But that market size also gives credit unions—especially CDFI institutions with their overt community development focus but, really, just all about all credit unions with an active retail arm—a shiny, bright new member target that just may welcome attention from a credit union.
9% Is a Lot of People
That’s millions of consumers who may repay a helping hand with real loyalty.
How much loyalty? Samira Rajan, CEO of the $60 million Brooklyn Cooperative Credit Union, told us about a member whose loan had gone into default when she was deported. But flashforward a few months and that member was now in Arizona and she resumed paying on the loan.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis cannot have it both ways when it comes to the return of cruising. He is trying but he won’t succeed.
And he is threatening the vacation plans of many of us who had looked forward to the resumption of safe cruising.
DeSantis – pursuing political agendas that lack commonsense but in an era of alternative facts such has become something of a norm – now has some big players in the industry close to telling him to go pound sand.
Back in early April Florida, at DeSantis’ direction, filed suit against the CDC demanding an immediate resumption of cruises. “We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data,” DeSantis said in a news conference at Miami’s seaport.
DeSantis of course wants cruising back because Florida wants the money it produces for the state. Some $9 billion annually is brought in by cruise lines in Florida and many millions more in paychecks for cruise employees and DeSantis, presumably blinded by the glitter of so much gold, simply no longer sees the many thousands of Covid-19 deaths that hit the cruise industry in the first half of 2020 and the tens of thousands of cases.
He may think there is little evidence and less data but he simply is wrong.
But saying DeSantis is a demagogue with no respect for facts hardly is news or even interesting. What is interesting is that when the return of cruising to his state has become imminent he has thrown a spanner into the ships’ engines mainly because he wants to be seen as a “courageous” campaigner against forced vaccinations.
Idiocy? Of course. But this is special stupidity because it might actually prompt many cruise lines to pull out of Florida and shift their home ports into friendly Caribbean nations that, you bet, will do what needs doing to build up their cruise related income.
Flashback a year ago and I thought I’d never cruise again. The industry’s handling of the virus was inept, mendacious, and deadly. But now the CDC has issued guidance designed to get cruises safely sailing again. Masks are required, shore excursions are tightly controlled, and in lots of ways cruising will be different.
But a reality – understood by many cruise executives, even if politicians do not get it – is that many of us were not going to cruise again unless significant steps were taken to assure the safety and health of passengers and crew alike.
In that vein many cruise lines now promise all crew will have been vaccinated and ditto passengers. Here’s a list of lines requiring passengers to be vaccinated and, yes, this includes most of the ships an American is likely to sail on.
I applaud this decision and I realize it is driven by economics. The data just had become overwhelming that a vaccine requirement is a sine qua non for a return to cruising.
But not if DeSantis has his way. You will remember we left the governor as he filed suit against CDC demanding a green light for cruising.
I don’t know that you can say CDC had issued a green light but it definitely turned off the red and the light now is amber. Do as CDC asks and a line can sail. And a line can do it faster if it requires a high percentage of passengers be vaccinated. Are the requirements onerous? Yes. But desperate and dangerous times call for dramatic measures.
And yet DeSantis now has taken steps to ban businesses in Florida from requiring vaccination passports from customers. “It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society,” DeSantis said at a press conference.
He means for that ban to apply to cruise ships. Some lawyers argue – and they probably are right – that what the ships do is a federal matter, outside the purview of a governor. But already Norwegian Cruise line is threatening to pull its ships out of Florida and sail out of those Caribbean ports we mentioned earlier.
“Cruise ships have motors, propellers and rudders, and god forbid we can’t operate in the state of Florida for whatever reason, then there are other states that we do operate from,” said Norwegian CEO Frank Del Rio. “And we can operate from the Caribbean for ships that otherwise would’ve gone to Florida.”
Meantime, Carnival, the largest cruise line, now says it wants to start sailing from Florida in July – if it can reach an accord with CDC which has said it will relax some restrictions for ships where virtually all crew and passengers are vaccinated. Carnival has plainly indicated it is prepared to deal with CDC. “We continue to have constructive discussions with the CDC but still have many questions that remain unanswered. We are working diligently to resume sailing in the U.S. and meet the CDC guidelines,” Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in the statement.
No mention is made of DeSantis and his attempt to outlaw vaccination passports in Florida.
Let’s review. DeSantis has a fit and sues CDC to end its ban on cruising because of the adverse economic impacts on Florida, the nation’s biggest cruise port. CDC modifies its orders, the cruise lines decide they can work within the new rules and – to solidify passenger confidence – they decide to require vaccinations of passengers and crew. And now DeSantis says a business cannot require vaccination passports of its customers.
Which means many won’t feel comfortable cruising, especially not if the ships are welcome zones for wacky anti vaxxers.
If DeSantis gets his way, just forget about cruising from Florida.
Sigh. I said it earlier but it’s worth repeating: Go pound sand, DeSantis.
Looking at my May bill from Amex, I was struck by something I had never noticed before: green dollar amounts, at least in the bill I look at online.
Nope, Amex is not on a new sustainability kick. The green is there to make me notice credits to my account. Like what? $18.07 in a PayPal credit (reimbursing me for a New York Times subscription paid via PayPal). $50 for a purchase of Maryland crab cakes via Goldbelly (the initial charge was $119, but Amex kicks back $50 each on up to three purchases by June 30). $50 for a Saks purchase (that amounted to $60 initially).
Not noted on the monthly bill, there also was a $15 Uber credit that I used for an Uber Eats lunch.
Add in another $12 for cellphone coverage, also not noted on the bill.
That’s $149.07 in credits. In one month.
Sure, I have not set food in a Centurion Lounge this year (in fact not in a full year). I did not use the Amex $200 airline credit last year and may not use it this year.
But when I see credits actually flowing into my account that may hit $1000 for the year and almost certainly will eclipse the $550 annual fee, I am less peeved about the perks I am not using than I am satisfied with the perks I am claiming.
Am I thoroughly content? I am not. That is because for some years I have had a lazy man’s relationship with the Platinum card. I used it frequently to access the Centurion lounge and that alone justified the fee by my calculus. (Amex now dings a cardholder $50 per guest and that valuation would put breakeven at 11 visits. But factor in the annual $200 Uber credit and 7 visits is breakeven.) Toss in the cellphone protection and I would have gotten plenty from my Plat card.
Easy peasy.
That was before, when I traveled and used the benefits I had acquired the card to enjoy.
Now I have to work to breakeven and, honestly, I am too lazy to enjoy it. It takes sorting through possibilities whilst wearing a green eyeshade. Amex showed me 100 credits and perks I am eligible for – my understanding is that the lists are personalized for the cardholder. Your 100 won’t be identical to mine.
Most of the benefits are meaningless to me. 20% off on purchases at Adidas.com. Bonus miles when shopping at Macy’s. $20 back on a purchase of $100 at Lamps Plus – you get the drift. Lots of places where I don’t shop and don’t plan to shop.
I am open to new places – in fact I had never shopped at Goldbelly until a JoeSentMe reader praised the $50 cashback offer. When I looked I saw Chris Bianco, Russ & Daughters, Langer’s Deli and already there are more places where I want to shop than I can claim $50 refunds.
For every store that interests me there are five or ten that don’t. Blue by ADT, Terrain, Persol eyewear, and more that I ignore as I scroll through the list.
And even the offers that interest me have varying strings attached. With Saks, it’s $50 twice yearly at six months intervals. With Goldbelly it’s $50 on three purchases of $100 or more. Before clicking buy, if you are counting on an Amex refund, remember to check the fine print on the offer.
Many offers can be used only by the primary cardholder. But some are available to secondary cardholders. But you have to know which is which.
You also have to remember to enroll in programs you want to use. Enrollment is not automatic in most cases.
And now I also have to monitor several sites that report on new Plat benefits (and rumored benefits). I found the cellphone coverage at one such site, and now see that Amex has made permanent access to Lufthansa lounges for cardholders flying that carrier. A cool perk in Europe, one I may use before the year is out.
But I had to work to discover it.
I want credit cards that work for me, not the other way around.
Of course there also are rumors of a Plat card revamp – with talk of a fee boost to $700 and a bunch of new perks including an annual Clear membership (worth $179), an entertainment media credit ($20 monthly for select streaming services) and the list goes on Nothing is certain about any of this – we’ll report on it when the facts are known – but it may introduce new variables into the keep or jettison decision.
In my current frame of mind, unless travel in fact rebounds I will probably let the card go if the fee jumps to $700. It’s just too much work to make it pay off.
Latino Community Credit Union was founded in 2000 in Durham NC when the community was rocked by a wave of robberies – even murders – of Latino workers who were paid in cash and were believed to walk around with their pockets stuffed with cash because they were unbanked.
Enter John Herrera – whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast 142 – and a handful more helpers and visionaries who founded the credit union which now has about $600 million in assets.
Among the early volunteers was Luis Pastor who was in the US from his native Spain because his wife was pursuing graduate school and he had time on his hands. But soon he was offered the job of CEO and he took the offer. It’s a job he is still in 21 years later and, he says, the fulfillment the job brings is what keeps him in it.
Like what? Pastor tells of borrowers who have been deported who are still paying their loans – that seems unthinkable but it is a reality in Durham because this is a credit union that engages in helping people who have been ignored by traditional financial institutions. Extend a helping hand to them and these are people who remember that and value the relationship.
A proof is that in 2020 Latino Community had a lower delinquency rate on loans than it had had in 2019. Despite the pandemic. And despite the fact that few of its members got stimulus checks.
Another pandemic fact about Latino Community Credit Union is that it did not close any branches. “Our community needed us,” said Pastor. He adds that the credit union is planning an expansion into South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia and it now has 15 branches but plans are afoot for adding three more.
Pastor has a word of advice: “If credit unions are trying to steal members from Bank of America we are going to lose this battle.”
Focus instead on the people who really need the services you offer and aren’t getting them elsewhere.
Along the way, you will hear about some truly out of the box thinking. For instance: the credit union has sponsored vaccination days, where – working with Duke University – it has put shots in the arms of some 7000 members. You’d heard that Latinos are vaccine skeptics? True enough. But when people trust a place where their money, they also trust that institution to get them vaccinated.
Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees’ Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine’s thinking in this CUInsight blog.
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On May 11, the TSA’s mask mandate expires and the near-term future of travel hangs on whether or not the agency determines an extension of the mandate is needed.
Updated 4-30-2021: TSA today announced an extension of the mask mandate through September 13. Bravo. Now let’s push the anti vaxxers into doing the right thing and, by late summer, just maybe we can all breathe easier and maskless.
Airlines are vocal in cheering for an extended mask mandate, as are most flight attendants and it is the in-cabin crew who are forced to deal with the angry confrontations and mask refusals as is. At least the TSA edict gives them backup and, in admittedly rare cases, mask refusers have been ejected from planes, even arrested.
Listen up, anti maskers: as the Clash once sang, Know Your Rights. Of course they did not deal with anti maskers, but were they recording today they might agree with my proposed lyric: You have a right to go maskless as long as you fly outside on the wing.
The basic argument for masks is that it lessens the chance of airborne transmission of infectious matter and that is all the more necessary as just about all airlines now are filling middle seats even though the evidence is emphatic that empty middle seats lessen disease transmission on planes. But now Delta, the last of the major carriers to block middle seats, has said they will fill them starting May 1.
But mask resistance is growing. In Alaska, a state senator – a vocal anti masker – has now been banned by Alaska Airlines, for repeated mask defiance, and this is a bit of a bother for Sen. Lora Reinbold because she lives near Anchorage, the legislature meets in Juneau, and Alaska Air is the only commercial carrier with flights between the two. Reinbold recently made the journey via a 14 hour drive, through Canada, and also involving a water ferry. If anything, she became more vociferous in her anti mask posture. And she has grumbles about the airline: “Alaska Airlines sent information, including my name, to the media without my knowledge nor permission. I do believe constitutional rights are at risk under corporate covid policies,” she wrote on Facebook.
Incidentally, many commented that Canada should have prevented her entry into the state. I would not be surprised if Canada in fact does exactly that when she attempts another drive to Juneau.
Count me as feeling more affection for Alaska Airlines. They are doing the right thing, putting the protection of all passengers above catering to the anti science fantasies of a self important state pol.
But we can top Lora Reinbold. Meet Jessica Alexander, a City councilmember in Temecula CA. Her beef with masks was not about flying as such – it revolved around wearing a mask to council meetings – and Alexander invoked the memory of Rosa Parks, the trigger for the 1955 Montgomery AL bus boycott which was a major event in post war civil rights in the US.
I won’t paraphrase Alexander. Here is how the Press Enterprise recounts her statement: “‘Look at Rosa Parks … She finally took a stand and moved to the front, because she knew that that wasn’t lawful. It wasn’t true,”’ Alexander said, according to a videotape of the meeting. ‘So she took a stand. At what point in time do we? … I’m getting pushed to the back of the bus. This is what I’m telling you I feel like.”
Alexander added that she “cannot” and “will not” wear a mask.
There is no arguing with a person like Ms. Alexander because, well, because it would be a waste of breath.
And the problem is that rising numbers of anti maskers seem to have swallowed alternative reality pills where all manner of anti scientific lunacy is “fact” and their “rights” are getting trampled.
The Voice of America has an intriguing post on what would the founding fathers say to the anti maskers when they insist a mandate requiring mask wearing violates their rights.
Per VOA, “‘These are lawfully created ordinances and mandates and requirements to protect one another. So, that sort of thing would not be seen by the founders as a loss of liberty,’” says Andrew Wehrman, a professor of history at Central Michigan University. “’It’s a mistake to think of liberty as absolute self-indulgence without restraint. We don’t have the liberty to set our own house on fire, because it might affect other houses.’”
To repeat: there is no right not to wear a mask.
Definitely no rights to go maskless on an airplane. But only until May 11. Fingers crossed that TSA does the right, safe, smart thing and extends the mask mandate at least until autumn. Year end would be better.
We need the official mandate. Without it, flying will be a crazytime of delusional anti scientific beliefs.
With the mandate we have a good chance of safe flying.
What type are you? Don’t be surprised if soon you are asked that exact question — or maybe it is you who asks it of an employee or a business partner — and that is because suddenly the Enneagram personality assessment tool is sweeping the world of business.
Proponents swear the Enneagram, built around identifying nine distinct personality types, is crucial in gaining insights into what behaviors you habitually have that may be blocking successes — and what behaviors you may be able to nurture to supercharge success.
Along the way, what had been mysteries — about your teammates, even your own behaviors — suddenly can be seen in a bright, clarifying light when the Enneagram is in your tool bag, say the enthusiasts.
This is as I ponder a planned trip to Spain in the early fall of this year and, what had seemed a fantasy idea just four months ago, now seems increasingly realistic. Mainly because the US government has done a remarkable job putting vaccinations into arms.
About 26% of us are fully vaccinated and half of us have received at least one shot. We need to reach 75%, perhaps as high as 85%, to achieve so called herd immunity but those numbers are within reach. Theoretically. More on that disclaimer in a bit and understand it extends not just to our immunity levels but also our ability to travel.
First the celebration. Most of us already are planning summer vacations – which is underwritten in poll after poll.
In Europe, Greece now has opened to fully vaccinated US citizens and also those who produce a negative Covid test.
In France, Prime Minister Macron has said the country is working towards admitting fully vaccinated US citizens. That’s not a done deal but indications are that France will move in that direction before June.
Watch other EU nations loosen their restrictions, mainly because tourism is a huge part of the economies of so many of those nations and 2020 was a wipe out and nobody wants a repeat.
Tourism is 10% of the EU’s GDP and in some nations – Greece for instance – it is vastly more important. Granted, much of that tourism is intra-EU but the US remains vital to many of the Continent’s tourist economies (France, Italy, and Spain to name three) and so a lot of European eyes are anxiously waiting for a relaxing of restrictions that effectively bar most Americans from most of the EU.
But note: although the EU has recommended a travel ban, it has not issued one. It’s up to member nations to chart their own courses and already Greece has broken ranks, Croatia had beaten Greece in opening the gates to US citizens, and you know at least two or four more EU members are counting the days until Americans return.
That is why I am optimistic that Spain will open its doors to fully vaccinated US citizens, probably by early summer.
Assuming the anti-vaxxers don’t screw this up for the rest of us. Here’s the why for the early disclaimer.
Already we are seeing a flood of counterfeit vaccination cards and anti-vaxxers, faced with vaccination requirements at everything from sporting events to cruise lines, are publicly stating they intend to buy them.
Yes, everybody from the FBI down to local authorities are saying that using a bogus card is a crime but that does not seem to much worry the anti vaxxers who are digging in with their unscientific, indefensible anti vax belief system.
Ordinarily I don’t give much of a hoot about what the anti vax crowd thinks or does but this instance is different. As word spreads that a lot of purported vaccination cards are in fact fakes confidence in the cards will diminish.
Which may threaten my ability to go to Spain.
Just as it will threaten the ability of millions of us to cruise, to attend Yankees games, even attend college.
Look, I am not saying everybody has to get vaccinated. Some have legitimate medical issues. Others just may not want to. Fine. I am fully vaccinated but I nonetheless practice social distancing and mask wearing, mainly because in Arizona where I live there remain a significant number of anti vaxxers and I have no interest in investing energy in attempting to persuade them. I think their position is idiotic and socially irresponsible but I will not spend breath arguing with them. You can’t win an argument with brick, can you? I will maintain my distance and that will probably be enough to keep me safe.
But if people are showing fake vaccination cards and that may have repercussions that impact my travel plans, this has my attention.
Some 45 state attorneys general have demanded that Twitter, eBay, etc. stop running ads and notifications about the availability of fake paper.
If the AGs quickly hold a few well publicized trials, this threat likely will vanish.
At 29 Randy Icelow said he was a temp worker for a bus company in California’s Central Valley and flashforward to now he is 38 and CEO of a $63 million credit union, Rolling F based in Turlock CA, where its SEG is Foster Farms, one of the biggest chicken companies in the country.
This podcast grew out of a post Icelow put up on the CU 2.0 Facebook group where he recounted his story. Reading his story we knew he had to be a podcast guest because his is an inspiration story of success in the face of failure. He graduated from college in 2008 with a finance degree and you remember how dismal the credit union and bank job markets were then. He bounced around a bit, took more classes, got a job as a school teacher in Stockton, which proceeded to file bankruptcy. He was back working as a temp and he lucked out. He got a gig at a credit union which liked him so much they hired him onto regular staff.
After a while he applied for a CEO job at a bank – didn’t get it but learned a lot – and then applied for the CEO job at Rolling F which he did not get. A retired banker got the job but the board advised him to hire Icelow and train him up to be his successor, which came to pass in three years.
You like that story? Of course you do.
But there are other great stories in this podcast. For instance, Icelow says that a Rolling F specialty is refinancing car loans – and many come in with a loan that has a rate of maybe 29%, which Rolling F can in some cases get down to 5.5%. The monthly payment goes from $500 to half that and an extra $250 per month in that worker’s pocket is big money.
Magic happened in Icelow’s personal life but now he is making magic happen in the lives of the hard workers who are his members.
Can Rolling F survive with $60 million in assets? Listen to his answer – and as you hear it remember that $500 monthly note on a 10 year old Nissan Sentra, You just may be persuaded by his math and his passion.
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Credit union profitability is sliding downward. One consultant, Megan Cummins at Fiserv-owned Raddon Performance Analytics, insists that the fix is to nurture a sales culture within them.
You know that Fiserv is a sales culture. It lives to sell, simple as that, and it sells to live.
Would something similar work in a credit union?
As for the claim that credit union profitability is tumbling, Cummins points to Raddon data that say only 29.8% of the 300 credit unions it measures data for are profitable. That’s down from 33.9% two years ago.
Cummins told CU Today: “‘There are credit unions that definitely have a sales culture, but there are still many that don’t,’ Cummins said, recalling a recent meeting with a credit union during which the topic of sales was addressed. ‘They wouldn’t even let me say the word sales in the meeting because you can’t say sales at this credit union. They said they never use the word because they don’t want to sell to their members.’
‘In that meeting the credit union said they never want to feel that they’re selling. But at this point we have to sell to the members we have. We have no choice.’” (Emphasis added.)
Coca-Cola, Delta Air, Major League Baseball, Atlanta, the list of boycott targets keeps growing as sides are taken and lines are drawn in the debates over voting legislation in Georgia but not only because there is similar legislation in Arizona and more states.
In Texas, for instance, both American Airlines and Dell have spoken out against proposed legislation that many believe will suppress voting in that state. Both companies are likely to figure in boycott lists too and, yes, I am pleased that I recently bought a Dell computer, the first I have ever bought from that company.
Now travel in particular has become politicized.
Understand this: I am strongly opposed to attempts to limit voting and yet I am okay with consumer boycotts. I still remember going years without a leaf of iceberg lettuce entering my mouth, or a grape, in response to Cesar Chavez’ Salad Bowl boycott, which lasted from 1970 to roughly 1978.
Personally I am on record stating I would decline to stay in or even attend an event at a Trump managed property. That’s a kind of boycott and I am not alone. Most experts believe Trump’s hotels are in woeful shape financially
Our system is one where boycotts, often based on political differences, have a long history. Do they work? That’s a surprisingly difficult question to answer. The Freakonomics folks explored it in a long podcast (here’s the transcript). Some experts flatly proclaim boycotts don’t work, witness UCLA prof Ivo Welch in the Freakonomics podcast: “Boycotts almost surely will never work.”
A case in point is the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and the refusal of France to support that effort. Across the US anti-French activities and boycotts flourished. French fries even were (briefly) renamed freedom fries and many swore to boycott French wine. Did the boycott work? According to Freakonomics, “According to three economists who later analyzed the data: ‘we show that there actually was no boycott effect.’ So why is there often no boycott effect? One reason may be that boycotts get a lot of attention — they’re a good, easy, spicy story for journalists to cover — which gives the impression that the outrage is larger than it really is.”
Another reason is that many proclaimed boycotters are all mouth no follow through. They insist – loudly – that they won’t swill French hooch but many never drank wine anyway and others who do like a tipple apparently continued to drink French wine, just on the QT and in the privacy of their homes. And maybe they even drove to the next town to stock up on Burgundy so they wouldn’t bump into a neighbor while navigating the aisles at Total Wine with a cart stuffed with French imports.
Even with the Salad Bowl strike it is hard to declare Chavez and the United Farm Workers the clearcut winner. That was a long, brutal labor action with much pain on all sides and, you know what, I grew not to miss iceberg lettuce, which I still rarely eat, and I never had much interest in table grapes anyway. I hope what I did benefitted the farm workers but I am not sure it did.
Even so, stiffen your backbones, you Delta bashers and MLB boycotters. Much as I think your crusade is doomed (and thankfully so), part of me wants you to stick with it because it will make my travel so much easier.
It certainly is the right of Trumpers to decline to fly Delta and I hope they stick with that resolve so I will know which carrier I will prefer. Note: it’s that ying and yang that unravels the impact of many boycotts. For each who swears never to fly Delta or drink a Coke, there I am swearing to fly Delta and at least thinking about buying a few liters of Diet Coke, which has long been my drink of choice in the sky. It’s more so now.
Maybe I’ll fly to Atlanta to catch a baseball game. Last time I was in that town overnight it was to catch a Queen concert. But now I am thinking Atlanta seems a mighty fine destination.
Buckle up, the ride is just now entering turbulence.
