YOUR WEEKLY UPDATE FROM MONTANA'S CREDIT UNIONS | February 23, 2024 | |
Happy Friday! All of our favorite day of the week is perfect for cleaning out inboxes, making to-do lists, scheduling your social media content for the following week, and registering for Power Up. If you need a little nudge, we have world-class speakers, networking opportunities with our partners, golf, and charcuterie board building. Let us know what you're looking forward to. | | | |
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Richland FCU Celebrates Retirement, Two Hires: In a recent media release, Richland FCU celebrated the achievements of retiring Senior Loan Officer Nancy Verschoot and announced the hiring of two credit union professionals.
As Vice President of Lending, Corliss Nelson (pictured top left) will supervise all loan department personnel and will also provide the addition of a loan underwriting function to RFCU. Nelson is a graduate of Malta High School, the Pacific Banking School, and the American Institute of Banking.
Dana Jonsson (pictured bottom left) will serve as an Agricultural & Business Loan Officer, bringing her wealth of experience and expertise to the credit union. Jonsson joined RFCU following her tenure at First Community Credit Union in Crookston, MN, where she held positions as Branch Manager and Universal Lender.
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Millennium Corporate 2024 Annual Meeting: It’s finally that time again! Registration is now open for Millennium Corporate’s 2024 Annual Meeting — April 24-26 in Kansas City, MO. You can learn more about the event, view this year's agenda, and register on their event page. | | |
2024 CUFEN Conference: Has your credit union been looking for new ideas to start, revamp, or enhance your financial education, community outreach, school branches or youth accounts? Your attendance at the 2024 Union Financial Education Network (CUFEN) Conference may help. Located in Reno July 21-24, this event promises to "infuse your financial education program with fresh energy and new resources." Learn more about the agenda and register before April 30 to take advantage of early bird pricing. | | |
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Collaboration in Wellness Conference: Have you herd heard? The MCUL Group Benefits Trust is hosting its second annual Collaboration in Wellness Conference, May 21 in Helena. As credit union leaders who know the value of healthy employees, this conference is for you! You’ll hear the Trust’s valued partners discuss wins (cost savings, better health) and discuss missed opportunities for healthier employees. Whether you're currently part of the MCUL Trust or interested in joining, you're guaranteed to find this event valuable. Sign up for free today!
BONUS: Learn more about last year's Collaboration in Wellness Conference in the Impact Report section below.
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ADVOCACY UPDATE
Action Alert: Understanding how the CFPB's overdraft proposal could impact access to financial services for credit unions is crucial. Comments sharing specific concerns and stories will help America’s Credit Unions in its push for the CFPB to reconsider the proposal.
CUs Offer Lower Credit Card Rates: A recent CFPB report highlights that credit unions and smaller banks offer lower interest rates compared to the 25 largest credit card companies, providing significant savings for consumers. America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle emphasized the importance of credit unions in providing affordable credit solutions and called for policy improvements to ensure broader access to their offerings.
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Consumer Blog: Do you know the four Cs of allowances? Not a single one is a swear word! Turns out cash (one of the four Cs) is still king when it comes to allowances. This week's consumer blog will teach you the other Cs and throws in an extra for good measure. | |  |
A Direct Line: This week's blog announced an updated tool to assist your supervisory committee with the transition to CECL. Give it a read, check out the resources listed throughout, and share it with your committee members or audit team. | | |
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2023 Impact Report: Health is wealth, and our Group Benefits Trust definitely added to our savings account this year with several new features:
- Hosted the first MCU Group Benefits Trust Collaboration in Wellness event
- Added vendor FedLogic to provide state and federal benefit information and advocacy
- Added vendor Cancer Expert Now to connect patients with world-class physician who will offer guidance after a cancer diagnosis via audio or video
The Collaboration in Wellness event was hugely popular. Here's what one attendee had to say, "I loved the sharing of information. While I knew technically what all of the vendors and partners offered, it was so much more thorough and offered the human connection that just can't be replicated in a handout.”
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Sales Training and Coaching: We partner with SalesCU to offer sales training and coaching to help your staff transform the way they serve your members’ needs. The Credit Union Sales Intensive Workshop is designed to provide the essential sales mindset, processes, and skills for all of your member-facing employees. Send your sales leadership team and trainers to gain the necessary tools to build and support a sales program internally that will move the entire organization forward. Learn more and register for the March 12-14 workshop before March 1. | | |
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Navigating the New Marketing Frontier: In 2024, marketers are poised to navigate a landscape marked by the merging of innovative technology and enhanced consumer experiences. In this recent report from Vericast, discover seven data-supported insights that will shape the marketing industry this year and beyond. Go to our website to learn more about Vericast’s marketing solutions.
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Mortgage Academy: In January, we introduced you to our new Strategic Alliance partner MemberClose, who works with credit unions to save time and money throughout the real estate lending process. We’re excited to share that they now offer on-demand virtual training tailored to equip credit union professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in mortgage lending through their Mortgage Academy. To enroll or gather more information, please visit our website. | | |
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Employee Appreciation Day: Did you know that March 1 is Employee Appreciation Day? Yep, it’s coming up quickly, and your awesome employees deserve to be appreciated. From your front-line employees to your managers and executive teams, everyone wants to know that their work matters. Our suggestions:
- Don't miss this obvious opportunity to appreciate your employees,
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Send a note, throw a party, give a small gift... anything works! If you need an idea, check out the blog: 100 Employee Appreciate Day Ideas, and
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Use Motivosity for all of the above.
Of course, Employee Appreciation Day should be every day; if you want to engage your employees, appreciation should be timely, specific, peer-focused, and more than once a year. But appreciating your employees on March 1 is a great start!
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Earlier this month, the Midland Empire Chapter of Montana's Credit Unions held a reality fair at Billings Senior High School. Volunteers from Billings-area credit unions helped students learn how to manage money and navigate the costs of living expenses — adulting — through educational resources in a fun, active setting. That's the #CUDifference and the cooperation among cooperatives spirit!
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Like many of you, I am a lifelong learner, and I believe that we learn best by doing. As the John Dewey quote above so eloquently states, “education is life itself.” Whenever I want to learn something new, I like to commit to teach it to someone else. That shapes how I learn and to what level, so that I can effectively teach it to others. Montana’s Credit Unions provides some of the best education in the country, both directly and through our business partners, who are thought leaders in their respective spaces. We strive to provide quality programs in a variety of formats for all levels of your credit union.
We also listen to your feedback and suggestions and seek out the best programs for your needs. A great example is the MemberClose Mortgage Academy, which Ranel sent out earlier this week. One of our credit unions identified a need for deeper mortgage training, and Ranel sought out this program and formed a partnership on behalf of our credit unions.
We are launching a new experiential leadership program called Personlify Leadership®, which also came directly from credit union feedback over the past several months. You identified a need for deeper, “learning by doing,” leadership skill training for all levels of the credit union. Personify Leadership is the best leadership program I’ve seen, and I have delivered it to credit union globally over the past 10 years. I am really excited for Montana’s Credit Unions to experience this leading-edge, award-winning program!
Credit union philosophy is another need identified by our credit unions. You are looking for quick-hit modules to share during staff meetings, new employee orientation, and as part of ongoing development plans. To address this need, we are working with the chapter leaders and others to create new modules focused on various elements of the credit union difference. We will roll out the models as they are created by our chapters. We also have our credit union philosophy certification to go deeper into the “why.”
What additional education needs do you have for you and your staff? Do you have a program at your credit union that others would benefit from? Please reach out anytime to discuss your education needs. Have a wonderful weekend and learn something new!
Cooperatively, Gerry
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We hope you didn't resolve to exercise more this year because you have extra fries on your mind. Here are your favorites. | | | |
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This is an internal publication of Montana's Credit Unions intended for our affiliated credit unions and their official family.
For more information, call us or visit our website.
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Montana's Credit Unions | 800-745-5546
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