By Mark H. Smith, Founder
Credit unions and like-minded small businesses across the county are the heart and soul of the US economy. While big business focuses on shipping jobs to far-off lands where labor is cheap and taxes are low, small businesses remain centered on winning and serving customers the old–fashioned way—that is by delivering what they promise, and even more importantly, by responding to customers' needs in a prompt and personal way. Many economists credit the small-business sector with providing a majority of the success of the modest business recovery which we have witnessed in recent years.
While some are larger than others, by any definition, credit unions are small businesses. Few have more than 100 employees or revenue in excess of $10 million. Many have fewer than 20 employees and total revenues of less than $2 million.
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By Cynthia R. Walker, CEO
I recently returned from a business trip that was packed with many appointments and extensive driving from one client to another, with a tight schedule between appointments, in a region of the country that I was not familiar with. During this trip, I used and depended on an app on my smart phone to assist me in navigating from one location to the next. I would put the destination into the app and it would present me several options and also indicate the anticipated drive time per option, potential road obstacles and current traffic conditions. I would choose the route and then follow the surprisingly accurate commands given to me by my phone. I was very grateful I did not have to rely on the old fashioned map and sometimes confusing road signs to get me from one place to the next.
A functioning ALCO has some parallels to the experience described above. The ALCO is charged with some very defined responsibilities and may be compared to the phone app. The committee reviews all the variables with the information available and presents the best course of action for the credit union.
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By Scott Butterfield, Guest Author
The competition for loans has never been greater. It's a market long crowded with traditional and non-traditional players, including credit unions large and small looking for the best options to make the most of their efforts.
In spite of drastically changing consumer social and economic demographics, most of us are still using the same old growth strategies when it comes to lending...
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May/June 2016
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