The Boardcast

Video Vote

Recently my friends at Forum Solutions and Trabian opened a competition for a position as a guest speaker at their yearly conference, Partnership Symposium '08. The conference sponsors sent out a call for auditions for this coveted spot on the schedule by asking those interested to develop a video which covered one of two themes from the Federal Credit Union Act. The announcement stated:

Themes: The Federal Credit Union Act gives this definition for a Credit Union:

...the term ‘‘Federal credit union’’ means a cooperative association organized in accordance with the provisions of this chapter for the purpose of promoting thrift among its members and creating a source of credit for provident or productive purposes;

That statement of purpose is good news, good news we aren’t always good at sharing or remembering. So maybe you can help us get excited and refocused by speaking to one of these two core ideas.

• Promoting Thrift
• Loans for Provident and Productive Purposes

How to Audition It’s pretty easy, just make a video of why you’d make a good Guest Speaker and tell us which of the two topics you’d like to speak on and why.

I enjoy a good challenge and, since this is a wonderful conference that I'd love to attend, I entered and submitted a video. My video is one of 4 entries and it's now time to cast your vote for the one you think best illustrates the theme. The more votes the merrier so cast your ballot, here, at the Forum Solutions Site. The deadline is July 11th.

 

Brass TV - You Won't Want to Miss It

Introducing Bryan Sims whose mission and business is to inspire young people to follow their dreams and ..."provide direct, intelligent, entertaining content to young adults about the money side of life."  Bryan is the CEO of brass|MEDIA Inc. publishers of Brass Magazine. UFirst has been instrumental in circulating Brass Magazine to local High Schools.  Bryan has a new venture, brass TV, designed to bring all the great information of Brass Magazine to TV. Here's a promotional clip. It will introduce you to Bryan and the style and content of brass TV.

Bryan is looking for help to encourage TV celebrities to feature brass TV on their shows. He has developed an Action Center to help with this effort. If you see the value in making brass TV available for everyone to watch visit the Action Center and find out how you can help.

Board of Directors Meeting - June 17, 2008

The UFirst Board of Directors met for their monthly board meeting at the operations center on Rugar St. on Tuesday, June 17th. We conducted the regular board business of the month. This included reviewing the credit union financials, a discussion of the current interest rates, updates and reaffirmations of the policy manual as well as scheduling our semi-annual planning meeting which will be held on June 27th and 28th.

Board meetings often include CEO Linda Bourgeois updating the board on reactions and feedback she or credit union employees have received from members during the month. This meeting was no different. Linda told us about a recent incident at UFirst. Member Leo Wells stopped at the credit union after he had purchased a car and negotiated a loan at a used car dealership in Vermont. Leo has been a UFirst member for over 6 years. He needed UFirst's routing number in order to arrange an automatic withdrawal to make his payments. Marketing Director Jody Carpenter saw Leo waiting and asked if she could help him. They began to chat about his new purchase. He had the loan file with him and she asked if he would like her to review it. She was shocked to discover that his interest rate was 15.9%.  Jody knew Leo could get a much lower loan rate through UFirst and asked him if he would like to speak with a loan officer. She escorted him to the office of Loan Officer Lois Nichols. Lois reviewed Leo's loan documents carefully. She discovered that we could cut his interest rate by more than half. Lois also noticed that the dearlership had charged him $800 for the Gap Premium Insurance (loan repayment insurance). The cost of this insurance at UFirst is $85. Leo's trip to UFirst had indeed been fortuitous. Leo left UFirst grateful for Jody's quick action and Lois's thoroughness and expertise. Thanks to Leo Wells for allowing us to share his story with others through the Boardcast. This story is a perfect example of the ways in which UFirst staff puts our motto "Helping You Get There" into practice on a daily basis. 

Members are encouraged to post comments to the Boardcast. This is your chance to have a dialog with the UFirst Board of Directors about your credit union.

Members who would like to propose items to be placed on the meeting agenda are welcome to contact Linda Bourgeois, a member of the Board of Directors or email the Boardcast at ufirstbod@gmail.com.

Director Profile - Bob Gertsch

Bob Gertsch has a significant role at UFirst FCU. Not only is he a director, he is also chair of the supervisory committee. Bob has been a member of the committee since the late 1990’s and has chaired the committee for over 5 years. His service on the board and this important committee followed many years of membership and involvement in the credit union. Bob is a native of Plattsburgh and, except for the years he spent in the US Navy, he has lived his entire life on Elizabeth St. in Plattsburgh. He has worked for Plattsburgh State University in the computer information systems department for 30 years and has been a member of the credit union for almost as long. He was recruited by Tom Mercadante, one of the charter members of the SUNY Plattsburgh FCU, to serve on the loan committee in the late 1980’s. His experience in overseeing credit union operations has been invaluable in our recent years of growth. Bob believes that his dual roles as board member and supervisory committee chair complement each other. His board involvement helps him keep his finger on the pulse of the credit union assists him in his work as supervisory chair.

Bob related a wonderful story that illustrates the unique, personalized service provided by staff to UFirst members. A member with whom he was acquainted took a trip out of state to visit a relative who became very ill during the visit. The member had to extend her visit while she cared for her relative. Meantime, she had to arrange bill payments and other transactions at home while she was away. She called the credit union who set up daily contacts with a UFirst staff person who helped facilitate the necessary transfers and payments to meet her obligations. Bob noted that this member’s loyalty to UFirst is likely to remain solid for life.

I asked Bob what factors he thinks will be most significant for the credit union going forward. Bob believes that the growth we have seen in the past year and anticipate in the future challenges the credit union. We need to assure the credit union’s solid fiscal foundation by increasing capital while providing financial services to our members. We need to remain true to credit union goals and ideals. Bob believes that it is a real challenge for credit unions to remain distinct from other financial institutions like banks. He encourages members to take pride in their membership in UFirst. The beautiful operations center that they use on a regular basis belongs to them and represents their share in the growth and success of UFirst.

During my interview Bob provided Boardcast readers (and listeners) with a wonderful explanation of the role of the supervisory committee. Below is an audio clip which includes this excerpt. He mentions that the supervisory committee has its own unique email address (supervisory@ufirstfcu.net) for members to use in communicating concerns to the members of the committee. Bob invites members with concerns regarding their accounts to email him.

The Saving Savings Challenge - Share Balance = $102

My Saving Savings adventure began on June 4th and by the post traffic it generated quite a bit of interest. The Saving Savings Challenge is based on a simple idea. Look for discounts and opportunities for saving, calculate the savings accomplished and save the savings by placing them in my UFirst share account. I'm happy to report that after 9 days I've broken the $100 mark. This is how I did it.

I described how I opened my account with $27 in my first post on 6/4. Many of us have dormant accounts that sit in financial institutions without activity for months and sometimes years. They dwindle away for lack of activity and often times laziness on our part. I'm no different. I'd been meaning to close an account that I rarely use for the past 6 months. I'm embarrassed to report that this same account was costing me $5 per month because it had been reduced below the minimum balance. I closed the account which contained $137 and deposited 1/2 of that in my Saving Savings account. I then added an additional $5 to my deposit of $68.50 since closing the account saved the fee for June. A day later I took advantage of a gas sale of $4.12 per gallon at a local Stewart's. That saved $1 which gave me a total of $74.50 which I rounded up to $75. My share account now contains $102. Can I keep saving my savings? Stay tuned to see.

Credit Union Association of New York CEO Bill Mellin Visits the North Country

The Adirondack Chapter of the Credit Union Association of New York recently hosted a dinner at Cricket's Restaurant in Peru, NY. Board members and staff from UFirst FCU joined a number of other north country credit unions in welcoming Bill Mellin, President and CEO and Ron McLean, Vice-President of the newly named Credit Union Association of New York. Mr. Mellin was the guest speaker for the evening. He began by explaining the reason for the name change from the New York State Credit Union League. He has been in a leadership position at "the League" for the past 8 years. Mr. Mellin talked about the confusion that the old name generated among both legislators and the general public. The new name emphasizes the role of the organization as the credit union trade association for New York credit unions. In addition to the name change the association has relocated to offices they will be sharing with Members United Corporate Federal Credit Union which is a credit union for credit unions. This move allows both the Credit Union Association of New York and the New York Credit Union Foundation to be in close proximity to this important credit union service provider as well as providing cost savings to the association and its members.

Mr. Mellin went on to outline some of the priorities that the Credit Union Association of New York has set. An important job of the association is to help promote a positive environment for credit unions through governmental advocacy.  He asked for help in this task from credit union staff, boards and members by encouraging us to attend the national and state governmental affairs conferences as well as speaking with our legislators about the contributions of credit unions. In addition to the fight for passage of CURIA (the Credit Union Regulatory Improvement Act) that is currently taking place in Washington, Mr Mellin mentioned pending New York State legislation that would help NY credit unions. Passage of this legislation would allow credit unions to be able to accept Municipal Deposits. This would give government entities like school districts and villages the option to place deposits in credit unions allowing these deposits to remain in the local area.

Mr. Mellin reminded the group that Governor Patterson has told audiences that he appreciates the work of credit unions. In fact, his first job was with a credit union and he is currently a member of two credit unions.  He also spoke about initiatives which are being spearheaded by the Credit Union Association of New York to encourage credit union memberships among low income individuals as well as immigrant groups.

Mr. Mellin discussed other state and national areas of achievement and concern for credit unions during his talk as well as in an interview with me prior to the meeting. Below is an audio file of the 15 minute interview. (The interview took place at Crickets Restaurant in Peru, NY which explains the background music).

The Saving Savings Challenge

My friend and fellow blogger Matt Davis the CU Warrior from Members Credit Union headquartered in Winston-Salem NC launched a new, innovative website called What Are You Saving For? to encourage saving among credit union members. Matt and his colleagues at Members CU have created a fun and rewarding way to get members to focus on saving for everything from trips to retirement. Matt's creativity got me thinking about my own saving habits. Recently, another fellow blogger, Tim McAlpine of Currency Marketing in Vancouver BC wrote about a meeting he attended. The featured presenter focused his talk on his opinion that people today have a hard time distinguishing between saving and savings. Tim observed,

"The retail industry has stolen the word 'saving' and redefined it as saving money     when spending. Saving used to mean putting money away in a savings account or in a piggy bank. But, now we must spend to save."

This got my attention because just that morning I had looked at a flyer from Aldi's Grocery Store and focused on an ad listing a gallon of milk for $2.19. Locally, milk is $3.06 a gallon and so I made plans to make a stop at Aldi's. I also remembered that last week I purchased computer software at a discounted price of $59 rather than $79. Was I confusing saving with savings as Tim suggested? It struck me that I might be able to turn this confusion into an advantage. I decided to give myself a challenge. I'm calling it the Saving Savings Challenge in honor of Tim whose blog post gave me the idea. Here's how it works. Each time I find a "bargain" or consciously make a lifestyle change that saves money, I'll deposit the difference between what I paid (or saved) and what I would have paid without the discount into a savings account. For example, since I bought 2 gallons of milk (I have a big freezer), I saved $1.74. I'll round that up to $2 and combine it with my software saving and deposit $22 in a brand new share account. This is an experiment and it may be a silly one at that but it's worth a try. I'm hoping to have enough by the end of December to help with the cost of a trip I'm planning to San Francisco in January. I'll be giving Boardcast readers a regular update on my successes (or failures) and, who knows, some of you might want to join me or give me some encouragement with your comments.

(As you can see I'm starting a new practice of signing posts.)