The CU2.0 Podcast

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Picture this: a member comes into your office and says he wants a million dollar loan and he has collateral.

What kind of collateral?

The head of a tyrannosaurus rex, a huge dinosaur and, yes, there is a market for t rex bones

What do you do?

The temptation is to say get the hell outta here.

But just maybe the smarter, very 21 century solution is to call UPTIQ where the mantra is THE LENDING PLATFORM FOR HOLISTIC ADVISORS.

On its website, there’s this elaboration: “Whether its money to buy a new home, start a new business or fund working capital, UPTIQ's turnkey technology enables financial advisors to connect their clients to a network of lenders who can fund any liquidity objective.”

Yes, UPTIQ also will handle mainstream lending and borrowing needs.

But it does not shy away from the exotic, said Taylor Adkins, chief product and marketing officer.

To simplify what UPTIQ has done is stick together software that helps match up financial advisors who have clients with borrowing needs with lenders who have cash on hand to lend.  If it’s an exotic loan, fine. If it’s a more conventional loan, that may be fine too.

There definitely is a place for credit unions in this equation, said Adkins.  What, you don’t have any financial advisors on staff anymore? That may not matter with UPTIQ - in the show Adkins explains.

Definitely, credit unions have tightened up lending practices but just about every credit union wants to make loans - and a talk with UPTIQ very well might help get some additional loans funded.

Listen up.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Call this show beyond credit scores.

The reality is that in 2023 credit scores are as common as nitrogen on our planet.  There is nothing special about offering access to credit scores to members because, well, they can get them anywhere.

Personally I can think of a half dozen different accounts of mine that provide free access to credit scores.

Probably I have more that I have simply ignored.

So why am I talking about credit scores? Because Backbase, which bills itself as the engagement banking platform and it provides online and mobile banking to many US credit unions, and SavvyMoney, have teamed up to offer the SavvyMoney credit score to members at credit unions on the Backbase platform.

And what SavvyMoney offers is way beyond a credit score. That’s the starting point, but SavvyMoney also offers action steps for consumers (“here’s how to lift your 680 credit score to 750”) as well as suggesting possible loans to members.  The tools also may help steer members into appropriate investments such as CDs,

This is a credit score with lots of financial wellness pointers and action steps built in.

On the show are Brian McNutt, Backbase’s vice president of product management for the U.S. mid-market, and Chris Fraenza, SavvyMoney’s chief revenue officer.

Listen up.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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This is the trade-up home buyer’s dilemma: in most cases, until his/her existing home actually sells, he cannot truly close on a new home.

Home sellers are increasingly wary of the standard contingency clause that gives a buyer an out if his/.her present home doesn’t sell.

Those sellers like all cash buyers.

What’s a trade up home buyer to do?

Enter Calque, the trade-in mortgage company.

Calque, on its website, tells how its process works: “Fill out a 5-minute questionnaire on our website, and we will send you a purchase price guarantee (PPG) within 3-5 business days. The PPG assures you that if your house doesn’t sell on the open market within a specified timeframe (usually 120 days in most markets), Calque will buy it for a mutually agreed upon, fair price. Once you accept the PPG, a lending partner will pre-approve you for your new home loan.”

Here’s the end game: “Sell your original house on the open market for maximum value. If you aren’t able to sell and close on it within the specified time frame (usually 120 days in most markets), Calque will buy it for the PPG. Either way, you move forward with a conventional loan on your new home.”

Where do credit unions come in? Jeremy Foster, a Calque senior executive, explains that credit unions, which already have the trust of their members, can readily explain the admittedly innovative Calque process to their members.  

Set up in the Calque system is fast and simple, no core interface required.  A credit union would be up and running with Calque in two weeks to two months, says Foster.

Now about now you are probably wondering what kind of weird name is Calque. The good news is that is exactly what I ask Foster in the beginning of the show.

Know that a calque is also called a loan translation - here’s a link that explains what this linguistics mumbo jumbo means.

Claque is a brilliant play on words - but it also may be just the device for removing a big slice of friction and anxiety from the trade up home buying process of members.

Listen up.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Just when you thought Sam Bankman-Fried had signaled the end of crypto, there just may be cause for optimism about the future of crypto and blockchain.

Think about this: it was just maybe a dozen years ago and optimism was wide and deep about both crypto currencies and blockchain.  What has happened to decimate that optimism? Lots of theft and money - in the billions of dollars - that had gone missing.

Conclusion: the underlying system needs a foundational fix.

Meet Nicolas Biagosh of Q Protocol where the slogan is “the future of governance has arrived.”

It’s simple, isn’t it? The problem with crypto has been faulty governance.

That’s where Q Protocol comes in.  Here is what it says about itself: “ Q provides a governance backbone for the Web3 world, allowing you to build intergalactic organizations that go beyond code-is-law.

Technically, the Q Protocol comprises an EVM-compatible proof-of-stake blockchain and a set of smart contracts.

But this simple technical description does not do the protocol justice: Beyond the code, Q is based on a novel concept of how we can transact in the decentralized world, combining the benefits of a public, open and decentralized ledger with the transparency of enforceable private contracts.”

In the podcast Biagosh offers a largely non technical explanation of what Q Protocol is all about and why this just may make a difference for you.

Will Q Protocol be the backbone of a new kind of cross border banking?

Listen up.

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Meet your new Best Friend: Rocket Mortgage.

Is that boos and curses I am hearing?

Understand: I know many in the credit union universe view Rocket Mortgage as the enemy.  That opinion even has been voiced on past episodes of this podcast.

Understandably, too, Rocket Mortgage - the leading US mortgage originator - has enemies.  Leaders usually do.

But in this show, you will hear Sam Schey, Executive Vice President, Partnerships

Rocket Mortgage, tell exactly how Rocket Mortgage may in fact be a genuine friend to credit unions.

The Credit Union Times story tells the story: “Rocket Mortgage to Woo Small Credit Unions.”

In the show Schey indicated that the target market probably is small and mid sized credit unions.  Large credit unions with large mortgage departments probably aren’t prime Rocket Mortgage targets.

But smaller institutions - especially ones that have shrunk their mortgage activities - just may be ideal for letting Rocket Mortgage handle their mortgage process and, in return, Rocket Mortgage will pay the credit union as it writes mortgages for members.

The credit union also has the option to retain the paper. 

Listen to Schey - there are many different ways to configure the Rocket Mortgage options at a credit union.

Early in the show listeners who don’t follow Big 10 football may be puzzled by the banter about the Michigan State Spartans.  Schey is an alum of MSU. The backstory is the day the podcast was recorded MSU fired its football coach Mel Tucker. There’s a link in the show notes to an ESPN story that tells this sordid story.  

This short interlude is left in the show because Schey - under attack - handled himself superbly.

Another link in the show notes is to a biographic squib on Dan Gilbert, a co-founder of Rocket Mortgage and probably its leading light.  To call him an interesting guy is an understatement.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]
 
 

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
 
 

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Listeners to this podcast know that Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, is a busy guy. That became vivid one recent day when I signed into LinkedIn and saw a Kordeleski post where he announced he had become a partner in a new company formed to create SERPs for credit union executives: PARC Street Partners, where PARC stands for Pay Attract Retain Compensate.

Kordeleski of course had been involved in SERPs at OM Financial, but he - and other OM employees - have now moved over to PARC Street. In the show Kordeleski tells why and why this just may be very good news for credit unions and their executives.

He also stressed that service for SERPs that had been set up via OM has now shifted to PARC Street.  There will be no service disruption, he stressed.

Minutes later Kordeleski posted that he had been named an advisor to Black Dragon Capital - a fund formed by Luis Hernandez, well known in the credit union world for the DNA core, which for its time was a genuinely revolutionary core.  Black Dragon focuses on funding fintechs that serve credit unions.

In the podcast Kordeleski talks about what he hopes to do at Black Dragon.

Word of advice: Follow Kordeleski on LinkedIn.  

Listen up.

Hear episode one in Money Talks here.  Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here.  Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here.  11 is here. Episode 12 is here.  Episode 13 is here.  Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO? Part 2 of Becoming a CEO is here. Kordeleski on making events work for you is here.  

Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski [email protected]

Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail

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That whistle you hear - the AI train is leaving the station and forward thinking credit unions are hopping aboard.

Here’s the reality: the big banks are all in with AI. So are the big fintechs.  

Where does that leave you?

Behind is where you are likely to be unless you begin to grapple with AI and its potential to transform financial services and your institution.

The analogy is to the Web.  Forward thinking financial institutions hopped into it in the mid 1990s. Laggards hung back, often into the 21st century.

A big difference now is everything moves faster.  

AI needs your focus now. Immediately. Today.

The good news is that CU 2.0 is holding a two day AI intensive workshop on October 26 and 27 in Ashland OR.  There’s a link in the show notes.  

Attendance will be extremely limited. There will be plenty of opportunity for getting questions answered.  

In this podcast there’s a preview of what attendees will learn, as told by Kirk Drake, the CU 2.0 founder and author of an AI Book, and also Saroop Bahrwani, founder of Senso.ai and an expert on AI and how credit unions can put it to good use.  Both will be among the main presenters at  the Ashville event.

Like what you hear here? Sign up for more by attending the event.  A year from now you don’t want to be saying, I should have gone.

Just go.

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Whither credit union lending - or put more bluntly, when will today’s liquidity issues and their constraint on lending lessen?

That’s a huge topic - liquidity is a key concern at just about every credit union - and that’s why we brought together three experts with different takes on lending and liquidity.

There's Mac Thompson, founder and president of White Clay and a data analytics expert. He’s also a former CU 2.0 podcast guest.

There’s Barry Kirby, a co-founder of Union Credit which aims to help credit unions grow their memberships.  He too is a past podcast guest. 

The third guest is Gary Lewis, managing director of lending and deposit solutions at Jack Henry and, you guessed it, also a past podcast guest.  

This is a lively conversation about lending, liquidity and also related topics such as the threats posed by non banks, the need for better credit union curation of technology options, and a coming to grips with the credit union generational shift from Baby Boomer members to Millennials and Gen Z and what that shift entails.

You may not agree with all you hear on this show - that’d be boring, wouldn’t it? - but you will get ideas about what you need to be doing to keep your credit union in the game and winning.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]
 
 

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
 
 

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Send us Fan Mail

Have you ever spent two days at an industry meeting and on your flight home you found yourself wondering, why did I go there? Did I get a thing useful out of this?

Join the club.  Events regret is widespread.

And then there is Kirk Kordeleski, former CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union which he grew into a colossus and now he's an executive with O.M. Financial, where he helps credit unions create competitive retirement packages for c-suite executives. 

The idea for this show came from Kordeleski’s Facebook feed where one week he is in Homolulu, the next Atlanta, the next Michigan, the next Washington DC and the travel whirlwind goes on as Kordeleski travels from industry event to event.

Two questions came to mind: why hasn’t he burned out and how does he get useful results from this travel schedule?

Kordeleski is on the podcast to tell us his how to of traveling sanely and making it all work for him.

In a few words the recipe comes down to this: know the results you want and have a plan to get them.  But Kordeleski’s formula is much more detailed than that. He tells his secrets now.

Listen up.

Hear episode one in Money Talks here.  Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here.  Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here.  11 is here. Episode 12 is here.  Episode 13 is here.  Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO? Part 2 of Becoming a CEO is here

Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski [email protected]

Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail

Send us Fan Mail

BNPL.  When we talked with Bryce Deeney, CEO of Equipifi, about his BNPL focused startup in December 2021 BNPL probably sounded to most listeners like a new alphabet soup and who really cared about it?

Flashforward and quite possibly you personally have used BNPL. If you haven’t a relative or friend definitely has.  Companies like Aftrpay, Klarna and Affirm are major fintech players. And there are mainstream entrants into BNPL such as AMerican Express and Apple.

Here’s the question: where’s a place for credit unions in BNPL?

Know that the big BNPL players are busily making deals with retailers, both online and bricks and mortar. They are disintermediating traditional financial institutions and that means you.

Enter Bryce Deener and Equipifi which have been busily creating tools for credit unions to offer BNPL as a payments option to their members. In this show, Deeney tells why a credit union needs BNPL in its arsenal (you don’t want to lose members do you?), why BNPL is so popular with so many of us (and it’s not just Gen Z by the way), and how BNPL has morphed in just a couple years.

Case in point: the majority of BNPL deals now feature interest payments or other fees. Didn’t know that? Understandably: two years ago the BNPL pitch was pay over 90 days, no fees, no interest. No more. Money no longer is free and the BNPL providers have morphed.,

And take heart because Deeney and his team are working hard to give credit unions a place at this table.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]
 
 

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
 
 

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto