The Amazon Mortgage?

by Tim Mislansky

Last week, I was in Seattle for a family vacation. Seattle has a reputation for being a place where it always rains. And true to form, it rained almost every day we were visiting. But in addition to its rain fame, it’s also noted as the home to many companies that are part of our daily lives including Amazon.com.

Since Amazon launched in 1995 by selling books on the internet, Jeff Bezos and his team has changed the way we buy items. Their platforms have put traditional brick & mortar businesses out of business. Do you remember Borders Bookstores? What started as books has morphed into an amazing array of products and services. You can find just about anything on Amazon, and with their small business platform, their reach extends into so many more products.

In fact, they are testing an idea with a pilot group of Credit Unions and the Filene Research Institute on delivering Credit Union Credit Cards to consumers. It’s a cool concept but also a bit scary. Remember they put traditional brick and mortar bookstores out of business.

So what if Amazon decided to get into financial services? Could Credit Unions be the next Borders? What if they offered mortgages? What would they look like? What would we have to do to keep our members and become more memberlicious? Here’s some things Amazon does really well and that Credit Unions could learn from: