Brobeck: CUs set high standards in financial services
Retired CFA head reflects on organization’s relationship with CUs and CUNA.
Steve Brobeck recently retired as executive director of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).
After serving on the CFA Board from 1976 to 1979, he was appointed executive director in the spring of 1980.
Brobeck now serves as a senior fellow with the organization.
CUNA News talked to Brobeck about CFA’s relationship with credit unions and CUNA.
CUNA News: Is CFA an active advocate for credit unions?
Brobeck: CFA recognizes that, unlike banks, credit unions are member-owned cooperatives whose decisions reflect the collective interests of their members, not those of external investors.
That’s why credit unions, in general, do more than banks to encourage savings and sustainable lending, limit fees, charge lower and fair loan rates, treat down-on-their-luck debtors more sympathetically, and encourage sensible financial practices.
And by setting high standards in the financial services marketplace, credit unions benefit not only their own members but also the customers of competing banks.
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