CURRENT Newsletter | 13 July 2021 - Virginia Credit Union League

Credit Union Mortgage Association (CUMA), your League's newest business partner, boasts a 40-year track record of providing best-in-class mortgage-related services to credit unions of all asset sizes, including origination, processing, underwriting, servicing, closing and secondary market access. Join us for a July 14 webinar (at noon) to learn about CUMA and what they can help you do for your members!

As a reminder of the importance of mortgage services, U.S. credit unions funded $275.96 billion in home mortgages in 2020, up more than 55% from the $177.31 billion in originations reported in the prior year, based on recently released Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

Financial Education Boot Camp July 20

This low-cost, high-impact workshop is guaranteed to provide tools and tips you can use immediately at your credit union. Need help starting your financial education program? How about tried-and-true methods for reaching older adults? Need age-appropriate resources? This workshop has you covered!

Date: July 20, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Format: Virtual Workshop
Cost: $20. $10 of each registration fee will be donated to support the good work of Feed More!

Fiserv Webinar July 22: Launching a Credit Card Program at Your CU

Think you can't jump into the credit card space, think again! With FISERV's new Credit Choice solution, you can offer a competitive card for your members without having to be a card expert. Learn how you can partner with FISERV to have a top-of-wallet product for your members.

Tell Your Members’ Stories: Showcase Your CU, CU Difference

Nothing is more powerful as a marketing or advocacy tool than your members’ stories of how your credit union makes a difference in their lives! We have two opportunities for you to showcase how you live and breathe and “Credit Union Difference!”

#ilovemycreditunion Day Slated for July 30

On July 30, the credit union movement will come together across the social media stratosphere to spread inspiring and authentic conversation about our credit unions and system using the common hashtag, #ilovemycreditunion.

We’d love for Virginia-based credit unions to join the effort!

Learn more

Your Members’ Stories: Advocacy in Action

Earlier in the year, CUNA and the Leagues launched Advancing Communities -- a MAP campaign designed to educate your members about the credit union difference and collect their stories. To date, 30-plus credit unions have engaged their members, and the site features more than 350 stories. If you haven’t had a chance to submit a story, there’s still time!

You and your members can share stories here.

Finding Our ‘Movement of Excellence:’ Strategies for Growth in Life, Work

Dr. Samuel Jones will keynote Ignite 2021, offering insights on identifying the "right" strategies, prioritizing principles of adaptability, and developing innovative solutions, collaboration and personal accountability measures that help us grow as individuals and as members of a team. A crisis can represent a make-or-break moment, but the right strategies and finding ways to transcend the stress crisis brings can help us channel purpose into performance.

Now slated for Nov. 10-12, 2021 in Virginia Beach, Ignite will be hosted at the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront.

An event schedule, information on our educational offerings and details on our keynote speakers are available here.

Registration for the event is now open! Register here.
Want to book your hotel stay now? You can do so here.

AACUC Annual Conference: League Providing Scholarships

Your League is providing the Lynette Smith Scholarship to the African American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC) Annual Conference, slated for Aug. 16-21.

The virtual AACUC conference has special pricing for the members, small credit unions and young professionals. We’re providing upward of $2,000 in scholarships for the event, so there’s a good chance we’ll be able to accommodate several scholarship requests!

Learn more (Apply no later than July 30)

CUNA Mutual Group Webinar: Making Your Digital Transformation Safely

Digital lending can take on many different forms – from automating small pieces to full integration. And while members are looking for fast and simple solutions that link with their connected lives, be careful not to emphasize speed and efficiency over fraud prevention. During this July 14 session, we'll look at the evolution of the lending journey and provide you tips to help minimize risks.

Survey: Help Us Make the Case for Why Interchange Regs Shouldn’t Be Extended to Credit Cards

CUNA and the Leagues are working to ensure interchange regulation is not extended to credit card programs. Quantifying the costs and return on credit card programs and understanding the impact of potential regulations on credit unions and their members is critical to our urgent and proactive advocacy efforts. We need your help by providing this information for your credit union.

We understand this type of information is sensitive and assure you all data will be kept confidential with results only shared in the aggregate. If you have more questions, please reach out to CUNA's Market Intelligence department.

Take the Survey
Related story: Merchants Payments Group Wants Biden’s Executive Order Applied to ‘Lack of Competition’ in Payments

Young Professionals Advocacy Workshop Scheduled Aug. 4-6

Young credit union professionals will have the opportunity to learn from CUNA and League advocacy experts on the best ways to advocate for the credit union movement at CUNA’s Young Professional Advocacy Workshop. The three-day virtual training will take place Aug. 4-6.

Learn more

Advocacy / Governmental Affairs

Bankers Group Wants CUs That Acquire Banks to Pay an ‘Exit Fee’; Calls For Other Taxes on CUs

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) is calling for an “exit fee” to be paid any time a credit union buys a bank, saying it would offset the lost tax revenue.

In a letter to the Treasury Department, the ICBA said it wants an examination conducted of what it called “abuses of the tax code causing increased acquisitions of community banks by tax-exempt credit unions.”

Learn more

Financial Services / Economy

Fed Data Show Economy Rebounding Quickly, As CUs Post Gains in Consumer Credit Market

Newly released Fed data show the economy continues to rebound quickly from the coronavirus pandemic, with credit unions seeing an increasing share of the consumer credit market over one year earlier.

Learn more

‘Ultimate Formula’ For Consumer Engagement Can Be Found in Service Few Ask For, Reports J.D. Power

Retail financial institutions are finding what J.D. Power is describing as the “ultimate formula for customer engagement” in a service few customers ask for, but from which many could benefit: financial advice.

According to J.D. Power’s just-released 2021 U.S. Retail Banking Advice Satisfaction Study, 69% of customers who receive advice from their FIs act on it, but just 19% of customers say they are interested in receiving it.

“These findings are notably important in a challenging economic environment in which fewer than half of retail bank customers are financially healthy and just 38% pass a basic financial literacy test,” said J.D. Power in releasing the findings.

Learn more

Prices Keep Soaring: Inflation Rockets to a 13-Year High

Prices keep rising in the United States, putting a squeeze on American consumers' wallets. That trend got worse in June.

The consumer price index, the nation's key inflation measure, jumped 0.9% in June, the largest one-month increase in 13 years. Over the last 12 months, prices were up 5.4%, the biggest jump in annual inflation in nearly 13 years.

Much of the rise in prices is due to gasoline prices, which are far above last summer's levels.

Merchants Payments Group Wants Biden’s Executive Order Applied to ‘Lack of Competition’ in Payments

The Merchants Payments Coalition is saying it welcomes a new executive order from President Biden and wants to see it applied to address what it said is a “lack of competition” in the payments market.

“The clear message is that the Biden administration supports competition across all sectors of the economy and wants to tear down barriers to fair and open markets,” NACS General Counsel and MPC Executive Committee member Doug Kantor said. “Swipe fees charged by the credit and debit card industry are anti-competitive and harmful to Main Street businesses. With this executive order, we welcome action by the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, banking regulators and other agencies to bring an end to anti-competitive practices in the payments industry.”

Learn more

Mastercard Teams with Verizon to Use 5G for Digital Checkout

Mastercard is working with Verizon to use the faster and heavier bandwidth of 5G technology to improve shopping and payments.

The card network and Verizon Business have formed a strategic partnership to collaborate on technology that uses 5G to power autonomous checkouts across diverse in-store and online channels including the internet of things, the companies announced Tuesday.

For Mastercard, the move seems calculated to preempt many payments networks and financial institutions that have not widely discussed how 5G may affect their businesses, though Mastercard has made no secret of its 5G ambitions.

Learn more

News From Credit Unions

Arlington Community FCU Finances Virginia’s First C-PACE Sustainability Loan

Arlington Community Federal Credit Union (ACFCU) announced it financed an innovative sustainability project as part of Arlington County’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program. Arlington is the first jurisdiction in Virginia to leverage private sector funding for this type of business sustainability initiative.

Learn more

League News

New CUNA Strategic Services Alliance Supports Diverse Communities

CUNA Strategic Services (CSS), a company majority-owned by CUNA and state credit union leagues, has formed an alliance with CNote, a women-led social enterprise and community investment technology provider, CSS announced last week.

The alliance aims to increase the flow of long-term, flexible and community-focused non-member deposits to CUNA member credit unions, according to CSS.

Learn more

News About Credit Unions

Sakash Discusses Small CU Report Highlights

CUNA’s Manager of Small Credit Union Initiatives Tom Sakash spoke on CUBroadcast recently to discuss highlights and takeaways from CUNA's recent white paper, "The State of Small Credit Unions Today." The paper, released last week, was produced by CUNA’s Small Credit Union Committee.

It outlines how cross-industry support can lead to greater collaboration at all asset levels and provides recommendations for the preservation of small credit unions nationwide.

Risk Management

CISA-FBI Guidance for the Kaseya VSA Supply-Chain Ransomware Attack

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) continue to respond to the recent supply-chain ransomware attack leveraging a vulnerability in Kaseya VSA software against multiple managed service providers (MSPs) and their customers. CISA and FBI strongly urge affected MSPs and their customers to follow proposed guidance.

To learn more about protecting your credit union from cyberattacks, head to CUNA’s Cybersecurity Resource Center.

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