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Orange County’s Credit Union also embraced a more consultative approach in serving members when it made financial well-being for all a strategic focus. The $2.3 billion asset community credit union in Santa Ana, Calif., has a history of serving city and county employees.
It surveys these groups and uses third-party demographic data to better understand members’ financial behaviors, says Amber Cisneros, senior vice president and chief member experience officer.
Orange County’s strives to turn routine member interactions such as account openings or loan approvals—even denials—into meaningful moments, she says. “How do we provide members with the tools they need to put that information into action? That’s where the gap is: We’re inundated with information, but how do we turn that information into financial empowerment?”Obtaining community development financial institution status through the Treasury Department enables Orange County’s to better understand members’ challenges. During the credit union’s original certification, it learned that 61% of its members are low income, 55% are very low income, and 21% are extremely low income, Cisneros says.
“It’s our responsibility to make sure we give all of our members the opportunities and the confidence they need to make good financial decisions,” she says.
To meet that responsibility, Orange County’s trains staff in credit counseling to improve members’ credit scores and assist them through the lending process. “There’s a lot of conversation about meeting members where they are,” Cisneros says. “We start there, but these conversations are about taking it to the next level.”
Credit unions also focus on improving employees’ financial well-being. Among those efforts is a program at Orange County’s to encourage staff to build savings for financial emergencies. It includes a potential bonus for successful savers and access to a line of credit.
The credit union also offers staff education grants and tuition reimbursement.
“In our strategic plan, we talk about our three stakeholders—our members, our associates, and our community—and how it’s about all of them working together,” Cisneros says. “They’re all equally vital to our success.”
BCU offers employees Financial Health Network assessments and makes financial well-being a part of its benefits plan.
“Our approach to financial well-being is from the perspective of an employer and what financially healthy employees mean to an organization,” says Dryfhout. “We’ve integrated that value into our culture.”
Abound uses most of the financial literacy content presented in schools and at community events as training modules for staff. Employees also are eligible for financial counseling.
“Helping our team members achieve financial health,” Darabos says, “only improves their ability to deliver service and education to our members.”
Programs that improve members’ financial well-being require a level of commitment and resources many small credit unions find overwhelming.
Mira Ness, CEO at $37 million asset New York University (NYU) Federal Credit Union, overcomes this feeling with a resolute determination.
“I can’t say no,” she says.
Serving NYU faculty, staff, students, alumni, and their families, the credit union includes members across the economic ladder. But their place on that ladder doesn’t predict personal finance acumen, Ness says.
“I’ve had faculty members ask me to explain an interest rate,” she says.
“People from all walks of life need financial wellness.”
NYU Federal’s signature financial wellness initiative is its mortgage preparedness program, which includes a series of webinars, financial counseling, and, for members who qualify, their first mortgage.
The credit union’s diverse university membership requires flexibility.
“We do webinars for security guards at 11:30 p.m. when their shift changes,” Ness says. “Sometimes we’ll do them at 6 a.m. in a hospital because that’s when another shift starts.”
Such obstacles don’t lessen NYU Federal’s resolve. “Our chief financial officer and our chief lending officer both started as member service representatives,” Ness says. “They are certified housing counselors. Everybody knows our mission and vision, and everybody is on the same page.”
She recalls two NYU employees, both earning middle-income salaries, who leveraged the credit union’s mortgage preparedness program to purchase three homes and create a monthly stream of rental income.
“If you’re driving somewhere, you need a GPS, right?” Ness says. “If someone has that dream, we provide them with the GPS to get there.
This article appeared in the Spring 2022 issue of Credit Union Magazine. Subscribe here.