Be honest — how many of you have web sites that show a Big Scary Lawyer Warning (BSLW) like this when a member clicks a link to another site?

OH NOES! You are leaving the ABCFCU web site! ABFCU has no control over and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other web sites. ABCFCU does not endorse or guarantee products, information or recommendations provided by linked sites and is not liable for failure of products or services advertised on these site. So if you click a link somewhere else and your toes fall off, don’t come running to us!

Is this REALLY necessary? I don’t think it ever was. Yes, of course you should make it clear when someone is leaving your site, but do you have to remind people that you’re not responsible for the entire internet? Besides, who’s going to read all that?

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A while back, I wrote a post detailing my finally becoming a member of a CU. I joined because I needed a Health Savings Account and this nice local credit union offered one. My bank did not.

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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.

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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.

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When you think about it, credit unions are one of the rarest types of organizations — outside of being self-sufficient, they have absolutely no purpose other than making things better for the people around them. Whatever you call it — Goodness, Quality, Grooviness, or Positive Mojo — credit unions sure do manufacture a lot of it.

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People are holding onto cars for 9.4 years instead of trading them in, the highest number of people ever are carrying library cards, and DIY has picked up 30% of the home repair market. Getting value out of every purchase has made durability the latest “trend” in our cultural values.

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I have a theory that you cannot have a conversation with someone from Richmond without one person mentioning our local grocery store, Ukrops. You see Ukrops is a store so embedded into Richmond’s culture that when word got out that they may possibly sell out to a larger chain, it left us all stunned.

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One of the more interesting angles I’ve seen lately on the whole health care/insurance mess is legislation taking shape to set up health insurance co-ops. It’s hard to tell what will emerge and whether it will still look like a good idea given the inevitable political wrangling, but gee, doesn’t this sound like a familiar approach to tackling a tough financial problem?

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Bank of America announced today that it is “doing something nice” for its’ customers. I know this may come across as a little shocking, but it is true. BofA is lowering one of their overdraft fees. If you overdraw by $5.00 or less, you’ll only be hit with a $10 fee. Not bad.

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We all know that big changes are coming for credit card issuers — Lisa’s article covered some of the things banks are doing to make up for that lost income.

Over here in CU land, changes are far less drastic. In many cases, CU card programs won’t need any real changes to comply with the new regulations, other than some tweaks to disclosures. A lot of details are still up in the air, but it seems clear that most of the prohibited practices just weren’t part of what CUs were doing anyway. Credit unions simply haven’t been guilty of the blatant gouging seen in the bank world.

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Your CU’s Platinum card probably has a perfectly sane rate around 10% or below, you still have a 25 day grace period on purchases, and oh, yes — you haven’t been juggling the rules every few weeks or months to squeeze the last few pennies from your members.

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I recently noticed an interesting article on the rising numbers of Patient Care Advocates. Patient Care Advocates help people navigate the complexities of the health care system. Even a very ordinary medical condition requires coordination among health care providers, insurance companies, and all their associated bureaucracies and barriers. Patient Care Advocates also help keep lines of communication open and encourage providers to coordinate and cooperate. Their expertise can literally save lives.

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J.P. Morgan, Meanie Banker

What famous person would you guess said the above? The president? A credit union CEO?? Or a smug top-ranking banker?

If you guessed the latter, you’re right. It was J. P. Morgan. And that same sentiment seems to be shared by most of the top bank CEOs as evidenced by their performance in front of the Senate committee last week. Eight of them were there to tell us how we, the taxpayers, have benefited from all the billions of dollars they’ve received from, well, us, the taxpayers.

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The estimated numbers associated with NCUA’s corporate CU stabilization program are causing everything from outrage to anger. Of course, the average credit union had a record 2008 and is still doing quite well. But even if the final numbers for the corporate CU bailout are nowhere near the estimates, it’s a shock to the system for CUs and CU marketers. The thought of that massive insurance bill looming will undoubtedly cause changes — maybe even to marketing budgets.

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I could never be a diplomat or a politician. My wife often tells me I am “blunt” and “bruisingly honest” — that too often I say what I think, no matter how abrupt and insensitive it may be. And even though most people claim to want to deal with a straight shooter, they prefer diplomacy, and the occasional bit of ego-stroking.

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