Picture this scenario:

It’s time for the annual exit interview with credit union regulators. You’ve been told they finished your regulatory exam and have requested the entire board’s presence. If this development hasn’t already alerted you to an issue, the six regulators awaiting you in the board room does.

You look around the board room and see anxiety in the CEO’s face, urgency in the regulators’ faces, and a bit of confusion and concern in your fellow directors’ faces.

Houston, we have a problem: Your credit union is losing money. Your net worth ratio is taking a plunge, and you’re losing assets. “And,” they say, “it’s your fault.”

This stunning news leaves you with two questions: Why didn’t anyone warn me? And why is it my fault if I’m just a volunteer?

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