Through her research, Gilly discovered that while DMPs are often the best option for consumers in debt, they come with cons – DMPs take four to five years to complete, put consumers on a very tight budget and have a low completion rate. She said it's difficult for these consumers to stick to a DMP because they often give in to spending temptations and live beyond their means.

Those who did succeed, however, kept a positive attitude and learned skills for coping with their debt in a healthy way. Most importantly, they discovered how to become "mindful spenders" by slowing down before making a purchase and asking themselves why they wanted to make it.

Her advice to credit unions: Offer a DMP, recommend budgeting apps that can help members track their spending, and encourage members to figure out when they're tempted to spend (for example, through journaling).

Linking Innovation to Success

Credit unions are often told they need to innovate to stay relevant in the future, but what should they really be doing, and how can they measure the success of innovation?

Lerzan Aksoy, associate dean and professor at Fordham University, presented results from the American Innovation Index, which looked at 200 companies in 20 industries (including financial services) to quantify innovation from the consumer's point of view. Aksoy revealed the companies that are the most innovative are also the most successful, and there are two distinct forms of innovation – one that focuses on the release of innovative products and services, and "social innovation," which focuses on contributing to the community in innovative ways.

"Innovators don't have to be disruptors," she said, noting that credit unions are in a good position to impact their communities as social innovators.

She also noted that among financial institutions, the study found credit unions scored the highest in satisfaction along with SunTrust Bank and Capital One, but scored below USAA, Capital One, Chase and TD Bank for innovation. "There's a tremendous opportunity to grow and innovate in our industry," she said.

Move Aside, Fintech; Get Ready for Techfin

The days of concern for fintechs taking away business from traditional financial institutions are behind us. Next on the horizon is a battle of the rapidly-forming credit union-fintech and bank-fintech partnerships versus "techfin" – the Amazons and Googles of the world.

That's a prediction from Bill Maurer, dean of social sciences at the University of California, Irvine. In his presentation on emerging technology, Maurer also pointed out that while there's a lot of experimentation going on in the financial technology space, a lot of companies are simply coming out with different versions of the same product (such as Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans, Kabbage and AutoGravity).

He noted the most significant development in fintech and payments hasn't been the ability to make a payment with a smartphone, but rather the release of apps like Lyft and Airbnb, which unbundle financial services by presenting a convenient service on the front-end and taking care of the payment in the background.

Maurer recommended credit unions take a front seat in data custodianship, an area that discussions are beginning to shift to from data security. While people are worrying what many companies are doing with their data, credit unions are in a unique position because their members trust them to care for their data. "Credit unions could do this and market it quite well," he said. "They can take leadership in this area that no one has claimed a stake in yet."