CUInsight Minute with Alyssa Angurio – July 1, 2022

Our favorites from the week in sixty seconds.

Welcome to the CUInsight Minute, sixty seconds from our Community and Marketing Coordinator Alyssa Angurio with our favorite reads from the week.

Mentioned:

One growth strategy your credit union marketing is missing
by BO MCDONALD, YOUR MARKETING CO

During an onboarding meeting with a new credit union marketing client, I was asked point blank: Why aren’t we growing loans when so many other credit unions are? She went on to explain the credit union offered competitive rates, an online loan application, and so on…

This credit union executive expected me to suggest a clever promotional campaign using billboards or radio. Or perhaps she expected me to give some half-baked idea using social media to push out the promotion to their targets, which sounds more like a hunting expedition than marketing. These are the kind of surface-level ideas credit union marketers go to when he or she wants to fill the funnel with new loan opportunities.

Why is it that when a credit union is falling short on its loan goals, we want to take the hard (and expensive way) first? [read more]

Credit union mergers do more harm than good – A true statement?
by DENISE WYMORE, QCASH FINANCIAL CUSO

That was the topic of debate at the Southeast Regional CU School (SRCUS) last week. I am fortunate to teach all three years at the University of Georgia, but this is the first year my teaching schedule aligned with debate night.

The debate is something that sets SRCUS apart from the other three CUNA Management Schools. Here’s how it’s structured:

  • Rising 2nd year students develop the topic.
  • They present that to the rising 3rd year students and they get to choose which side they want to be on.
  • The 2nd and 3rd year students debate the following year.
  • The 1st year students vote to determine the winner based on which team is most persuasive.

This is nothing like a presidential debate, trust me. There are rules, protocols that people actually follow, and a level of respect. It’s truly an art, and I was excited to hear the arguments both for and against mergers because SRCUS attracts a very smart group of credit union professionals. [read more]

Fair Lending: Using AI to democratize compliance
by VINAY BHASKAR, SCIENAPTIC

In its most recent advisory, the CFPB addressed a critical question – “When creditors make credit decisions based on complex algorithms that prevent creditors from accurately identifying the specific reasons for denying credit or taking other adverse actions, do these creditors need to comply with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act’s requirement to provide a statement of specific reasons to applicants against whom adverse action is taken?

The answer is an obvious ‘Yes’.

With the CFPB’s circular reminding everyone of adverse action notice requirements under the ECOA Act, some credit unions find themselves in a quandary when it comes to explaining their credit decisions, which is perceived to be difficult when they use state of the art decisioning algorithms. However, modern AI solutions have moved beyond mere aspects of explainability to enable fair lending, and have gone the extra mile to remove inherent biases that may arise in data based models.

Nonetheless, it is necessary to understand the CFPB’s guidance and how AI can effectively be a solution itself. [read more]

Alyssa Angurio

Alyssa Angurio

Alyssa Angurio is the Community & Marketing Coordinator at CUInsight.com, the leading digital trade publication serving credit unions. Alyssa oversees the valued Community of thought leaders and industry experts who ... Web: https://www.cuinsight.com Details