothing but a PR headline. you are being dramatic about scores just "plunging". on existing loans, lenders will work with people impacted to defer payments, do mods, not report DQ.

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  8. 12:05 pm "Yes but"? Hard to face real life decisions? Or can't face the facts: "Some 220,000 households [in Western N.C.] are expected to apply for federal assistance." Do you think Governor Stein is just posturing politically on this issue?

    Thought the "new/new" had done away with loan review committees, allowing local managers to make the best decision for a member?

    Do you have a plan to "not report DQ"...if so don't you think you should let the branches (and heaven forbid the members) know?

    You continue to miss the larger point. As a local, NC focused, not-for-profit cu, SECU can do things that those "global" institutions won't. Credit scoring agencies don't include "Asheville's" in their algorithms... probably don't know, may not care... They don't claim to know why some of us aren't A-tier folks - even if there are good reasons. SECU with RBL no longer cares either...

    "Oh you live in WNC and got trashed by a hurricane... tough stuff, don't want to hear it, all I know and care about is your credit score is now 610 - end of story.

    See also that you appear to speak for all "lenders" - hubris, wishful thinking! Wish SECU would simply speak up on behalf of our members...

    Got a strategic plan on this one, for real life? Publish it! We'll read it!

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    1. Not speaking for all lenders, but didn't really need to poll them. For profit banks and lenders are highly motivated to avoid or reduce credit losses. Why? because it hurts their profits. Pretty simple concept.

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    2. Of course the for-profit banks, SECU and all lenders will try to minimize losses.. that's nothing unusual, nothing extra, nothing different, same old same old,...industry standard! As you rightfully say "pretty simple"!

      Not penalizing WNC SECU members in the future who's scores have been smacked by a 100-year natural catastrophe - through no fault of their own! - takes more than a brain, it takes a heart.

      You may be missing a part of the puzzle! Would explain why you don't understand "the difference" ... in a credit union.

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    3. But lets play along for a bit on your fico plunge crisis scenario, where you have concluded SECU is going to screw over members... So for a member who is having trouble making payments and / or has already taken on more debt, the answer is load them up with more debt, but if they get a rate 2-3% lower than they would have otherwise, and that solves the problem the caused the score to drop in the first place? See the flaw in that logic?

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    4. OR think about what if you give them higher rates and see how much harder it is for them? Agree with point that to understand, one needs the people helping people heart. - Charity

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  9. why not help other members under a financial hardship, even if it's from a different cause?

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    1. Yup equal interest rates for all!!! It’s that easy!

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  10. 12:34 pm Wonderful idea! All for it! This is a terrific opportunity for the SECU Board to drop RBL altogether! Agree! Agree!

    That would be a real unicorn move! Set SECU apart from the crowd, the also ran's, the industry standard!

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    1. and it was so successful for 85 years doing all those unicorn things that the current leadership and Board scoff at. SECU was about the members having the lowest loan rates and highest savings rates SECU could offer. Consistently better than most other financial institutions and they were published for all to see. And SECU did everything it could do to help members. No credit score manufactured by some unknown algorithm at some other institution determined whether a member got a loan. there was also an appeals process. Now the members got nothing--yea, or nay and just go down the street to the loan shark.

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