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Credit Union Times

JUNE 29, 2016 | VOL. 27 | NO. 21 | CUTIMES.COM

FOCUSREPORT:

CONSUMER LENDING

Credit unions continue to seek ways to attract millennials – a demographic often saddled with debt – and some found private student loans and student loan refinances to be the answer. Learn more in this Focus Report. Y8

onservatorship is a scary word, and only a lucky few credit unions have lived to talk about it.

For the tiny handful that have
convinced regulators in recent
years to give them a second
chance and release them from
conservatorship, Independence
Day takes on a whole new mean-
ing. The leaders who beat those
long odds shared a few war stories
with CU Times.

One of the newest members of
that tiny survivors’ club, the Rich-
ardson, Texas-based Texans Cred-
it Union, won back its freedom on
June 17. Back in April 2011, the
NCUA put the $1.5 billion credit
union into conservatorship. The
agency and the credit union’s
leaders then went to work tack-
ling troubled assets, improving
lending controls, revitalizing op-
erations and improving operating
efficiencies. According to the reg-
ulator, the 111,000-member credit
union gained more than $100 mil-
lion in net worth during that time.

That’s a rare outcome. Most of the time, liquidating or merging with another credit union are a credit union’s only options once it goes into conservatorship. And from a leadership perspective, those might appear to be the sanest options anyway, because returning from conservator-

STRATEGY

Conserved CUs Reclaim Freedom

TINA OREM

torem@cutimes.com

Y17

CU Loan
Serves
Gender
Fluid
Market
PETER STROZNIAK

pstrozniak@cutimes.com

he $9 million, Chicago-based North Side Community Federal Credit Union has its roots in activism.

In the early 1970s, when Angela Turley sought a bank loan to buy a house in the city’s uptown neighborhood, a banker said no, instead suggesting she look for a new home in a Chicago suburb. Because of that redlining experience, in addition to her knowledge that women lacked access to financial services, Turley was inspired to establish the credit union in 1974 when the Equal Credit Opportunity Act was passed, giving women the right to apply for credit.

That same activism lives on at North Side Community, which is believed to be the first financial institution in the nation to launch a gender-affirming procedures loan product package, which was created by the credit union’s accounting specialist, Lee Dewey, an LGBTQ activist.

“We were kind of founded on activism,” Sarah Marshall, president/ CEO of North Side Community, said. “We have a board member who is pretty active in the Y14

LENDING

Y15

Must Reads

STRATEGY

Technology Aids Compliance Earning a profit while complying with regulations is an ongoing challenge for credit unions. But the $116 million, Fairlawn, Ohio-based Towpath Credit Union recently discovered new tools that help it address compliance roadblocks while continuing to grow its lending program.

The credit union collaborated with regulatory compliance firm PolicyWorks, which is wholly-owned by the Iowa Credit Union League, Ohio Credit Union League, and California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues. It also began using ComplySight, a web-based compliance management and tracking tool developed by League InfoSight – an initiative developed by several leagues, including Policy Works’ three league-owners, to provide useful compliance resources to member credit unions.

PolicyWorks incorporates a management consulting component into ComplySight, making it more powerful for credit unions. The technology, along with Policy Works’ staff members, reviews documents and files in key areas of risk, allowing Towpath to manage compliance requirements responsibly.

ComplySight’s system pushes out regulatory alerts to inform credit unions about new or upcoming credit union compliance requirements. The tool also explains credit union regulations and other requirements in a language that is easy to under-