Short, Sweet, To-The-Point: The Twitterfication of American Business

by Ron Daly 

[This post originally ran on the DigitalMailer blog] 

Just read an article from CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council, “Reach Members in 140 Characters”. They have a lot of great examples of small businesses and community businesses using Twitter to draw interest and save on marketing. They address a lot of what new users wonder about Twitter, specifically:

• Listen to the “static” and the negative/critical talk, because you can. Nobody’s stopping you from finding out what Twitter users think.
• Spice it up by making your messages sharp and memorable – don’t just “robo-tweet”.
• Use your Twitter stream as a focus group/Q and A channel for curious parties.
• Start small and stick with it!

Many of the folks I talk to in the credit union industry wonder how you manage to talk to anyone about anything in 140 character spurts. According to a recent article from LifeHacker, phrasing the first sentence in an email can increase the chances that the email gets read. We all know that a solid subject line gets a reader’s attention, but what about the preview line? For example, you get an email:

Re: Business Collaboration Opportunity

Hi, John – I got your email recently and I’m curious about a possible collaboration between our business and your busi…

The subject line lets you know that A) The person writing is replying to your email and B) they want to talk business collaboration with you. It’s simple and direct. But then there’s your preview line that gets cut off without saying anything else to compel your reader. Want to make it pop?

Re: Business Collaboration Opportunity

We would love to discuss a collaboration with you. Please call me today.

Hammer down a few lines with a hard return or two with extra details and let that first sentence say everything that needs saying. With practice, it can turn your business communication on its ear and make it stand out to your readers.

Start making it short, start making it sweet.

Interchange Fees and Credit Unions - Members Taking Action

by Ron Daly 

Interchange fees are the topic of many blog posts in the industry these days. Some posts are for changes, some are against, some are matter-of-fact and some are downright angry. One alarming article released yesterday says that 90% of yearly interchange revenue could be lost, which comes down to "$15 to $35 per debit card per year". 

CUNA has been pressing the issue in its daily News Now emails. Today's story deals with the Treasury and what Dan Mica called the "most serious threat" facing CUs at this moment in history. But it was a different story (and a different reaction by our company's clients) that caught my attention. 

Read this excerpt from the News Now article, "Grassroots interchange opposition, strong and growing":

WASHINGTON (6/2/10)--While the halls of Congress have emptied for the week, grassroots credit union advocacy regarding interchange legislation continues this week through both legislator-led town hall meetings and credit union activism on several fronts.

One of those fronts is a Credit Union National Association-backed effort to verbally and electronically reach out to representatives, and this communication effort resulted in over 80,000 individual contacts as of Tuesday.

CUNA is asking credit union backers to urge their legislators to oppose federal intervention into the current interchange rules. An amendment offered by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) which was successfully added to the Senate's regulatory reform package would direct the Federal Reserve to issue regulations to govern interchange fees charged for debit card transactions. CUNA has recently said that this rule change forces the Fed into the role of a price-fixing body, when interchange fees should be driven by market forces.

State credit union leagues have also chipped in to back credit union concerns, and Virginia- and Louisiana-based credit union leagues are among those that have joined state-level small banking associations to publicly oppose federal interchange intervention.

Some examples of emails sent to members, compelling them to call and email their leaders and take action: 

From Horizons North Credit Union: 

 

From Shell Federal Credit Union: 

 

From Belvoir FCU : 

 

They're simple emails with a simple message: "Interchange is going to hurt the credit union. Contact your leaders now and tell them to act in our mutual best interest."

What does it cost you to send an email to your members? Hopefully, the answer is "not much". How much will interchange fee changes hurt your CU? The answer is probably "a lot". Risk versus reward, people. Members need to know about things like this and when it comes to asking them to do something as simple as sending an email, that's only about three minutes of their time. Never hurts to ask, right?

So, here's your million-dollar-question-of-the-week: What's your credit union doing to encourage calls and letters to legislators from members? Tell us about it in the comment section.

Reg E Opt-Ins, Part 2: Compelling Arguments

by Ron Daly 

Our last post walked through some of the headaches associated with Reg E opt-in programs at credit unions. Members are reportedly planning to throw away their opt-in forms and not bother with overdraft protection, and there's really not much we can do other than make a compelling argument as to why members should enroll.

An article from CU Journal from the 17th of this month has advice from Rory Rowland of Rowland Consulting. I thought some of it was worth sharing with you.

Some mistakes that Rowland says CUs are making: 

• Waiting to see what happens: "This is not a healthy strategy. Get a plan of action. Place an (opt-in) banner message on your website to encourage people to opt in. When members overdraw, send them and e-mail and tell them about the new regulation and that they need to opt in. If they are in the top 29% of your abusers, call them." 
• Lack of monitoring: "You need to know how much income you are making from courtesy checking-20% to 29% of your members give you 90% of your NSF income. Target those top 29% and get them to opt in before July 1."
• Front-line staff have no idea what they are doing: "Do you have talking points written for front-line staff to tell members how to opt in?"

Waiting It Out, or Just Not Getting On Board?

by Ron Daly

There's an old joke about a guy who lives at the foot of a volcano. The volcano erupts, spilling lava toward his home and his village. His neighbors hop in their car and say "Our car is fast, we can get away in time. Come with us." 

"No," says the man, "God will come for me and save me from the lava."

Later on, the lava has reached his porch and burned off the front steps and the siding. The man climbs to the second floor of his house and a military tank full of survivors rolls by and says "Sir, jump onto the tank. We can't get burned and we'll keep you safe."

"No," says the man, "God will come for me and save me from the lava."

The lava gets deeper, and the house starts to dissolve. The man must climb up to his roof. A helicopter drops him a rope ladder, saying "Climb up! Climb up!"

"No," says the man, "God will come for me and save me from the lava."

The man gets swallowed by the lava, and is reduced to ash.

He gets to Heaven and talks to God. "I thought you'd save me!" the man said to the Almighty.

God looked confused. "I sent a car, a tank, and then a helicopter - what more do you WANT from me?!?"

Which reminds me - Reg E is still an issue. 

Get with the program! 

Reg E is an issue that threatens everyone in the financial services industry - it's going to affect income and capital, it's going to affect member relationships, and it's going to affect the bottom line. Credit unions across the country are scrambling to try and find a way to get folks "opted in" before the deadline on August 15 (yes, there's a July 1 deadline on new members, but August 15 affects everyone). There's a lot of worry, as some credit unions/banks just can't do without the fee income. And when the next step is a choice that hinges on the members and customers, the results could be a blessing or a curse. 

Blessing: the income still exists, members just have to opt-in to overdraft protection (or courtesy pay, whichever you prefer). Which means they'll get their way at POS and pay for it later, and the CU can collect on the error.

Curse: everyone is automatically opted out after August, and that's going to mean a big hit on income. Whether they come back to overdraft protection or not is at their discretion. 

Everyone knows that Bank of America announced they were doing away with overdraft fees and came off looking like a good guy as a result. But they're still offering overdraft protection, they're just making it so that it takes the difference out of your savings or credit account and charging a $10 fee for it, according to this NYTimes.com article. When every headline related to that story says "Bank of America does away with overdraft fees" and you're asking people to CHOOSE to be assessed those fees, how do you win? 

What's worse, according to this CU Journal article, is that members are planning to throw out their opt-in forms when they get them, and somewhat more disturbingly: 

The findings should be noted by credit unions and banks, said [Brian] Beach, [CEO of ACTON Marketing], because those customers will not have overdraft protection when they overdraft, will start to have their retail purchases denied and most likely will move their accounts elsewhere. “The psychology of overdraft users is such that they are extremely averse to having their debit card transactions denied at retail,” said Beach. “If they begin to be denied, they will not just re-opt-in with their current bank or credit union. Most likely they will cut and run.”

So, here's the question: how obvious is your car, your tank, your helicopter? Will a person who is at risk to use this service you've provided to them for years know what happened when their transaction is declined? Or are they just going to blame you and leave for a bank? In a new, debt-conscious America, will people want the chance to go over the limit at all? 

The lava's on its way. Get as many folks on board as you can. And if they get "burned", remind them - they had (and still have) a chance.

Your feedback is always welcome. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: 

 Full disclosure time. DigitalMailer is offering a Reg E Opt-In package that uses email and secure online forms/databases to record member opt-ins and encourage more sign-ups. 

Email us at info@digitalmailer.com, let us do a walk-through of the system for you, and if you tell us you're a Soapbox reader, we'll give you a discount on the system. 

This is your call to action - get started now. 

Tired of the Bank? CBS Says "Dump That Sucker"

by Ron Daly

We've been talking about the "Move Your Money" movement for a while now. CBS's EconWatch published a story earlier this week titled "Hate Your Bank? Dump That Sucker For a Credit Union!" It came with the video below and spelled out the differences between banks and CUs. [Note -- email readers, please click over to the website to watch the video.]

We've had quite a few of these in 2010. Do you find your credit union gets more memberships/inquiries because of them? What do you wish these videos would say? Are videos like these something you share with members via email or your website, like TDECU does on their home page? 

Tell us all about it in the comment section. 

Anthony Demangone of NAFCU: The 7 Deadly Questions

Anthony Demangone is the Director of Regulatory Compliance at NAFCU. You can read his thoughts on regulation, compliance, NAFCU and CUs at large over at the NAFCU Compliance Blog, and you can regularly hear him talk about current issues in credit unions over at...well, the Current Issues in Credit Unions podcast over at That Credit Union Blog. 

Recently, Anthony wrote an interesting article for NAFCU's magazine, The Federal Credit Union. I want every one of our regular readers to pop over to Anthony's blog and read the article in full. It's great food for thought and comes with this disclaimer: 

Editor's note: This has been a tough stretch for credit union compliance officers. Regulation Z, HVCC, the CARD Act, the FACT Act, Truth in Savings, Regulation E, MDIA, and HOEPA have all ganged up to throw myriads of new requirements at credit unions. If you want to get the most out of your compliance officers and preserve their sanity, please pass this article around to your non-compliance staff.

Please, give the article a read and let Anthony know what you think. We'll take your comments, too, if you prefer. 

Compliance officers get questions.  That is a fact of life.  We get big questions and small ones.  Complicated questions, and simple ones.  Some questions, though, give us heartburn.  These questions cause us to close our door and bang our head against the wall.  

In a perfect world, these questions wouldn’t exist. The world, however, is not perfect.  We know that.  All compliance officers want is to hold these questions to a minimum.

The following list shows what to avoid when asking a compliance officer a question.  Whenever possible.  When that is not possible, go ahead and ask. But come bearing gifts.  Or antacid.

1. "I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend…" questions.  These questions often start with the phrase, “I was at a conference, and I heard that we have to do (insert issue).”  Ah, the wild goose chase.  Compliance officers do appreciate it when other credit union employees come to them with new compliance information...

2. Last-minute contract reviews. Often, these questions look like the following: Can you look at this contract?  We need to have it signed today, and we want to make sure that everything is OK...

3. Oversimplifying questions.  Some questions might seem simple, such as this one: What disclosures do we need to have on this (insert document, such as periodic statement, late notice, etc.)? That question is not simple.  It is fairly complicated. What makes this question so troublesome is that the answer turns on many, many variables...

4. Conference call questions.  (The phone rings in a compliance officer’s office.)  Hello. We’re in the middle of a meeting, and a question has come up regarding the Home Valuation Code of Conduct.  Can we do (insert question)? Don’t worry…we’ll stay on the line and wait for your answer...

5. Open-ended questions. These questions might look like this one: What do we need to know about this (insert subject)?...

6. The “onion” question.  I call this type of question the onion, because it involves layers.  A compliance officer gets a question, and they answer it.  But then the person comes back with additional details...

7. The “sneaky” question.  Often, credit union employees have disagreements concerning whether some action is permissible.  Sometimes, one of the employees involved in the disagreement will try to use a compliance offer to buttress his or her argument...

Click here to visit the NAFCU Compliance Blog and read the full article!

Let's Talk About Money

by Greg Crandell

[Editor's Note -- Ron Daly is off for the week, so Greg Crandell, DigitalMailer's Executive Vice President, is stepping in for a guest post.]

I'm certain my kids are going to cringe if ever they read this, but I'd be remiss if I didn't start out with this phrase. 

IN MY DAY...people didn't talk about how much money they were making or what they were doing with it. The most chatter that went on about a person's money matters happened when your neighbor drove home with a new boat dragging behind the car. Hopefully on a trailer, because there's no faster way to ruin a boat than by dragging it down a rough street. 

But the times, they are a'changin', as they so often do. People are becoming more open, sharing their thoughts via Twitter, their home movies via YouTube, their hobbies over Etsy and their...well, everything via Facebook. Facebook surpassed Google in total visits to its homepage a few weeks ago and, as CNBC says, it's "a sign that the web is becoming more sociable than searchable".

Even as the world wide web begins to bring people even closer together, online banking becomes a greater part of people's finance management. Of course those realms are going to overlap, but to what effect? 

Buy the Cow, OR Just the Milk!

by Ron Daly 

Let's pretend for just a moment that you run a credit union (and you might). Your credit union can offer checking and savings and loans, but has no online banking, no student lending program, and a weak collection strategy. "Just doing" these programs isn't in the cards, given your membership size and available capital, but doing without them will surely cost you future members and won't let you compete with the mega-bank down the street. What do you do? 

If "use a CUSO" didn't cross your mind, you're sadly not alone. 

In a recent article from CU Journal, Tom Davis, CEO of the National Association of CUSOs (NACUSO), expressed his frustration with credit unions' unwillingness to invest in CUSOs. 

From the article: 

"Why think about joining a multi-owned CUSO in the first place?" Davis asked rhetorically. "Because it will help sustain the credit union. It will drive value to the credit union's members. It spreads risk among multiple credit unions. It adds expertise. We need to point out the advantages, specifically driving value back to the members, which is why we are here. Putting my NACUSO hat on, that is what we are all about...we provide applied learning experiences on the value of collaboration."

Tom has some great reasons for investing in a CUSO and collaboration. The article is worth the read. But here's a question that hasn't been asked yet, and I'm going to be bold and put this out there: 

Why not just BUY from a CUSO? 

I can appreciate why a credit union would buy into a CUSO so they'd have a stake in its success, add value to the CU, and obtain owner pricing. But if what you need is a service and what that CUSO is providing is the exact service you need, just buy the product from the CUSO! You don't always need to invest in the CUSO to become a part of it, you just need to use their products and services. 

I put my CUSO (DigitalMailer) out there as an example. We're the 2nd largest eStatement provider in the industry, our email engine is designed to help you maximize your online marketing ROI, and we're used by 180 credit unions nationwide. When it's down to two, if you have the choice between an industry outsider or someone with ten years experience in financial services, why choose the former? 

 Put simply: When it comes to CUSOs, you can buy the cow and get the milk or you can just buy the milk. All things being equal, when considering a vendor, we encourage you to buy CUSO. 

As always, your comments are appreciated. 

HAMP Hampered

by Ron Daly 

The successes of President Obama's financial programs have been debated by pundits for the past year or so. Some say that progress is naturally slow in recovery and that the seeds of these initiatives will bear fruit for years to come. Others say that the programs have not helped enough in the short term to warrant their continued support. 

One program being debated currently is the Home Affordable Mortgage Program, or HAMP. A recent story from ABC News talks about the program - its proponents, its opponents, and its short-term success. 

Watch the video below. [EMAIL READERS - please visit the website to view the video. Flash player required.]

According to the online version of the story, only 116,000 homeowners have taken advantage of the $75 Billion program thusfar. Only 116,000 on a program designed to help 2 million? Why? Because bankers won't help customers and would rather foreclose. This has led some lawmakers to call the program a "failure" and has prompted the Treasury to suggest a stronger hand. If the Treasury and the Obama Administration had their druthers, banks would be required to see if homeowners qualified for HAMP help prior to foreclosure. Banks would only be allowed to begin the foreclosure process after a borrower had been officially unqualified. 

Your One-Stop GAC Wrap-Up

by Ron Daly 

Being based just a few miles outside DC has its advantages. Chief among them, we were able to pop in and out of the GAC and meet with our clients, our friends, and our fellow CUSOs. While we didn't hit any of the big talks or breakout sessions, we didn't feel out of the loop. Nor would anyone else, I would wager, as CU professionals from across the country that were attending the GAC were eager to share their thoughts via blogs, emails and social media outlets of all kinds. We thought we would do a service to our followers that might have missed some of the highlights of the week and try to bring all those links and stories together in one place. If you feel there's a link or two missing that might be vital to people reading along at home, leave us a comment with the link in it down in the comment section. 

BEFORE CONFERENCE: 

morrischris: For all you GAC attendees & burger lovers, there is a Five Guys about a block from the convention center. Thought you should know. #GAC10

A few enterprising CU professionals created a "hashtag" label for Twitter posts related to the GAC. If you want to see how the whole thing unfolded in 140 characters, go to Twitter's search page and search #gac10. 

Certainly one of the most talked about parts of this particular GAC was the "Crashers", a group of young CU professionals dedicated to making their CUs better. Crash the GAC was started by Brent Dixon of The Haberdashery and Filene, who took the idea to CUNA. CUNA offered a number of scholarships so that attendees wouldn't technically be "crashing" in the traditional sense, and Palmetto Cooperative Services LLC sponsored a number of beds at the DC Hostel for attendees. As Crashers went about the conference, they wore their custom CU*Swag shirts with their slogan "Five Star Leaders, Two Star Lodging". Having received a CU*Swag shirt (Jimmy won one and gave me his - It's a nice shirt!), I can say they'd be great for any CU that wanted to deck out tellers in some custom gear. 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE GAC:

aplusfcu: Packed crowd here at the GAC Opening Session. Lots of talk about job creation. #gac10 http://tweetphoto.com/12186755

The kickoff started with David Gergen, former presidential advisor and pundit, talking leadership in the Nation and in finance, and stating "The great American job machine is broken" and that innovation will be the key that gets it started again. 

CUNA President and CEO Dan Mica was greeted by a standing ovation when he took the stage for what will be his last GAC in said position. His talk centered around raising the MBL, the hot-button issue this year to be sure. His talk seemed well received by the majority of CU citizen journalists in attendance. [Read Dan Mica's opinion column here]

The MBL echoed throughout the conference, with more and more breakout sessions and private meetings devoted to its discussion. Gigi Hyland, also of the NCUA board, spoke her mind on day two about raising the MBL cap and the forward momentum of CUs through 2010, which she admitted would be a "tough year". She also gave due attention to the Crash folks, much to their delight. 

Debbie Matz, the newest chairperson from NCUA, took the stage to talk about what she felt should be key goals for every credit union in the nation, including expansion of online services and payday loan alternatives. [Some more thoughts from Matz in this article from cujournal.com]

CU_Ninja: RT @Paulsworld: Debbie Matz: 4 ways for CU's to succeed. Alt capital, biz lending, payday alternative and electronic services. #GAC10

There were quite a few impressive guests this year, including Joe Scarborough, Alan Greenspan, Ondine Irving, and even Reggie Bush snuck in at one point to the delight of attendees. Needless to say, if you weren't there, you missed out on a lot of interesting talk and a lot of insight. 

robwright: Hike the Hill! #gac10 http://tweetphoto.com/12386760

Wednesday was the day for attendees to "Hike the Hill", visiting with representatives and lawmakers from across the country on CU matters. Representatives Barney Frank and Spencer Bachus (MA and AL, respectively) stopped by Wednesday morning for a chat with attendees on Interchange Fees (which Frank said was not on the table) and, of course, more MBL talk (which Bachus said would be a tough fight for CUs to push through). Attendees then met with lawmakers to talk credit union issues, racking up pictures and stories along the way. 

Jimmy Marks, our CMD, and some of his Crashing buddies were also behind a "tweetup", a meeting of Twitter users in attendance. I'm told it was a big success and that there were some great conversations happening in the midst of all those young whippersnappers. 

FOR THE FULL EXPERIENCE: 

I couldn't possibly tell you everything that happened at the conference and around the conference - to do that, I'd have to start blogging Monday and not quit until the end of the week. Which the folks below did!

Carla Day of CU Chat Up was a one-woman GAC reporting supercomputer. She typed her poor thumbs right down to the knuckle on her Palm Pre, live-blogging and reporting events as they happened. To get a great recap of the whole experience, see her personal Twitter feed.  

To read about the full day's worth of events through Wednesday, spend some time with Rob Rutkowski's "That Credit Union Blog" which did a day-by-day recap. Read all about it here. 

The CU Water Cooler gang made time for a "Liquid Lunch" chat podcast, which can be heard here. 

If it gets summed up much better than this, let me know: 

Matt_Vance: At DCA getting ready to fly home. GAC has come to a close but the ideas, projects & action are just getting started #gac10.