A Surprise 2020 Pandemic Byproduct: Transparency

I really can’t imagine trying to date amid this pandemic. Picture it: You’ve finally recovered from a bad breakup and decide that 2020 is going to be “your year” to put yourself out there. All of a sudden, your options have dwindled down to A) Endless FaceTime “dates” and socially-distanced, masked walks in the park, both of which don’t allow you to judge whether that crucial, in-the-flesh chemistry exists, or B) Going about your dating life as if the pandemic doesn’t exist and risking catching COVID from someone who “forgot” their wallet at dinner.

However, after really thinking about it, I realized that 2020 romance-seekers have an advantage because there’s no room for game-playing. First, you can find out immediately what someone’s stance is on COVID protocol (tip: If they suggest meeting at their place right away, it probably isn’t in line with yours). Second, if you make it clear that you want to spend time getting to know a person by phone/at a safe distance first, and only get physically close after you’ve both quarantined and tested negative, you’ll easily weed out anyone who isn’t serious about a relationship.

In this year’s dating world, unless you don’t care about catching or spreading COVID, there’s no space for small talk, casual encounters, secret side pieces or post-hookup ghosting. Our current circumstances have forced people – or at least given them a good excuse – to be transparent, lay all their cards on the table, and gather a lot of information about someone before deciding if they’re even worth a hug or handshake.

This epiphany came to mind last week as I was speaking with CU Business Group CEO Larry Middleman and COO Rachel Snyder via Zoom, ahead of the Portland, Ore.-based CUSO’s first virtual conference, about what it’s like for credit unions vetting businesses to lend money to this year. They shared positive news about credit union business services amid this year’s economic upheaval, including increased transparency between credit unions and prospective business borrowers.

“Now is a great time to be a lender. If you’re thinking about granting a loan, you have the opportunity to ask all the questions you want,” Middleman said. “You can ask about their COVID business plan, look at trends and see how that business has survived over the last six months, and what their forecast is and how realistic that is. And in this low-rate environment, you have a very compelling sales pitch, because the business can save money on their debt payments.”

The pandemic has also given credit unions an opportunity to shift their focus to businesses that are most likely to survive – for example, commercial real estate properties that house storage units or manufacturing businesses instead of retail stores. “They have the ability to reassess different industries and readjust their focus from what it may have been at the beginning of the year – and become aggressive in going after the business and being the one to do the refinance, instead of losing their member to someone else’s refinance,” he said.

When the pandemic hit in March, credit unions granted loan payment deferrals to panicked business owners left and right, wondering if they were heading toward the edge of a cliff and would soon be bracing for a fall when government assistance ran out. The great news: That drop-off hasn’t been as big of an event as some feared for the credit unions that work with CUBG, which are primarily involved in commercial real estate.

“Of all the credit unions I talked to, the borrowers that requested deferrals have not come back for a second request,” Middleman said.

“The types of businesses most credit unions serve really aren’t the folks that felt the biggest impact of the pandemic, so they’ve been a bit insulated,” Snyder added. “Where it would hit the credit union is if, for example, a real estate investor who owns a small strip mall asks for a deferral.” And so far, those types of borrowers have not asked for deferrals beyond their original 90-day or six-month requests; however, Snyder warned, it’s still early.

As the pandemic pushed workers who had the ability to perform their jobs from home offsite, some of these commercial property owners have seen their tenants’ offices sit unoccupied. At this point, many of those office building tenants intend to bring their remote workforce back onsite when the pandemic is over and have maintained their leases. But again, it’s still early. It’s November, and many employers believe their workforce will be back to their pre-pandemic routines by the end of 2021. That may seem realistic now, but remember when back in April we all shuddered at the thought that we might have to “do this” until Memorial Day?

“Over the next few months, we’ll start to see how long people can continue to live off their cash reserves and make up for lost rents,” Middleman said. “For businesses where the forecast is not so positive, they may say, you know, I’ve been supporting this for six months and I’m done.”

In 2019, CUBG shared that one goal credit unions had in the business services space was to increase deposits – and perhaps they should have been careful what they wished for.

“We did increase deposits, but it wasn’t a result of selling more products and services to businesses, or strengthening those relationships,” Snyder said. “The influx of deposits from businesses was really tied to the stimulus money, or because the credit union was able to help with the PPP loan so they decided to move some funds into the credit union.”

Business relationships are often forged in person in a credit union branch. With many branches operating with reduced hours, and nervous members rushing in and out of branches to reduce their amount of time spent in public, this hasn’t exactly been the year for indoor camaraderie-building.

Still, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has enabled credit unions to act as knights in shining armor for many business owners this year. While CUBG didn’t directly process any PPP loans (it historically has not focused on Small Business Administration loans), it assisted by providing guidance, expertise and clarification to credit unions that took on the task of making them. The program allowed cooperatives to shine – according to data supplied by CUBG, banks made the most PPP loans (4.4 million for a total of $496.7 billion), but credit unions came in second with 196,010 loans for a total of $9.7 billion.

“One of those silver linings is that credit unions were able to use this opportunity to be the hero, and really come through for some of these small businesses and get these PPP dollars out,” Snyder said.

Just as we’ve had to settle for virtual connections in our personal lives this year, CUBG, like other credit union organizations, was challenged with recreating its annual in-person conference online. Snyder noted that the CUSO considered cancelling its conferences altogether, but decided to make it happen virtually because “things couldn’t just stand still.” Many of us have felt the same when it comes to connecting with others outside of work this year – once we realized we wouldn’t be “going back to normal” any time soon, we embraced Zoom and FaceTime to create new friendships and relationships.

There were benefits to the virtual conference format for CUBG. Because no one had to travel, it drew a record 600 attendees and landed an all-star speaker lineup. And even when it’s safe to hold events in person again, the CUSO may host its conference as a hybrid onsite-virtual event to maintain some of those benefits.

One lesson many of us have learned this year is that virtual meetings are valuable even when we’re not in a pandemic. For example, executives who realized meetings can be just as effective over Zoom as they are in person may choose to save their money on flights and hotels indefinitely. And a friend of mine who has been braving the COVID dating world told me she plans to continue screening men over FaceTime before meeting in person going forward (and she’s absolutely right – why drive all the way across town when you could have found out from your living room that the photo in someone’s dating profile is 20 years old?).

2020 has brought tragedy and disappointment, but despite that, let’s focus on the things we may not have tried if we hadn’t lived this year in a state of emergency – namely, that being open, honest and transparent with one another from the get-go is good for us.

Natasha Chilingerian is executive editor for CU Times. She can be reached at nchilingerian@cutimes.com.