A College Student’s First Credit Card
Chip Filson shares the story of Marit Hoyem and her experience attempting to get her first credit card as a young college student. Marit passes on what she went through and offers advice to credit unions seeking to make a difference in the lives of their members.
As Credit Card Debt Hits New High, PALs Reassert Their Value for Credit Union Members
QCash’s Seth Brickman discusses how NCUA’s Payday Alternative Loan program can be a boon to members who might otherwise rely on more predatory lending options or the credit cards in their wallets.
Cooperatives, Credit Cards, and Wealth Redistribution
A study from the Federal Reserve shows how credit card rewards programs represent a transfer of wealth from the naïve to the informed, the poor to the wealthy, relates Chip Filson.
Defining the Roadmap Forward to Implementing Digital Assets
As member interest in cryptocurrencies rises, some credit unions are debating whether it’s time to meet the challenge while others balk at the mere idea. Cryptofi discusses the initial steps toward implementing crypto and how credit unions can work with third parties to bring members the technology they are asking for.
Credit Union’s Opportunity to Reconnect with their Most “Essential” Members
Now that massive layoffs are beginning to hit white-collar workers, Chip Filson urges credit unions to offer their support, while never forgetting the essential members that got them to where they are today.
Strategies to Avoid Mergers: Adopting a Broker Model
Credit union consolidation and mergers pose a threat to the industry’s many CUSOs and vendors, say Liz Winninger and Victor Pantea. Assisting credit unions in adopting a broker-like model, they argue, can help credit unions increase their product and service offerings and potentially avoid mergers altogether.
Re-Imagining Federal Credit Unions’ Fields of Membership
Chip Filson shares some history on how Ed Callahan helped shape the credit union industry by opening up new possibilities in credit union field of membership, seeking to repurpose it as a building block, not a regulatory hurdle.
Advocating For Choice: Private Insurance
Per the Michigan Credit Union Act, all state-charted credit unions are required to use National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) as their deposit insurance provider. Julie Gessner argues this lack of choice only hurts members in the end and encourages legislative change.
Credit Union Ownership Education and Assuming the Obvious
In an effort to educate their members on all things financial wellness, credit unions are often in danger of skipping over how they can educate their members as owners. Emily Claus discusses the importance of ownership education and how credit unions can teach “the obvious.”
The Gaps in High School Financial Education Courses
Although mandatory financial education courses for high schoolers is growing, it is still only a requirement in a tiny portion of the United States. Chip Filson calls on credit unions to help bridge the gap as states add these courses to their curricula.
