Loading ...
Read Shared iDiz anywhere! We’ve put the best articles from two years of SharediDiz in this handy portable edition. Email us your name and address to get your free copy!
Most people find their bosses to be decent people, but you may have a doozy. To find out how your boss rates, take the Boss Reality Assessment Survey System (BRASS) developed by Bob Sutton PhD, blogger and author of (what else?) Good Boss, Bad Boss.
Electric cars have been around for a hundred years or so, but until now, they’ve been at the fringes of the automotive world. This fall, the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt will go on sale, and Ford and Mitsubishi are planning to launch their electric cars sometime next year. Oh, and let’s not forget there are at least two companies (Zero and Brammo) selling street legal electric motorcycles right now.
As all CU marketers know, home equity loans have always been a very popular product for credit unions to offer. Many of your members are probably homeowners and after several years, they’re sitting on a nice pile of cash. When the kids are ready to go to college, there’s often a nice nest egg to tap into to pay for college. Or a member could choose to fix up their home or take a fabulous vacation.
The jurors in the Rod Blagojevich trial complained about the 100+ pages of instructions that the judge handed them when they began their 14 days of deliberations. Of the 24 counts, many came in multiple parts and were “highly technical and interconnected.” According to the NYTimes, the verdict sheet looked like an elaborate IRS form. The jurors, while no dummies, were overwhelmed. “It was like, ‘Here’s a manual, go fly the space shuttle,’” said juror Steve Wlodek. The result, as we all know by now, was one verdict out of 24 counts. The prosecution provided so much information, the jury simply could not connect the dots.
It seems these days that in addition to worrying about grades, students need to worry about their credit as well. How they’re going to get it, how they’ll manage it, and what impact it will have on their ability to get a job, a car loan or an apartment.
I’m not sure if this was intentional or not, but opting out of Overdraft Protection actually enables someone to overdraw their account with no penalty.
Case in point: I opted out of ODP on my daughter’s checking account (which is tied to mine online) so that she couldn’t go to McDonald’s and overdraw her account and end up paying $30 for chicken McNuggets. Her debit card should simply be declined if there aren’t enough funds there to cover her purchase. No gas. No fast food. No movie from iTunes.
I recently took a long-weekend trip. I went home to celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday. I was filled with anticipation because I was throwing a surprise party for her. I was excited. Everything was perfect for the 3 days I was away. Then I tried to get home. My flight was messed up due to weather in Chicago, then the airline overbooked me on a flight the next day. To sum up: it took me about 35 hours to get home. Did it ruin my trip? Pretty much.
From the bizarre goings-on at NCUA to the expensive “consumer protection” legislation coming online, the only thing that’s certain is that things are changing fast for CUs. Sources of fee income are shrinking, expenses are rising, and margins are squeezed tighter than ever. Things are getting Weird with a capital “W”. It’s time to think the unthinkable and mull the outrageous.
I was an English major in college. I also grew up in a household where I was constantly
corrected if I used incorrect grammar. I was taught at an early age to say “This is she” when the phone rang and someone asked for me. “This is her” would have resulted in a scolding and a rant from my father. Needless to say, I learned to speak correctly. I also learned how to write correctly.
I had to be a member for the first time in 10 years. Until a couple months ago, being an employee sure had its perks. There’s a lot to be said for being able to walk down the hall or pick up the phone to talk to someone who could help me in a bind.
At the 2010 MAC Conference, Bob Hoel, PhD of the Filene Research Institute shared these megatrends that are reshaping the financial services world:
1. Demographic trends
When the new opt-in law for overdraft protection on ATM and debit transactions goes into effect on August 15, will your credit union be ready? At a recent CFO conference, only about a third of those attending said that they were already taking action to encourage members to opt in to overdraft protection for ATM and debit transactions.
Constantly promoting lower rates and off-the-shelf products have turned most financial institutions into little Walmarts. How, you may ask?
Walmart has changed how consumers perceive a good deal. From how products are packaged and presented, to where they are made, everything is negotiable because cost is King. In order to keep it on the shelf, manufacturers have had to lose the box, change the shape, increase the volume, cut the price, and become a commodity. And it has obviously worked, since Walmart is the largest retailer in the USA, Mexico and Canada, and 93% of American households shop at least once a year there. Walmart has been able to change our concept of what something should cost, and as a result, consumers have gotten used to the idea of paying less yet buying more.
Passage of the health care finance legislation last week filled the news, and the opinion columns are overflowing. Whether you’re ranting, overjoyed, or just plain confused, it’s safe to say that no one knows exactly what the future will hold. We have years of politicking, legislation, and regulation ahead of us before the intended and unintended effects of the legislation become clear.
For those of you who were unable to get to Washington DC for the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council Conference, here are some of the bits of wisdom I wrote down: