Inspiring Small Credit Unions: Serve Your Members First

Who says small credit unions are dead? You’d be hard pressed to find that sentiment among the members of the CUNA Small Credit Union Committee, all of whom – ranging in assets from $4 million to $96 million – lead credit unions that continue to thrive.

That’s why the committee, which advises the CUNA board on the issues facing small credit unions, will continue this year writing quarterly op-eds featuring the amazing work of its members; to demonstrate how we continue to find success as the smallest institutions in our movement.

If nothing else, we hope to inspire other small credit unions to keep fighting.

We start with a little ironworkers credit union in Portland, Ore. – the credit union I have the honor of serving as president/CEO.

I took over Pacific Northwest Ironworkers Federal Credit Union roughly a decade ago, then in the middle of the institution’s most challenging time. At $7.9 million in assets, we were in net-worth restoration, with a disastrous CAMEL rating, and there were times when I wondered if the credit union would survive.

But I saw the blue collar men and women this organization was supposed to serve. I knew these ironworkers had many needs. And I knew no one was going to help them like we could.

But how would we do it?

Last year, the CUNA Small Credit Union Committee identified the four biggest barriers to success for small credit unions: Having talented staff, adding members, collaboration, and, perhaps most importantly, finding and cultivating a strategic focus or niche.

That last point is probably the biggest reason why we’ve not only turned things around, but grown exponentially.

Identifying and Executing Our Strategic Focus

Our credit union’s niche may have already been well defined, but how we executed serving that group was what made the difference.

To redirect this organization, to strengthen it financially, it wasn’t enough to merely call ourselves the ironworkers credit union and assume folks would flock to our branches.

Instead, we started attending and presenting at ironworker union meetings. We offered services that were relevant to our members – for example, remote deposit capture for ironworkers who don’t have direct deposit because they’re typically paid by check.

Next, we created marketing materials that made sense for ironworkers: Stickers that are perfect for featuring on safety helmets and T-shirts that look quite in place on the backs of these union folks.

But maybe most importantly, maybe the thing has allowed us to grow and achieve the very lofty goals we have set for ourselves over the past 10 years, we decided to place a major emphasis on serving our current members – focusing on the people who have already made the decision to join our credit union.

There has been no growth strategy more potent.

Serving Current Members

The centerpiece of that strategy has been to make sure we talk to our members about where they’re getting their financing. If they have a loan somewhere else, we explain to them why it should be at the credit union.

We also look for loans on credit reports and get our members to open checking accounts with the credit union. By learning where else our members are making payments, we can inform them that we can provide better rates, shorten their terms and save them thousands of dollars.

And when we have those conversations, 99% bring those loans to us.

In every interaction we have with our members, or by asking our data processor for member credit information, we’re always finding clues that tell us when members have loans elsewhere. And when we identify those opportunities, we take advantage and do everything in our power to get those loans here.

No doubt, this strategy is good for the credit union – we’re currently 106% loaned out – but more importantly it does our members a huge service. It pulls them away from finance companies that don’t have our members’ best interests in mind. It builds loyalty.

And now it’s building ambassadors.

A National Small CU

You might not know this, but ironworkers travel. They often take short-term work, fly in for jobs and then return to their homes across the country after they’re finished. And when those ironworkers return home, we’re finding that they often share the news about our credit union.

For a long time, we couldn’t serve the folks who would hear about us and call to ask if they could join. But after a great deal of planning, we now believe we can serve them. And with recent approval from the NCUA, we now have a national charter that permits us to serve ironworkers in all corners of the country.

We’re now Ironworkers USA Federal Credit Union.

Sure, that sounds big. At 11 employees, a national charter serving ironworkers nationwide feels like a huge leap from the $7.9 million credit union we once were, even if as of Dec. 31, 2018, we are now almost at $33 million!

But our mission hasn’t changed, and it never will. Our goal of serving ironworkers, who still desperately need our financial support, hasn’t changed. We’ll simply continue doing what we set out to do 10 years ago: Double down on our strategic focus and remind ourselves that we can serve this group better than anyone else.

That’s how you thrive as a small credit union. That’s what will keep us successful.

Teri Robinson is President/CEO for Ironworkers USA FCU and Chair of the CUNA Small Credit Union Committee. She can be reached at 503-546-6572 or teri@ironworkersfcu.org.