Like a Rolling Stone: No Moss on Credit Union Times

As you flip through the pages of Credit Union Times this week, you’ll find a few changes for the New Year-a bit of early spring cleaning you could say. And as we sweep the cobwebs away throughout the year, you’ll notice some things we hope you’ll find make Credit Union Times even more useful.We’ve added a table of contents on page 4 to help guide you directly to the news that’s most important to you, whether it be credit cards or marketing or technology. As you can clearly see, we are running a story on credit unions’ use of blogs that your credit union can use as a general best practices framework on page 6. How are credit unions doing their part to provide relief to the ailing Big 3 automakers? See page 7. The latest regulatory and compliance news: page 10. Or maybe you just want to compare your credit union with your peers in holiday giving: page 17. It’s all listed in the table of contents.Credit Union Times will also run a new feature in 2009: the Focus Report. We’ve started with technology (see pages 19-26) because it consistently ranks among the top-tier interests in our reader surveys. Once a month, the more in-depth Focus Report will replace our weekly, three-page Special Report, covering a variety of topics you, our readers, have said are top-of-mind. From mortgage lending (Feb. 4) to auto lending (July 8) to Gen Y (Aug. 12), we’ve got you covered. And, the Focus Report will always be on the center spread of Credit Union Times, so you’re free to tear it out if the subject is of particular interest to you.We are also adding some new topics for the Special Reports. We’ll keep up with thecredit/debit/ATM and CUSO coverage, but we’re also going to highlight new topics. We aren’t going to just throw a Special Report at you on HR; instead it will carry an emphasis onrecruitment and retention or training or benefits. Credit Union Times will drill down into timely issues like life-style lending and baby boomer services.We’ve also started with a few small tweaks to make the magazine simply appear fresher-you might say as fresh as the news on its pages. After 18 successful years, it’s high-time Credit Union Times got a bit more contemporary look. We’ve changed up the banners and footers, subheads and bylines. As with every business, appearances do matter. Look for more to come in the New Year.We will continue with some noteworthy projects we started last year. “Gen Y Back Talk,” the regular column by our insightful and age-appropriate Staff Reporter Lindsey Siegriest, has proven immensely popular and will continue to run in the first issue of every month (see page 16). Our CEO’s Corner has also received high marks, so we plan to increase its appearances in our pages.At the same time, since this is the season for resolutions, we will continue provide you with breaking news that is the most accurate, unbiased and easy to understand in the industry. If you want to know what’s really going on at the corporate credit unions, come to us. Trying to figure out the best way to do collections credit union-style? Read us. How do your mortgage lending practices stack up to your fellow credit unions? You’ll find continuous coverage of this and more in Credit Union Times throughout 2009 and beyond.Most importantly, let us know what you think. Credit Union Times exists simply to keep those in the credit union industry informed of what is going on around them, things that busy professionals may not see as they handle the fire drills of their daily routines. Like the changes we’ve made? Let us know. Don’t like them? Tell us. Have suggestions for more or different news coverage? Share them. My e-mail address always appears just below this column and those of our entire editorial team to the left…for now.–Comments? E-mail [email protected]