It's that time again. Here's the buzz in the Credit Union industry.
Remember last week's article describing delinquency of payment at Credit Unions? [Here it is again if you missed it] Well, brace yourself for this article out of San Diego (which may hold a bit of good news, depending on your outlook). Click Here to Read.
Is your Credit Union's loan-to-share ratio looking a little funny? Maybe it's a lot higher than it's been in recent years? Click for this article, from Pacific Business News.
Jimmy should be posting another edition of "20&Change" in the next few days, but this deals with his previous article about money management training. Click to read about "GiveMe20".
Ron Daly's new segment, "Ron Rants", tells readers what gets him angry.
Every so often, I pick up my phone and find that the person calling is someone at their wits' end. They've had it with their inferior service at another vendor and they've finally called us to help them get their systems working the right way. Some call it "a lesson learned the hard way". I call it "getting hosed."
HOSED (n.) - Taken advantage of by a service provider that does NOT know what they're doing.
Why do people do this, you wonder? Because there's some sort of crazy idea about Internet services that says cheaper services are just as good as other services that are a bit more costly. This is as good as saying that a gas station hot dog is as delicious and filling as filet mignon. What gets in people's heads that says "this costs drastically less, but must be just as good"?
Does this mean that every online service that's any good is expensive? No. But when you pay money for a service - of any kind, really - you should be getting your money's worth. When your e-mails don't get through and your surveys don't produce results, you're getting hosed. H-o-s-e-d. So how do you avoid this?
1) DO YOUR HOMEWORK - It's not impossible to comparison shop web services. Good businesses can back up their performance with testimonials. They have corporate partners in the same line of work. They have evidence of success in the form of awards, mentions, and accolades. Are these things missing from your provider's site? They're HOSING you. Failing anything else, ask other businesses that have used the service in question. Hear what THEY have to say. With Web 2.0 becoming more and more prevalent, the idea of dialog is so important. Have a chat with people who know what's happening.
2) ASK FOR PAPERWORK - It's called due diligence. You take the time to ask for reports on success rates, for survey results, for feedback. When they don't provide it, give them the boot.
3) REMEMBER: IT HAPPENS BOTH WAYS - Every business began as a small business. Google was once something overshadowed by Yahoo!. Apple floundered for most of the 90s. David doesn't always slay Goliath, but he CAN avoid being stepped on: when you can get the same thing from vendor A that colossal vendor B has been giving you at a fraction of the cost, make the best decision you can.
Good support is everything. When your "helper" stops "helping", it's time to move on. Get the most out of your dollar and don't settle for second best. No one gets into business to be the most mediocre corner of the market. Long story short: DON'T GET HOSED!
Key West, FL - With Tropical Storm Fay bearing down on Florida, Keys Federal Credit Union wanted a way to let everyone know their branches wouldn't be open Monday morning. DigitalMailer worked overnight to make sure that the people of Key West knew the situation and prepared an e-Lert to help get the word out to members. The e-Lert went out Sunday evening and Monday found a number of people in the know about the storm and the situation.
UPDATE: The CREDIT UNION NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CUNA) newsletter, CUNA NewsNow, published a story about Tropical Storm Fay and its effect on Credit Unions in Florida. DigitalMailer was featured in the article for its contributions to Key FCU's emergency information plan. Read the full article here: More CUs close as Fay gains strength
DigitalMailer's Crisis Management Notification System offers e-Lert services to your business to connect with customers and make them aware of threats and increase security and safety. Messages can be received by e-mail or by mobile device. To learn more, write us at info@digitalmailer.com or visit our CMNS page
Great Ideas from Credit Unions Like Yours: A Home for the Brave
Ron Daly brings you another edition of "Great Ideas from Credit Unions Like Yours", highlighting great ideas and innovations in the Credit Union industry.
Sgt. Joshua Brett and his wife were having trouble getting their mortgage. The Massachusetts couple wanted a home of their own, having dealt with Joshua's distance after three tours in Iraq and the shaky housing market. With few options, they turned to a new program developed by MassHousing. The program, called A Home for the Brave, was designed to help men and women of the Armed Services find affordable housing. The mortgage requires no downpayment, has payment protection and features closing-cost assistance for eligible veterans. The loan was initiated by First Citizens' Federal Credit Union and was backed by more than fifty institutions eager to give recognition to the brave service of a Veteran.
Has your Credit Union given to the community in a special way? Is there a program you'd like us to feature? Send us a message in our comments section.
If the credit union industry is as important to you as it is to Ron Daly, you won't want to miss these headlines. Ron gives us his take on recent articles from around the web.
Some stories I read in the past few days that are worth noting:
This article, from the Victorville Daily Press in California, really paints a picture. The High Desert Federal Credit Union suffered loan delinquencies as high as 20% and a loss of $4.7 Million. Most of this is blamed on the economic downturn and the crumbling real estate market. For the full story, click here.
A great article here about credit unions, banks, and deposit insurance. Click here to read.
Ever had to hit the ATM and lost money in the transaction? Did you know you contribute to the $4.4 billion made annually by financial institutions from these transaction fees? Read about it here.
A startling story out of South Carolina: A whole credit union shut down - click here.
Finally, a little ray of sunshine from Yahoo! Finance. Click here.
There are times when someone makes an over-generalization about people my age and I get my feathers up about it. It's never good to make sweeping judgements about a group, particularly people my age - we're all so different, so outstanding. But through personal experience, I've found there's one comment about people my age that's true: we SUCK at money. How much do we know? Most everyone I know gets the whole "work for your money" thing. I was a web designer for a year or so and I made some worthwhile achievements. Then I was a waiter. I'll leave you, dear reader, to figure out which kept me comfortable and which was a job as a waiter.
But then, there's those around me that seem to forget about the whole "bills, taxes, interest" thing. One of my friends admitted to me that their new job was great because their work didn't take any taxes out of their paycheck (she was technically classified as a contractor).
"You know they'll just hit you harder in April," I said, having played that game before myself.
"What happens in April?" she asked with a growing sense of concern.
Which is why it was no surprise to me to see this article from MSN Money. It's called "Why Generation Y is Broke", and it presents some startling facts. For instance:
68% of baby boomers are propping up their children financially
Average college debt: $20,000
Percentage of bankruptcies in the US filed by people ages 25 to 34: 22.7%
I'll be the first to admit - I'm not great with money, but I do know when to hang back on the spending and when to go ahead and do what I need to do. Did I get financial planning courses from my high school? Did those lovely years in college prepare me? No - I was simply lucky enough to be the son of the stingiest man in the universe.
My dad helped me open my first checking account and told me the golden rule of money management: "If you spend all your money, I'll kill you." That's a lesson that sticks with a boy of fifteen. But his guidance has meant all the difference in keeping my head above water financially. He taught me about taxes, property values, investments, assets, and personal finance.
The MSN article asks a question: Is Gen Y dumb, or just lazy? I wouldn't go so far as to call us lazy - or dumb, for that matter - just uninformed. A lot of people don't get how to balance a check book or track purchases. They don't get what compound interest means. They don't know how to solve the little crises that pop up in life. According to the article, more and more high schools offer financial planning classes. That's good news. I personally think that there should be a course that's all about budgeting your money and tracking spending. People my age (and in general) hate math, but there's a case to be made in studying practical math - "life math", if you will. It's not always just "credit" and "debit". You should be taught how mortgages work and how to pick out good rates on loans. More than that, there should be a savings segment.
Emma Johnson, the writer of the article, talks about how Gen Y is a "boomerang generation" - we come back home when we're supposed to be moving forward. I think it's more that we're a generation of "yo-yos"...pardon the phrase. There were any number of articles in the past few years about "helicopter parenting" - that is, parents who hover over their children and try to oversee every facet of their children's lives. Thus, it's not that my generation run back toward their parents in times of financial struggle - they just don't know anything else to do. I think the time has come to pass along a word of advice to my generation:
1) Your parents are trying to save up for their retirement. They want to turn your room into a gym and re-do the kitchen. Quit bugging them with your money problems.
2) Invest your money wisely. An iPhone is a toy. It is not an investment. Its value does not appreciate overtime. If the word "appreciate" doesn't mean anything to you, you don't deserve toys anyway.
3) Credit cards are good. They are useful. They are practical. They also have a limit. Don't go over. And pay them off, for crying out loud.
4) Keep a checking account. Keep a register for it. Remember what purchases you made by writing them down in the register. Keep your statements in a binder or, if you're so inclined, sign up for e-Statements which catalog your history.
5 (and, perhaps, the most important)) If you don't know what to do and you need financial planing advice, TALK TO SOMEONE AT YOUR CREDIT UNION OR BANK. They make money, too. And they do it by helping doofuses like you and I figure out what to do with our scratch. Let them help you.
So, it's here that I have to put up or shut up. If I don't show that I'm following my own advice, the readers (assuming someone reads my articles besides...well, me) will storm my office with pitchforks and torches and haul me off to be tarred and feathered. So, here it is:
THE JIMMY CHALLENGE
I vow to start putting away a portion of my pay each month into my savings account. After six months, I'll let you all know how much I've saved.
If there's anyone my age that wants to jump in on this challenge, let me know. I'd love to stack myself up next to some other folks who are looking to get their finances in check.
Right now, I've got $5 in my Share plan. I'll let you know how much is in there when September rolls around, and ask the people who know (CPAs, financial gurus, etc.) what's the next step in making my money work for me. That way, when someone says people my age are a bunch of bums, I'll be able to say "not me".
(PS - if there are any people out there who happen to know of programs that teach youngsters responsible spending, let me hear about it. jmarks@digitalmailer.com
Ron Daly answers a question that he gets asked a lot.
What you're seeing is a mass e-mailing system utilized by a Credit Union that did not previously use DigitalMailer to get the word out about it's services. The left-most column is a list of ISPs and e-mail providers. The colored bars are the measured success of their campaign. The red indicates eMail that failed to go through entirely. The yellow shows e-mails that were treated as bulk or junk mail by the server. The green bars are the only e-mails that made it to their destination. Only 35% of eMails got through to the customer. Click on the image for further details.
What you're seeing now is the proof that DigitalMailer provides systems that work.
97% of eMails sent by DigitalMailer on behalf of the same Credit Union reached their target. Talk about results you can see.
