ACUMA ONpoint
ACUMA ONpoint
Homes Build Wealth, Credit Unions Deliver
Ready to rethink mortgages as more than a product line? We sit down with Jerry Reed, President and CEO of Member First Mortgage, to unpack why home lending is the most powerful lever credit unions have to build member wealth, stabilize neighborhoods, and win long-term relationships. Jerry makes a compelling case that mortgages are more than just loans — they’re a mission. They collect the richest data in consumer finance, open the door to personalized guidance, and tie members to the institution at life’s most pivotal financial moment.
We delve into the roadblocks that prevent many credit unions from committing to mortgages, including regulatory burden, tech complexity, staffing fluctuations, and fear of market cycles, among others. Jerry shares a practical blueprint for entering or scaling with confidence: partner with a mortgage-focused CUSO for overflow fulfillment, compliance, and secondary execution; utilize purchase or INPP channels to add assets and income; then sequence hiring for loan officers, processors, and underwriters as volume and competence grow. Along the way, we discuss the tools that matter: LOS stability, pricing and hedging, and eClose, as well as why realtor outreach and consistent turn times are key to unlocking purchase market share.
The conversation also tackles mission drift. Jerry traces the movement from people helping people to growth-at-all-costs, and why board leadership must reset priorities around member outcomes: lower closing costs, transparent pricing, real education on credit and affordability, and broader access for first-time and underserved buyers. The payoff is more than brand goodwill; it’s sustainable member loyalty, stronger communities, and resilient balance sheets built on homes rather than hype.
If you lead lending, strategy, or member experience at a credit union, this is a playbook for acting with purpose and precision in today’s market. Tune in now!
Sponsored by Optimal Blue
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff, or its members. The podcast discussion presented is conversational in nature and for general information only.
SPEAKER_03:This is Atmos On Point Podcast. On today's episode, the big question: why credit unions, why mortgage, and really why they should invest. Now, this is a question that often comes up at our events. It's a question I am often asked. I have probably one of the leading authorities in everything mortgage and credit unions, and really a subject matter expert on this topic. Can't wait to dive into it. But before we get to it, just a quick word from our sponsor.
SPEAKER_00:This episode is being brought to you by Optimal Blue. Optimal Blue effectively bridges primary and secondary mortgage markets to deliver the industry's only end-to-end capital markets platform. The company helps credit unions of all sizes deliver premier experiences to members pursuing the dream of homeownership. Through innovative technology, a network of interconnectivity, rich data insights, and expertise gathered over more than 20 years.com.
SPEAKER_03:Hello, welcome to Atkins on Point Podcast, a series focused on sharing the stories of people who are making a positive impact in the credit union mortgage industry. I'm your host, Peter Benjamin. Today I am joined by Jerry Reid, president and CEO of Members First Mortgage. Jerry, my friend, how are you doing today? Very good, Peter. Great to see you. How are you doing? Uh I'm I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. You know, Jerry, as I said in my initial intro, the a topic that often comes up, you know, why credit unions, why mortgage, why and why really why they should invest in mortgage. And I am thrilled to be able to sit down with you to have this conversation because I've I've heard you speak about this. I've moderated a panel where you were one of the subject matter experts on that panel, and you you you so eloquently expressed your thoughts on this topic. I've been in the room while you've been on a panel with CEO, other CEOs talking exactly about this. So I I'm thrilled to have you on the show today. Now, before we get to it, as always, gotta bring Justin in, talk. What is the latest graph happening over at Acmo? And how are you doing today? Good, Peter. How are you? Hey man living the dream.
SPEAKER_05:Hey, I love it. Well, um, I don't know. Besides this month being the month of the turkey, which is, you know, my favorite meal of the holidays, just saying. Um, it's also like our network month, which is kind of weird. I was looking at our calendar and I was uh pleasantly surprised to see that we have not one, not two, but three different network meetings going on this month. So today, uh later today, we're gonna have our YPN meeting. So if you're a young professional under the age of 40 looking to just expand your knowledge in the credit union industry or connect with your peers, uh Cameron and the co-chairs will be heading that up uh later today at two o'clock. So uh two o'clock Eastern. So be on the lookout for that. Uh, there is still time to register depending on when you're listening to this fabulous episode. Uh, and then coming up on the 19th, we're gonna have our volume-based network meetings. So those are three different levels. So we have the less than 200, the 200 to 600 million, and the 600 million plus in origination volumes. So be sure you register for the right group and join your peers in discussing things that are impacting your specific uh origination volumes. And then later at the end of the month, right after Thanksgiving and rolling into the new year or rolling into the new month, I apologize. On December 9th, it looks like we're gonna have our underwriting network meeting. So I was a little off on my timing there, but it's cool.
SPEAKER_03:Well, it's all good, man. It's all good. Hey, thank you very much for walking us through that. Um, well, let's start turning our sights on Jerry and Justin. Don't don't go far. I think you can easily contribute to this as well. Absolutely. All right, so Jerry, back to you. Now I'm excited for the conversation, and I I I don't want to go too far away from it, but I always have to because the first question I ask is it's always the same one. And I I I honestly I think that this very much ties into the big topic. So, because you you prior to us starting, you know, hitting the the recording button, you kind of went down this path of answering this question for me. But I want to kind of get this on recording, I want to get this on on tape so we could really share this with the world. So, first question is Jerry, you know, the Acting On Point Podcast is always, you know, is that people piece. We want to get to know people who make that really positive impact. So the first question is, you know, who is Jerry Reed? You know, for those that don't know you, who haven't had the pleasure of hearing you speak, you know, you know, at events, excuse me. Um what who is Jerry Reed? And if you could walk us through that real quick.
SPEAKER_02:Sure. So Jerry Reed is a product of being in this uh industry for four years. Uh, have a bachelor's degree in economics, uh, California State University of Sacramento, and I have a master's degree from University of Maryland. I also have a certificate for business strategy and accounting from Harvard uh University. And uh have a passion and a love for mortgage lending, probably because my parents owned a mortgage banking company from 77 to 83. So we sat around the dinner table and we all argued about how to not make mistakes when you were typing a uh HUD uh 92800 form back then in those days when everything else was new and in paper. Um I have five children. Uh, I've been married actually next year will be 40 years. I have five kids. I have 11 grandchildren. Um, so uh I'm very much a family individual, very much uh an optimist. Uh my education, again, is in economics. So I've been involved in the mortgage housing industry or in finance for the majority of my career, and I love it. And I love being involved in housing, and I loved being involved in housing because, in my opinion, housing is where you really truly create. We talk about wealth and all these things in the country, and we have all these speakers and all these things. We talk about communities, we talk about development, and I always come back to you want community, you want development, you want wealth creation, then get everybody in this country into a home. Why? Because when you're in a home, you're part of the community, your kids go to schools, your home needs things, it needs things done to it, it needs maintenance. You're you're employing thousands of businesses in the country where people are doing day-to-day jobs, whether it's you know, building materials or products for your home or technology for your home, you pay taxes, you pay not only your federal and state, but you pay local taxes. Those local taxes go to uh driving things that happen in your communities, schools. Um, you want to talk about you know education, you all those things that we do in life that we think of or this or that are not. They all revolve around communities and homes. And I'm a big supporter of Samaritas, which is a nonprofit uh charitable organization here in Bedrock, Michigan, which has multiple charities. Uh uh, I participate in that quite a bit, because I don't like seeing people live on the street and I don't like seeing people going through problems. And I know housing can solve that. And I understand that not everybody thinks housing is for them and they prefer to rent, and and that's okay too. But if you really want to talk about you know building wealth and you want to talk about community and you want to talk about all these things that we're talking about, get people into help.
SPEAKER_03:I love that. Love that, love that. All right, so Jerry, let's go. Well let's go down the path of having this conversation that that I kind of hinted at in my intro. What in your opinion, and I like I said, I've heard you talk about this at great lengths. You know, we we seem to be running into you know this this roadblock, this this time where and it it could be a result of you know you know 2020, 2021, it could be the result of other reasons. We we seem to be running this time where credit unions are really not taking the time to invest in mortgage. Now, investment could be you know you know used in different terms. It could be technology, it could be staffing, it could just be doing it in general. So we can we can really go down that path of what investment means, but ultimately, I think you and I can agree, credions have a fiduciary responsibility to find a way to support their community through housing. And I would love to get your opinion, love to get your thoughts on why it's so important for creditings to really invest in mortgage, and again invest is a broad term, right? That that has different looks and feels to it. Um but you know, and I the last thing I'm gonna say is you know, with with the way our economy and the the the market is really shaping up, I think another thing that you and I can agree on now more than ever is really the time for credit unions to shine. As as cheesy as that sounds, but it really is. We I've heard you say it's a time of the credit union, and and I currently I couldn't agree more. So let's get your thoughts.
SPEAKER_02:Sure. Well, Peter, thanks. You know, appreciate this podcast, appreciate you guys inviting me today. Uh, you know, as you know, you're the president and CEO of Acuma, right? The Association of Credit Union Mortgage Association. Very, very important organization for us. That's why we're we're a big sponsor and we want to be involved. Um, mortgages, first and foremost, I think every credit union needs to understand it is not just a product. This is not just a credit card, this is not just a car loan. And a lot of credit unions operate with um that in mind. You know, this month we're gonna do credit uh credit cards the next month, or next quarter we're gonna focus on um, you know, uh mortgage uh or member business lending, and the next month we're gonna focus on ATV or RV lending. They tend to look at it always as a product and nothing more. Um Having been in this business for 40 years, one of the fundamental things that you learn is that the mortgage application collects more data than any other application in the entire financial lending space. Okay, people might argue and say, well, no, that's not true. Well, I happen to know it's true because I was a chief lending officer, and we don't collect a lot of data when we get when we issue a credit card, and we don't even collect a lot of data when we issue personal loans and so on. We collect more data on a commercial or a member business loan, but we collect more detail on a mortgage application than any other. And why is that critical? Because in today's day and age, it's all about data. And data is what's building all of these credit unions. And you know, you talked about this is the time for credit unions to shine. I absolutely 1,000% agree, and I'll tell you why. In 2013, most people don't know this, but when we had two lobby uh associations, we had CUNA and we had NAFCU, I was asked by CUNA to uh to represent all credit unions in the United States in front of a congressional uh hearing in 2013 after the QM and the Dodd-Frank Act was passed. We had the financial crisis that meltdown in 2008. I stated then, and I will state now, credit unions were never the problem. Credit unions for decades were already lending innovative creative products, putting members in homes and into products, creating ways for them to reduce debt and create wealth far before commercial banks and independents and others who weren't really lending responsibly at the time, but credit unions always were. They were not part of the problem. This is the credit union's time to step up and really show everybody who we are. And you do that by leading with mortgage. And people think, well, no, you got to lead by no, you lead with mortgage. Why? Because mortgages put people in homes, they build communities, they build wealth, they do all the things that we want as Americans in this country. Credit unions lead in this space.
SPEAKER_03:And you know, I I couldn't agree more. Um, credit unions do lead in this space, you know, and so you know, as we think about you know what credit unions can do to really start taking those steps towards that investment, you know, what's that look like to you? Like how can a credit union, you know, and we can approach different ways, you know, but a credit union who is is growing and wants to get into mortgage, recognizes the need, and not doesn't know where to start, we can we can really go about you know in that direction, or a credit union that's that's had this mortgage program for a while, but they haven't grown, they haven't changed, you know, what what are really some of the things that a credit union can do to really start flourishing in this and helping their communities?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, you know, I'm gonna this is gonna sound like I'm trying to promote member first mortgage a little bit, but I'm not really here to do that, as you know, Peter. Um, but as a CUSO, okay, we we are owned by 10 credit unions. Our mission was to walk into this industry and not just do mortgages, but educate all credit unions throughout the country on how they can do mortgages. That's really the passion and the mission behind us. We will do anything at Member First Mortgage that will assist a credit union. So you're a$10 million credit union, you don't know where to start. You you you got to have some partners. Partners are essential. Credit unions know this. Many credit credit unions partner with all different kinds of CUSAs or third-party companies, technology, all these kinds of things today, lending products and things like that. But mortgages are essential. It's an essential lending product because it doesn't just put um opportunities for lending to members, but expands members' wealth opportunities. It gets gives them the greatest asset they'll ever have. So how do how do how do they do that? Well, if you're in an existing credit union and you've got processing and underwriting and closing and staff, but you need overflow and fulfillment, a QSO can do that for you. We can do that for you. We can step in at any point in the process and assist. If you need technology review, we're doing this technology every day. That's the help that we can provide as a mortgage-specific QSO. And so credit unions don't have to be afraid. I mean, part of the problem that I see with a lot of credit unions today is they're like, Jerry, there's too much regulation. You know, we we can't handle all that. Well, there's a lot of truth to that. You've got to buy loan origination systems, you've got to have quality control, and you've got to, you've got to supervise servicers and things like that. So there is a lot of pressure, and I get it. I totally get it. Mortgages have become more complicated, believe it or not, than actually doing a business member loan because they're spot and sold in the market. But if you think about it, what does the mortgage do? Again, we talked about this. It's putting people into homes, it's giving them the asset, it's giving them the resources in the future to manage their lives. And they manage it from, you know, cradle or crib or whatever to death. But where do people get the opportunities to get those resources? It comes from a home. So mortgages is absolutely something that a credit union can do. And if you're just a$10 million credit union and you need to start, then you sit down with someone like us and we'll actually walk, hold your hand, and you'll say, well, what's in it there for you? In it for us is expansion of the credit unions, expansion of the industry. If you work with us, that's great. If we if we help out and it benefits us, that's great. But we're here to benefit the credit union. We're here to benefit the member. And that's what we're really trying to do. We're trying to help credit unions understand that it doesn't matter if they're a massive organization. I mean, Peter, we work with some quite large credit unions, you know,$50 billion assets, but we also work with$10 million credit unions in asset size. So anywhere in between. But credit unions need someone that can understand technology. Technology is changing so fast that you need to have, if anybody, someone there to say, yeah, no, been down that road, or we're familiar with this, this is where the technology is going. You need to do this. Um, and you don't want to pay out huge amounts of money in consulting feeds. That's another thing about a benefit of the Q, so especially one like ours, is we can do this with you without charging you massive amounts of consulting fees. And we can walk you through the steps because the technology is critical. And then setting up flow. How are you going to do this? How are you going to expand? Credit unions are not well known for addressing and engaging the real estate community. Re credents are very well known for refinances because their members come to them because they trust them. But they don't do so well in going out to the realtors. We can actually help you do that. We can strategize and put plans to get to down and business uh creation opportunities and steps for credit unions.
SPEAKER_03:I love that. Yeah, I love that. You know, you know, we recently wrote a white paper, you know, that that really dove into this topic. And you know, leveraging a QSO to help grow even as a complimentary service to what you currently have is something that we that we reference in that that that paper. Because you know, I I guess you know, for me, I I'm trying, and I love that you would you threw out the amounts that that of credit unions or dollar, the asset size of credit unions that that you support, because I've always been on that that that search or that the hunt for okay, well, what at what point should a credit union based off their asset size start doing this on their own? Right. And when I ask that question, it's more of a okay, well, at what point in time should they start hiring a loan officer or hiring a processor, uh hiring an underwriter, you name it, or bringing servicing into house? Like what size, what volume does that really look like where a credit union should be doing this? And you know, along the way, you know, leverage a QSO to help them grow, train them up, teach them how to originate, of course, that's the most important thing. But at what point should a credit union really be saying, okay, well, I need to hire a loan officer, an internal loan officer, to help us grow our business, right? You know, I've always asked that question, like, when should a credit union do this? And I and I love that you reference dollar amounts because there really is no uh for lack of better terms, there's really no, you know, you know perfect box, perfect scenario that that actually answers that question. Right. So I'd love to get your thoughts.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so that's a great, that's a great perspective, Peter, and I'm glad you brought that up. This is why it's important you gauge engage a partner, but you've got to engage a partner that isn't gonna sell you something all the time, right? You've got to be able to sit down with somebody that you can trust that's knowledgeable in a particular area and that's willing to help. It's one of the things, it's one of the missions that I think QSOs generally, whether it's member first mortgage or any QSO, and I'm I'm talking technology QSO, mortgage QSO, commercial QSO, it doesn't matter. You need to partner, and the reasons for that, especially if you're a smaller credit union, you need a place to start. You cannot start without talking to somebody about where to go. You've got to have a roadmap. And then in that roadmap, what are the critical steps? There's the money involved, there's regulation involved, there's investment involved. And so, what's the overall plan? What are you trying to do? So if you're a$10 million credit union, you want to provide a product that you know you think, well, I can't do that. That's not true. You can do that. And the other thing about CUSOs, at least to my to my expectation, is the QSO should be there willing to walk you through at any point. So, for example, if we get to a point with a client or a credit union where they say, you know what, Jerry, we we've loved working with you four years, but we want to do this and take it inside, and we think we can do that, we're like, awesome, do it. We will help you, we will walk you to the next step, and we will very graciously step away and let you do it. And then you say, well, why do you do that in these businesses? There's 4,800 credit unions in this country. We work with 350 of them. There are our credit unions that are$30 billion in assets that worked with us 10 years ago, called us up and said, we've made a strategic decision. It's become too costly for us to invest continuously in this technology or the regulation or the compliance. Will you step in and do that? Absolutely. So we come in and out of credit unions of all sizes at any point in time because our passion isn't just making a dollar. In other words, as a CUSO owned by 10 credit unions, I'm not paid and compensated to get a certain level of bonus so I can have X amount of stock and then sell it. That's not what we do. What we do is we figure out who needs help, how do we help them? And during the process of helping them, yeah, we'll assist and there's a fee, but we're not out to make X amount of dollars to inflate a stock and sell it at some point. And I think that's really critical. Peter, you talked about that, you know, all these different pages, what they can do. They need to understand what's what's our purpose and why are we helping you? And a lot of them are like, well, you know, you're you're just doing it so you can do this and this and that and make that. That's not the case. Yeah, we have to pay our bills and we have to pay our employees, but there is a greater vision and mission overall. And I think it's to educate us to go, and it goes back to we want the credit unions to take the lead role, especially in mortgage. We want them, and they already do it, Peter. They're already doing it. As you probably know, being the CEO of Acuma, you probably already know about all the credit unions that are involved in charities and giving back in their communities. We want to enhance that and help their members understand and expand membership to say, you know what, we're not only in your communities doing this, but we're going to put you in homes to enhance and strengthen your community where you can continue to do more and more to help others. And I really think that at the end of the day, that's why credit units should be doing it. And they can do it. And they can decide with us to say, hey, you need to get to this point and then you hire a lot officer. Then you need to get to this point and you hire a processor, and we'll walk you through it. We'll even do part of the work for you until your internal staff have become competent and confident enough to do it on their own. And then we'll graciously back away. And then we're there as a catch all net. So we'll be their fulfillment. We often help a lot of crazy things. They walk away, they build their organization, and then they use us on their overflow. If they don't want to expand and hire a bunch, because as you know, Peter, our business goes up and down, right? We'll hire and fire and they don't want to do that. Well, then we'll we'll step in and say, Yeah, we'll take the flow for six months or however long we need to do that. But but we're there to show them every step of the way at what point to hire these individuals, educate these individuals, and then stand them up and work if that's what they want. Some critics like, hey, we love the partnership. Let's just keep rocking and rolling with this, and we're expanding. Um, if I have a few minutes here, I just want to kind of tell you we do offer a program which I think is pretty innovative. It's called the INPP program, where if you don't want to build a whole organization, you can buy loans. We will actually, we work with several large national originators in the country who will originate mortgages, and then we will actually memorize those people for credit units anywhere in the country to expand their membership and their portfolio if they want it. So that's another way that we kind of help out and they can do that. And that's something that they want to, you know, add to their to their operation, expand their operation, or even start their operation. It's a good way to go.
SPEAKER_03:No, I I love that. And I I agree that that's it, it's a one, it's a great way to help grow the crediting through that type of income and membership, right? Um, but it it also helps reduce the risk uh associated with a lot of a lot of things attached to mortgage. Yeah. Now, if this comes off as a cheeky question, I apologize. It's not meant to. But you know, I I hear how passionate you are. I, you know, and I couldn't agree with agree more with everything that you said. But you know, you know, I I I come from you know community banks and IMBs, and you know, I spent some time with a credit union, you know, in the in the middle of that. But you know, I guess one thing I I I don't understand is you know, where do credit unions or at what point the credit unions, and again, I apologize if this is somewhat cheeky, but at what point do credit unions lose sight of that mission or forget why we are here? I mean, it it's you know banks, I I'd like to think, you know, 90% of them are originated mortgage, maybe more, right? Um they may not do the full investment in it, but you know, for the most part, they're all doing it. Whereas credit unions, it's more like 50%, right? At what point did we just lose sight of the fact that, hey, we need to do this?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so I'm gonna answer that question a couple ways. I'm gonna kind of go a different way. It's really critical for everybody to understand that credit unions prior to 1977 or 76 could not originate a mortgage. They weren't they weren't allowed, they were barred. So let's go back even further. Credit union organization was started. Why? Well, to be really frank, it was started because commercial banks, I'm just gonna name the current ones today, maybe they were part of it, maybe they weren't. Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, you know, a lot of the uh super big ones or even regional side banks, quite frankly, just didn't see any need to really assist um what we would call um a blue-collar kind of individual. Uh they were more interested in large uh banking clients, wealthy clients, um, and I'm talking businesses primarily, but also wealthy individuals. They wanted to give them access because they could make fees and they could make a certain amount of revenue. So the average guy, you and I, out there, that's you know, going to school and then maybe going into a vocation, maybe going to college, so on and so forth, buying that first car in the home and so on and so forth, not really interested in. So credit unions and people got together and said, let's help each other out. Um, let's pull our resources together and I'll lend to you, and you lend to me, and and we'll we'll do that. That's where it started. And that's where it got that's where the whole credit union movement began. Really, truly people helping people. And these were people that really did need to buy a car and they needed better terms, and they needed, you know, access to resources that they weren't going to get from their local bank. And so that's kind of Of really where it started. And so they couldn't do sophisticated, what we call sophisticated types of things, couldn't do mortgages, they couldn't even do member business loans back then. They couldn't do any of that. They could give you a car loan, they could give you a checking account, and maybe a savings account. That was about it. Even, you know, I kind of liken it to a thrift and loan, but even worse. So that started to change in the 70s. And credit unions have been accelerating since then, becoming even more innovative, trying to help out in the communities that they're they're involved in because they're chartered. And what I mean by that is you probably know uh already, Peter, is you can become a credit union, but you got to have a charter or what we call a SEG segment, you know, nurses, teachers, firemen, policemen, whatever. Um, and so that's where it kind of all started. But over the last 30 years, the credit union movement has been growing quite strongly. And I think there has been a shift. And I think some of the credit unions themselves would agree with me. I think they would, if you pulled in some CEOs of small, mid-sized, large credit unions, I think half of them at least would say, you know what, we've kind of lost sight of people helping people, and we're seeking after growth, expansion, and building income as a more important thing to do versus helping our members. And I say half because I don't think everybody's that way. I don't think all credit unions have abandoned that we people helping people attitude. But I see a lot more in these last 10 days. And I, you know, you said it was cheeky. It's not really cheeky. I think you're asking a really good question and a question that has to be discussed more. What is more important? Growing the credit unions to this mega size and you know, being able to say, hey, look, we grew from this to this, and we're offering all these products. We have some credit unions out there that act more like, you know, unfortunately, a bank, a bank seeking a certain amount of profit, uh, but you know, they don't have stock, and so they're not paying stockholders. Now, to give everybody to cut slack to credit unions that do that, you have to remember that a credit union cannot go out and access capital resources. In other words, they can't be like a bank and go to the stock market or go to private equity firms and say, hey, you know, we'd like to issue some stocks so we can get some more capital in and grow. The only way a credit union grows is by making its own net income. So a lot of credit unions that might kind of banter with me and you know, or or come back at me might say, Well, Jerry, we're doing that because we need the net income and we and that's the only way we can grow. And to some degree, that's true. But I do think a lot of them have lost sight of this people helping people, and growth and expansion seems to be more important than community development and what what we do as as a credit union for the membership. I think everybody's membership focused, but how you focus on membership and for what purposes and what reasons matter. And I think that's that's a lot of great means have kind of lost sight of that, Peter, which is why I think Acuma is really important. It's important for us, and that's why we we support you because we see what you're focusing on, and we see that mortgage is important. We want to further invest and encourage that message with mortgage to get out and get back to that people, helping people and build wealth and really give people things, tangible things that they're gonna look back to 30 years from now and go, you know what, that was a pivotal moment for me, and that's where I am today. And that's kind of what we're at.
SPEAKER_03:That is fantastic. Thank you for answering that and thing and and really you know walking us through all that. Justin, I see you came off mute.
SPEAKER_05:You know, you guys are having such a great conversation. I hate interrupting all the time, but I do have a question on that that topic. I mean, you're saying that some of the credit unions out there have kind of moved away from that people helping people aspect, and I think that we at Acumen, we do a pretty good job at re-educating, if you will, um that that mantra and trying to re-emphasize it. But for those that are so far down that spectrum, uh that you know, how do we get them back? How how how do we shift, how do we turn that corner to get back to the roots of the credit union movement?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so I'm gonna answer that question. Um, it starts with the board. Uh, so the board of those credit unions have to determine why are we here? What are we trying to accomplish? What is the expansion and growth that we're gaining doing for the members? And the reason this is a big deal, Justin, is because every credit union really does come up with some really creative ways to reward its members. And I say reward, but really, if you go back in time, it wasn't really to reward per se, it was to strengthen members' resources. In other words, the whole credit union movement was to empower individuals to get access to resources that wealthy individuals or wealthy companies in this country had access to, right? So it was acquiring real estate, it was acquiring assets, it was getting financial assistance or financial products that created greater opportunities to expand wealth. And, you know, a lot of times we talk about this a lot of times today. I don't know if you guys follow this, but I follow this a little bit. But you know, you've got some celebrities out there that are kind of bashing the billionaires out there. You've got billionaires running around going, hey, we need to, we need to send more money, we need to spend it on getting, you know, diseases solved in food and all this. And recently there, I think it's her name's Billie Ellish, I think one of the singers out there. Yeah, yeah. She donated$11 million to help um people that were starving and needed food. And she said, okay, billionaires, uh, step up or shut up, right? Because they're out there doing that. Well, she's right, you know, why are we doing all this? And how do these credit unions that have gone down that path and kind of moved away? And when I say moved away, is they're they're still selling members, you know, are most important, but why are they most important and how are they helping them? Is it just to grant to garner greater net income for the company so it can it can merge with another credit union? Or is it really helping a member uh become wealthier, better educated, have better resources and opportunities, not only for themselves, but for their children and their grandchildren and so on and so on. So, you know, in our country, I I've always said this, and I hopefully this is okay to say Peter and Justin on your podcast, but our country works like this. More knowledge I have makes me advantageous or have an advantage over somebody else. So I can make a more of a buck because you don't know this, right? The whole crisis, the 2008 meltdown crisis, you know, a lot of people blame the mortgage industry because of greed. And there's there's truth to that. But I still remember my career, people coming to me uh in my office that I knew saying, hey, I just I just want some help. I was told I have really bad credit. And I said, Oh, I'm really sorry about that. What's your credit score? And they said, like 710. Well, why do you think you have bad credit? Well, I went and talked to my my broker, and he says you got a 30-day late four years ago. Yeah, okay. Well, yeah, so I know I have bad credit now. You do not have that credit. And most people in this country do not understand credit, right? Where you see all the commercials about FICO scoring and all that, they don't understand credit, and they're either being abused, mistreated, or given false information. And that's how other people make money off of them, right? Your ignorance is my advantage, and so therefore I can make more money. I'm gonna use an example of a bad loan officer, you know, from 10, 15 years ago or something. Yeah, this is great. You got really bad credits, so I'm gonna charge a 7% interest rate, and current rates are 5%. So that loan officer is gonna make$30,000 when he sells that low, right? So that's kind of what we're talking about. So how did those credit units get back to that, Justin? It's gotta start with the board. It's gotta start with what are we doing? Why are we doing it? All this expansion and growth, what is it doing? Go back to the management and say, okay, how are our members benefiting here? Did we lower the fees? Did we eliminate fees completely? Are we offering, you know, better rates on our checking and saving of financial products? Are we educating members so that they can come in and get a better product and a lower rate and no fees? I mean, I don't know if you guys have watched recently, but you've got Chime and other commercials out there. They're telling them, I don't have non-sufficient fees anymore. You know, I was doing that with my bank and I went to this and they don't charge me anymore. Credit unions in a lot of cases are doing that. They are giving money back to the members, or they're not charging them at all. Some banks totally use insufficient fees to garner their net income. Hey, yeah, we're gonna let you overdraft as much as you possibly can. Go for it. We'll give you a thousand bucks to overdraft because we're gonna charge you 40 bucks every time you do it. It's a fee, right? So boards need to sit back and say, Well, what are we giving back to our members? What are they getting? And it starts there.
SPEAKER_04:I think very cool. Yeah, no, I totally agree with all that. That was an awesome, that really was.
SPEAKER_03:Well, Jerry, it's time for us to start pivoting to the the second segment of our podcast. You know, but before we do it, you know, I I always end with the same question. Um what keeps you going? What keeps you pushing forward and motivated to you know tackle the day?
SPEAKER_02:Great question. Um I think for me, Peter, it's for me, work has translated into a personal desire to give back. So I've been successful in my career. I'm not saying that you have to become a president or CEO to say, hey, I've been successful. You could be a VP, an A VP, a manager, a director, whatever, whatever you obtain, right? Uh whether that's in your employment or your personal life or education, I think most of us come to a point in our lives where we look back, we reflect, and we say, I didn't get here alone. And I didn't get here alone. There's a lot of people along my 40-year career path that helped me get where I was. And I wanted to work for people that would teach me things. And I just remember, I remember, and I'll share this. Here's a really personal thing to share. I was what, 28, 29. My third child was born. Uh, two months after he was born, he was in the hospital with uh an IV in his head because he had severe what we call RSB, usually it's a very strong lung um flu-like kind of disease that you can get, but it can get as bad where it develops into pneumonia and you die. So we had had that, and I had asked, um, I had told my employer at the time, hey, I need to be out for three or four days. And the response back to me was if you're not back in and at work tomorrow, you're fired. And so I remember saying to myself, if I ever was in a position to influence or have have influence, that I would never treat people that way. So I've made it kind of a point over my career to really try to help people understand flexibility, family life, life work balance, which is much more popular today than it was four years ago, right? Um, and so I guess for me, what keeps me going every day is wanting to give back. I I'm doing this podcast, I'm doing these other things because I want to educate, because I want to tell people this is how it's done in this country. And you, I don't care where what background you come from, most of us in the United States are not born into wealth. That's all European old world, right? Kings, nobles, dukes, lords, all that kind of stuff. We didn't come over here because we inherited$50 million from grandpa or mom and dad. Yeah, some people still do. But if you look at the Jeff Bezos and you look at uh, you know, Warren Buffett, and you you look at all these people, Bill Gates, Microsoft, they didn't inherit their money. They built it, right? They built it over time. And people are like, well, I I could never be that. Well, that's not true. You don't have to become, you know, a billionaire that has$150 billion to say that you had a lot of success. You could build your, you could come from nothing and rise up and you know, have a very nice 401k or anything and be quite successful in your career. But you need help. And you need to understand well, how do I get from here to here? And how's that best done? Or how do I manage? You know, you got these people out there that are financial gurus that talk about, you know, don't spend, save, and those are all really good things and they're disciplines, the way I look at them. But they don't teach people what you have to do in life to have or get access to those resources. They teach people how to manage. So those are all good things, and you need to understand how to manage money and and all those kinds of things. But how do you get from working, from education, getting your money, what resources allow you to get to the next step? And a lot of it, I'd say 95% of it comes from a home. There are more businesses created from people who have borrowed against credit cards or homes. And often it the terms are better from a home. You're going to get a better deal when you borrow from a home. So they start a business and again in the community, they need these kinds of things. So for me, at this point in my life, it's it's all about giving back. And I want to educate because I'm looking at my kids, I'm looking at my grandchildren, I want them to be successful. And success for everybody is different. So whatever somebody wants or whatever they gauge success to be, then I want to help them get there. Whether they want to be a 150 billionaire or they want to be, you know, 300,000 and they're happy and they're going to be good, great. You know, I I always raise my kids. I said, I don't care what you do, pick up trash. If it makes you happy and you're happy, then that's fine. And I really believe that. But you still need people to help you get to the next step. And I think that's what's important.
SPEAKER_03:That's probably one of the best answers we've had in the three years that we've been doing this podcast. Well, excellent, excellent. Well, well, Jerry, it's time for us to start transitioning to the second segment of our podcast. Now, the second segment, as I mentioned in my email to you, that'll kind of walk you through the show, is sometimes dad jokes, but today we're gonna do Jeopardy. Now, we're gonna do credit union jeopardy. So bear with me as I bring.
SPEAKER_02:Now, if I do poorly, are you gonna edit that out in this recording? Oh, yeah, of course, of course, of course, of course. Justin's fing in his head.
SPEAKER_05:No, no, I'm sorry, I can't let you somebody's gonna take that.
SPEAKER_03:All right, so bear with me as I I bring me my Jeopardy board into the into the screen. So, but real quick, before I uh we before we start, let me go ahead and walk people through um the what's on my screen since they can't see it and we're we're the audio only. But in front of us is a standard Jeopardy board um ranging from points from 100 to 500. There are five categories. The five categories are credit union membership, credit unions around the world, history of credit unions, credit unions versus banks, and credit union products. Uh again, ranging from one to 500. Now, Jerry, for the sake of this, you are team one, Justin, you are team two. Now, Jerry, you do not have to answer who is what is, etc. Uh, also when you pick a question, it's it's your question to answer. Um, there's no like automatic steal or just a hand steal automatically. Now, if he wants a steal, because you may have answered it incorrectly, uh, he can. Um, but uh I do deduct points when you steal. So uh let's go ahead and get started. All right. So, Jerry, you are our honored guest. You get to go first.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, I'm gonna take uh credit unions versus bank for 300.
SPEAKER_03:Credit unions versus bank for 300. At a bank, a member is considered a customer. What is a member considered at a credit union? Either A owner, B, customer, or C client.
SPEAKER_02:A, what is an owner?
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Justin, just in case, do you want to steal? No, but this is awesome if it's gonna be multiple choice. The correct answer is A, owner. Well done, Jerry. Well done. So I'm gonna give you those 300 points. Okay, Justin, to you. I'm gonna do credit unions versus banks for 400. Credit unions versus banks for 400. What is the primary complaint that credit unions from the banking industry is it a unsafe investment in stock market? B too difficult for bank customers to pay off loans at a credit union, or C competition because credit unions offer lower interest rates on loans. Okay. Jerry, do you want to steal just in case? No. Okay. The correct answer is C competition because credit unions offer lower interest rates on loans.
SPEAKER_05:I love multiple choices. Good job, Justin.
SPEAKER_02:All right, Jerry, you I'm going to take 500 credit unions versus banks.
SPEAKER_03:All right. The average interest rate charged on a credit card at a bank is 15.5%. What is the average interest rate charged on a credit union credit card? Is it A 8.9, B 12.15, or C 18%?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, I'm hoping it's what I think it is. So I'm gonna go A, what is 8.9%?
SPEAKER_03:Okay, 8.9. Justin, you wanted to steal just in case.
SPEAKER_05:No, but I don't think it's right.
SPEAKER_03:All right, the correct answer is 12.15. I mean, for the rest of I would have got it wrong too. I would have picked 18. I didn't I was trying to give the credit union benefit. I didn't make this up. Uh this is not my this is not my Jeopardy board. I kind of just Google Credit Union Jeopardy. Uh that that one was tough. I I didn't like that one. All right, so Justin, you're up. We're gonna go with credit union membership for 300. Credit union membership 300. How long do credit union members have to wait to apply for a loan or take advantage of other benefits? Is it A six months? B there is no waiting period, or C, members have to be invited to apply for a new product. Uh B, there's no waiting period. Jerry, do you want to steal just in case? No, I think he's right. The correct answer is there is no waiting period. Good job, Justin. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, Justin, you're making this tough. I'm gonna have to Are you kidding?
SPEAKER_05:This is like my best score ever.
SPEAKER_02:I've never had 700 points.
SPEAKER_03:Credit unions 500 around the world. What country in the world boasts the largest percentage of credit union members? Is it A, Jamaica, B, France, or C, Japan? Wow.
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna go with B. What is France?
SPEAKER_03:Okay, Justin, do you want to steal just in case?
SPEAKER_05:Yes, I'm gonna say C Japan. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:The correct answer is A Jamaica. Wow.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Well, that's that's good to know. Good for Jamaica. All right, sorry.
SPEAKER_02:And they just got hit by a massive hurricane bummer.
SPEAKER_03:I know. I know.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, well, I'm not doing so well, Justin. You're crushing it.
SPEAKER_03:All right, Justin.
SPEAKER_05:Um, we're gonna go with histories of credit unions for 500.
SPEAKER_03:History of credit unions for 500. The first credit union in the United States is located in A, Alaska, B, Hawaii, or C New Hampshire. We'll go with B, Hawaii. Okay, Jerry, do you want to steal?
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna steal and go with C in New Hampshire.
SPEAKER_03:All right, the correct answer is New Hampshire.
SPEAKER_05:It's rude that you were already gonna mark me down before the answer came out.
SPEAKER_06:That was good.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. All right, let's last round. Jerry, right now you are in the you are in the lead.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. Justin, I'm not happy about being in the lead with a negative number, so that's you know, that should make you feel better. Let's go with um wow. Let's go with history of credit unions 400.
SPEAKER_03:History of credit unions for 400. Credit unions in the United States were established to fight against A the government, B, loan sharks, or C banks. C, what is banks? Justin, you want to steal just in case?
SPEAKER_05:No.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:The correct answer is you should have stole. That was uh I don't know that's a joke, but wow, okay.
SPEAKER_05:I don't agree necessarily agree with that, Jerry. Um considering if you want to listen to any part of our podcast episode in the discussion, the answer was yes.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:We're gonna have to throw this question out, Peter.
SPEAKER_03:All right, so that doesn't count. All right, Jerry, let's ask you another one.
SPEAKER_02:All right.
SPEAKER_03:All right, pick one, Jerry.
SPEAKER_02:All right, let's go with let's go with credit union products for 400.
SPEAKER_03:Credit union products or 400? Credit unions can save members money when they purchase a house and take out a mortgage because a they have lower closing costs than banks than a bank, b, they have less paperwork to pay for, or c they pay their employees less.
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna go with what is A, they have lower closing costs than a bank.
SPEAKER_05:Justin on steel, just in case. No, this seems like uh Peter, you made this question for I didn't.
SPEAKER_03:I swear I did not. I swear.
SPEAKER_05:I actually think this is the first time, Peter. There's some canoodling going on here.
SPEAKER_03:The correct answer is they have lower costs than a bank. Good job, Jerry. All right, Jerry's at 200. Justin, are you gonna go for the tie?
SPEAKER_05:Uh can't go for a W. So credit union membership for 500. Uh oh.
SPEAKER_03:Credit union membership for a CCCU that's three C's. A CCCU member must maintain a balance of A 500, B 50, or C five dollars. So I'm guessing CCCU made up this Jeopardy board.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's that's the trick. It's a specific credit. Yeah, so it could be difficult.
SPEAKER_05:We're gonna go with C. C five dollars. Jerry, you want to steal it?
SPEAKER_02:Five dollars. Do I lose anything if I steal?
SPEAKER_03:You do.
SPEAKER_02:You do okay. I'm gonna pass because I think Justin's right.
SPEAKER_03:All right, I don't know the answer to this, but I'm gonna say it's 50. Five dollars. Good job, Justin. Yeah, look at that. I think this is our first tie ever. Wow. Well, justin finished positive. Great. We both win. That's right. You both you're both winners in my book. Both winners. All right. With a final score of 200 to 200. Congratulations, Jerry. Congratulations, Justin. You guys are both winners of this episode's round of credit union jeopardy. Well, Jerry, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to sit down with us. Really enjoyed this conversation. Uh, your perspectives into everything credit unions and really what we can do to kind of move this shift forward. Um, I hope everyone out there listens to this because you know, if there's one person you need to listen to, it's Jerry Reid. So, Jerry, thank you very much for taking time.
SPEAKER_02:Well, thank you for the invitation, Peter. I really do appreciate it. Justin, it was great working with you. And uh let me know if this podcast goes viral. I'd really like to know. Oh, it's going to.
SPEAKER_03:It's going to. Justin, as always, thank you. Of course it is my pleasure. And to close out, thank you again to Optimal Blue for sponsoring today's episode. And to all of you, we know your time is valuable. Thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of Activision Point Podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, be well, my friends.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time at the Acuma on Point Podcast. If not already, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating. For more great episodes and information, be sure to visit us online at Acuma.org. And to get the latest updates, head over to our LinkedIn page.
