July 9, 2025

From Onboarding to Upsell: A Digital Playbook for Credit Unions

From Onboarding to Upsell: A Digital Playbook for Credit Unions
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As credit unions grapple with an increasingly digital-first market, the path to growth lies in strategic partnerships, streamlined onboarding, and data-driven cross-sell strategies.

In this episode, host Matt Snow sits down with Kirk Drake—author, entrepreneur, and founder of CU 2.0—to explore how credit unions can stay relevant in a fast-changing financial landscape. Drawing on decades of experience in FinTech and community banking, Kirk shares practical insights on building strategic partnerships, leveraging emerging tech like crypto and transforming credit unions into digitally driven community hubs.

Join us as we discuss:

  • Why credit unions must embrace AI to meet evolving member expectations
  • The growing importance of FinTech collaboration in driving innovation
  • How shifting consumer behavior is reshaping onboarding and engagement
  • Strategies for serving both traditional and non-traditional demographics
  • What it takes to future-proof credit unions in a digital-first world
WEBVTT

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Hey, everyone, welcome to another episode of Leaders in Lending.

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I'm your host Matt Snow joined this episode by Kirk

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Drake Kirk. Welcome to the podcast.

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Hey, thanks for having me all today.

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Kirk a man of many talents.

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I've got your book here with me too, author of

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CU two dot zero, founder and owner of that company

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as well. I hear you own a winery yet I've

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yet to be invited up there, but sounds like you're

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involved in a lot. Maybe talk a little bit about

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your background, how you got involved with credit unions and

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what you're up to today.

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Yeah.

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Sure, Well, first off, you're always welcome, No, no need

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for a formal invite. But yeah, So I started working

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at a high school bank or started high school bank

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about thirty years ago, and then worked for a couple

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of different credit unions in the DC area. Somewhere along

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the line, spent a short stint at Feisser where it

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took I think nine people to approve a three dollars stapler,

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and I said that was not my that was not

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going to be my place of residence for long, and

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then went kind of back on the credit inside for

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five six years before starting a couple of different quso's

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ongoing operations see wallet. And then maybe seven eight years

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ago really kind of got passionate around how do I

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really help early stage entrepreneurs that are trying to break

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into credit unions and help credit unions who are trying

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to really devise a strategy to compete with with and

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partner with FinTechs in a more meaningful way. And so

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wrote the Crediting two point zero book, which really focused

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on digital transformation, followed by an aibook that got publised

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a couple of years ago, similar to the Digital Transformation,

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but all really around how are you going to incorporate

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AI into your credit union and where to really be

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thinking about that? And then kind of in that same

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Vein was starting the Winery seven eight years ago as well.

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So it's been a busy seven eight years, but it's

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sort of come out the other end of it and

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really happy with where we are today.

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Awesome. Yeah, maybe that's a good place to start.

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When you talk about partnerships or FinTechs and credit unions

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working together, why do you think that's a good match?

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What makes that a good partnership?

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Yeah, I think there's two sides of it. I think

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the first side of it is, I think there's some

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level of it. It's just the reality of new entrants

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innovators dilemma, right situation where the FinTechs have the time,

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capital and ability to go really really deep on one

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particular part of the business. Oftentimes it feels like creditans

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are running with your sixty different businesses within that and

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so when you can get that specialization, you really find

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unique opportunities yield arbitrage, you know, et cetera, or service

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in that mode. And then I think on the other

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side of it is because creditans are trying to tackle

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so many things at the same time and not being

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able to kind of really focus deep on any one areas.

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One of those areas, it's me it's a real opportunity

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to partner with someone who could really make their experience

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and their performance that much better by finding the right

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partner in that. And then I think the last piece

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of it is there's definitely a group of FinTechs that

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are actively trying to reach or eat credit unds lunches

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into trying to really avoid those by partnering with the

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ones who are really looking to help.

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Yeah, I agree with that.

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Is there do you think about that separation in those

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trying to partner versus take their business? What do you

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think the differentiator there is what causes one fintech to

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be in one camp versus another. Yeah, I'll start obviously,

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we were more in the partner camp, and we've got

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a point of view on how we got there, But

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curious like your perspective on that journey.

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Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think a lot of times

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we really kind of classified as there's those that want

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to eat your lunch, those that want to eat lunch

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with you, and those that want to serve you lunch

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right and upstart certainly in the not to eat your

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lunch camp, And so I think it's usually it comes

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down to the recognition that fintech either needs scale and

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breadth a number of users, and credit unis are a

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great way to partner on that. So that's one angle,

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and the other angle is credit UN's being kind of

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a downstream distributor where there's a scale and a breadth

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that the fintech can get, whether it's on customer acquisition

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or particular type of loan or something like that. Where

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you know, a credit union sitting in a you know,

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a state or a region just can't get enough scale

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of that particular type of a product or opportunity, and

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so partner at the fintech who can really bring that

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scale to that particular loan product, service product, you know,

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depositive product, et cetera, ends up being really meaningful.

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Yeah, I think that makes sense.

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I think the other thing that's interesting to me is

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thinking about, just as you mentioned, distribution, so physical versus

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digital channels. You know, I've been in banking and financial

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services a long time as well and was always surprised

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at the number of people like using the branch still

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engaged and use those as a touch point into financial services,

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Like is that do you think that's like accelerating downward?

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Will that always be a part of the equation, like that.

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Human interaction or how how do you view the like

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the trend of that in the near future.

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Yeah, I mean, I think we have some stats that

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shows something like seventy percent of consumers are going to

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Google to find a loan in the first place, right,

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And so if you think about eight thousand banks and

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credit unions competing for that that particular keyword or that

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particular type of loan, it's a pretty you know, it's

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pretty expensive to try and you know, target that. Versus

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a fintech that can really own a digital channel of

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digital experience and put themselves either in the flow point

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of sale piece of it or the right digital you know,

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piece of it, they just end up being able to

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be much more competitive at understanding and finding those consumers,

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pricing them correctly, and then bringing them into the credit

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union Versus when a credit union tries to compete in

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that space, oftentimes they can't even afford the marketing costs,

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let alone you know, the rest of the fulfillment of

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the rest of those pieces in there.

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Yeah, very true, And it's funny even like the eight thousand,

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I mean, that seems like a huge number and is,

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but is even low considering where it was ten fifteen

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years ago.

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Sure, Yeah, do you see like the.

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Number of institutions still kind of merging or I hesitate

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to like putting the current context of what we're at

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the end of April here talking and who knows with

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the state of regulation and the government and kind of the.

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The Yeah, a pretty steady you know consolidation over the

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last ten years or last twenty years really since I

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started working in credit unions, and you know, it's not

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like they're going out of business, they're just merging and

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becoming healthier and having more scale. But I but I

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think it also brings up the you know, the kind

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of key piece of Just as much as those distribution

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channels are hyper competitive for people that aren't playing on

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a national level, your consumers are being in your members

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are being targeted on a national level, so you can

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be in you know, middle of nowhere America and that

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consumer because of the Internet and because of digital accessibility.

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It used to be competed with the bank down the

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street and maybe a national bank who had some smart

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you know, you know, physical mail strategies or something like that.

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But now you're competing against everybody who has a digital

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footprint in that and that really shifts that that cycle

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so that the credit it isn't just competing locally, they're

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competing regionally, nationally and in a Britique setting, and that

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really shifts the balance to entities that can can understand

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and capture that on a much broader basis and put

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it directly in front of the consumer.

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Yeah, that's so true.

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I hadn't really thought of that competing on all those

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levels now and how hard that would be and kind

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of back to the idea of partnering with credit unions again,

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like for us at Upstart, I think we did not

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want to get in the business of trying to unseat

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banks and credit unions who've been building their brands in

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the community for hundreds of years and focus on the

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technology side, which we're good at. But it did get

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me thinking, especially after a conversation with Kurt Lynn recently

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who founded and runs Pinwheel, about you know again like

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companies focusing on what they're good at or what differentiates

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them and kind of building on what you said with

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banks and credit unions partnering with FinTechs, like credit unions

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have have developed a good relationship or specialty around certain

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member groups or you know, select employer groups, so there's

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some some tighter reason behind their existence other than just

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financial services. And you know, typically those were geography or

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employer based. Like do you see that changing today? I

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started to do a little thought exercise, like what would

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be the community today, Like is it a YouTube influencer?

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Imagine like you give a.

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Little bit away personally with my kids and their age,

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but like mister beast, would he start a credit union.

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Is that a community that people would care about.

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Or it's funny? I mean, I certainly think my kids

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would jump on that in a second. It would be good,

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right like, So I agree, I mean, I do think

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it is it is much harder to create those communities

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and find those things versus I think they were much

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more natural when you had employer sponsorships or other things

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in that regard it. And I don't think, you know,

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it's it's you know, I think back to my parents

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and their kind of banking experience, and you know, my

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dad was big into toy trains because that's weird, and

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that's what he did. But you know, like, there wasn't

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a toy train, you know, operating credit union. But I

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suppose there could have been. But if there would have been,

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he would have joined it, right or he would have

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had He was a cal Tech engineer, so it would

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have been cal Tech. But other than that, those are

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the only two community things he would have been involved

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in Versus today, I probably have twenty or thirty different

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groups that I'm involved in, and and and so I

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think it really had shifted in the complexity of the

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modern consumer, where you know, we.

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Travel a lot more.

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We we network a lot more, we.

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Read a lot more, were exposed to a lot more nuance.

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I mean even I even think back to when I

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went to high school in southern Oregon with his community

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bank that we started the bank branch with. And you know,

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at that point in time, whatever was happening in a

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major US city that was tech driven and you know,

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front end, you know, leading edge of type of things,

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it would show up in southern Oregon about ten to

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fifteen years later, right, And that that time frame took

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really a long time for a major national trend to

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get down to the local, you know, small town America

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kind of thing. Going to DC for twenty five years,

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coming back to southern Oregon. That gap of when Uber

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hit in d C versus when Uber hit in southern

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Oregon was about three years, right. And so there's just

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a pace of change and a pace of assimilation of

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this stuff that just occurs way faster now than it

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ever did before. And I think that makes it even

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tougher to find those pockets of community.

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You know, in that Yeah, definitely.

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And so I continued that thought exercise a bit, maybe

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into something a little more reasonable but still newer and

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thinking about like crypto or bitcoin. And there were some

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credit unions I found, like United Financial Credit Union or

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we Street that that talk about those services, Like do

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you see any credit unions latching onto communities or you know,

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why do people go into two banks and credit unions?

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I think it's define that advice or to find someone

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who knows something about a complex Yeah, instagrament or system

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that they don't understand, like is that our credit unions

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getting in the crypto space or something similar.

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Yeah, they're definitely handful that are trying to play in

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that space, but I think they're definitely challenged to figure

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out exactly how to bring that to market. And again,

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you know, how do you take what is an international

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product tool and you know, financial medium and create value

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at the local level with crypto when it's still not

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00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:56.360
mostly accepted. You know, it's not like you can go

238
00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.399
into your neighborhood winery and use crypto, you know, and

239
00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.360
so there's still those types of friction points. But I

240
00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:06.919
think and I think that is the thing that would

241
00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:09.639
drive crypto to the next level from an adoption from.

242
00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:10.559
A consumer perspective.

243
00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:14.720
If that local small town had use cases, then you

244
00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:17.600
bring a whole bunch more people into it, right, I mean,

245
00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:19.960
even think about like Amazon, It took Amazon twenty years

246
00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:22.200
to get you know, two days shipping all the way

247
00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:24.720
down to that local, you know level. It wasn't something

248
00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:28.799
that happened overnight. And so I think, you know, when

249
00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:31.080
we think about these various trends, I do think you

250
00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:33.039
bringing up a great point, which is I don't think

251
00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:34.919
a lot of credit unions think about what is the

252
00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.639
modern community for younger members.

253
00:12:37.320 --> 00:12:39.279
Today and how do we tap into that? Right?

254
00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:41.679
I think they tend to think of it very much

255
00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:45.840
the way it was and whether it's those family values

256
00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:48.559
or you know, whatever it was in the fifties, sixties, seventies,

257
00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:53.200
and that has shifted pretty substantially generationally. And I don't

258
00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:55.039
even know that I can tell you amongst my friends

259
00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:58.480
where that sense of community and tie in would be

260
00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:01.600
if I were to take, you know, my ten friends

261
00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:05.240
in Southern organ were the community is because of that

262
00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:07.720
friend group. But it isn't because we have a shared

263
00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.600
religious affiliation. It's not because we have a shared interest

264
00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:13.519
in toy trains. It's not because we have a shared interest.

265
00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:13.519
You know.

266
00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:16.799
And it's almost much more life stage community than it

267
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:21.279
is you know, uh, communal interest in music or something

268
00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:23.120
like that. And I think that's just a really big

269
00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:25.559
shift in how the world operates today.

270
00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:27.080
Yeah, I think you're right.

271
00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:29.279
And I think it also shows up in where people

272
00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.240
are getting that financial advice, you know, the turn TikTok

273
00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:35.840
or YouTube or you complete strangers with no seeming maybe

274
00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:39.480
credentials but other than their follower size to get that

275
00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:42.600
insight where maybe you would have from your colleagues or

276
00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:43.919
those that shared your.

277
00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:46.360
Interests because those people were around you. And that's as

278
00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.399
far and as fast as information can travel there.

279
00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.360
Sure, And the reality is, who am I going to

280
00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:52.200
trust If we're going to google a complex you know,

281
00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:54.399
thing about how to do a derivative or get an

282
00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:56.679
interest rate swapper, I'm going to ask my dad, right, like,

283
00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.000
I mean, it's you know.

284
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.759
It's yes, he could probably tell me the theory behind it.

285
00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.840
But I guarantee the online education that I can find

286
00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:06.840
in eighteen seconds or a Reddit article is going to

287
00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:09.240
be far stronger and far more credible at the end

288
00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:12.360
of the day. Right, And so it's even that replicates

289
00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:14.320
that shift of I always think about this when I

290
00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:15.960
was a kid, you know, when I was two. My

291
00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:18.799
dad had twenty times in knowledge of me, right, and

292
00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:21.120
when I was ten he had, you know, four times

293
00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:22.879
in knowledge of me. And when I was twenty he

294
00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:25.000
had two times in knowledge of me, and now he

295
00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:27.120
has like one and a quarter, you know, one and

296
00:14:27.159 --> 00:14:30.720
a half times. And as that progression occurs, there's a

297
00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:34.799
pretty significant shift of how you think about expertise and

298
00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:37.519
where do you get where do you go to get

299
00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.240
sources of truth and how to navigate the world. And

300
00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:44.000
I think that's where, you know, the reality is, even

301
00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:46.240
that I'm forty seven, if I go online and want

302
00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:48.320
to learn something, I can probably find someone who still

303
00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:49.480
knows twenty times more than me.

304
00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:51.799
Yeah. Yeah, that's a great point.

305
00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:53.840
And maybe bringing it back a little bit to the

306
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:57.279
more practical a topic you and I've chatted about offline

307
00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.759
a handful of times, this idea of leading with lending

308
00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:03.519
or life is just getting more expensive, so the need

309
00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:07.000
for credit is certainly more pressure, and I think the

310
00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:09.440
access to credit hasn't kept up with that need. So

311
00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:15.200
getting lenders more comfortable with that being the lead into

312
00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.440
a relationship versus the traditional I get the checking account,

313
00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:20.320
or as you said, you walk into the bank, maybe

314
00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:23.159
get your past book savings when you're getting your first

315
00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:26.360
job or allowance and start to save money away to

316
00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:30.720
build that lending relationship. Are you seeing any trends or

317
00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:34.320
people getting more comfortable using a lending product as a

318
00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:37.080
way to get to know someone that their life stage

319
00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:38.519
and build a relationship.

320
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:40.440
Do you mean the credit unit or the.

321
00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:43.000
Consumer more in the credit union side?

322
00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:43.279
Yeah?

323
00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:45.639
Yeah, I mean I think, you know, it's always been

324
00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:50.080
the case that I think loans really drive account opening

325
00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:53.320
and some you know respect, because that's that solves a

326
00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:55.799
critical if you want to grow members and you were

327
00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:59.360
trying to do it exclusively on you know, either a

328
00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:02.720
digital foot and or just on a deposit rate basis.

329
00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:04.600
I think I G might be the only one I've

330
00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:07.320
ever seen successfully really crush that, you know, from a

331
00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:10.279
unique perspective, and I don't know that would work again today, right,

332
00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:15.039
They hit this right arbitrage point of online and market

333
00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:20.039
conditions and rate you know, in a unique way. So

334
00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:23.120
the loan piece is usually that's a much better spot

335
00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:25.399
for a consumer to enter because they're usually trying to

336
00:16:25.399 --> 00:16:27.879
do something else that gets them willing to do a

337
00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:29.559
little bit of work to get that thing. You know,

338
00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:31.279
they don't want a car loan, they want a car, right.

339
00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:33.480
They don't want a home loan, they want a home right.

340
00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.440
And so when there's some other want, need, desire, emotional

341
00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:39.679
connection to something, them being willing to do some work

342
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.759
and experience in friction to get it is what gets

343
00:16:42.759 --> 00:16:46.080
them to change, you know, behavior or something in that.

344
00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:50.000
And so loans I think are a great indicator of

345
00:16:50.039 --> 00:16:53.559
when that emotional trigger is occurring or that that event

346
00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:55.879
is occurring for the consumer that would get them to

347
00:16:56.200 --> 00:16:57.600
do that extra piece report.

348
00:16:58.279 --> 00:17:00.679
Yeah, and then how do you see eating is take

349
00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:03.519
advantage of that so or maybe compare and contrast the

350
00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:07.559
good and the bad, or like those can memberships in

351
00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:08.319
that environment?

352
00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:10.880
Yeah, in general, I think you know, I think this

353
00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.960
is an area where credit unions have not kept up

354
00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.880
with kind of the digital acquisition strategy. So we tend

355
00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:20.440
to think of consumer, you know, indirect consumer coming through

356
00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:22.319
one of these third party channels. They come in, they

357
00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:24.640
join the credit union, and then we send them a

358
00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:27.920
welcome kit, not recognizing that they came in from a

359
00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:30.799
digital channel in the first place, right, And so you know,

360
00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:33.000
a physical, tangible welcome kit is probably not the thing

361
00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:35.000
to match that. It's sort of like I'm sure we

362
00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:36.680
all of those people where we you know, we send

363
00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:38.240
them a text message orn email and they call us

364
00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:39.920
and leave us a voicemail and we're like.

365
00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:40.960
No, no, I texted you.

366
00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.160
I expect you to respond to text right, Like it's

367
00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:44.960
it's weird to me if you call me back after

368
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:48.599
I text you, right, unless you're my brother who calls

369
00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:50.359
me to make sure that I got the voicemail or

370
00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:52.079
text me to make sure that I got the voicemail.

371
00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:52.240
Right.

372
00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:55.680
Multichannel approach, Yeah, exactly.

373
00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:58.400
And so I think when we think of that from

374
00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:00.720
an indirect respective of something like forty percent of members

375
00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:03.759
close their accounts one hundred days later because they didn't

376
00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:07.960
feel that engagement. They didn't they didn't see a digital

377
00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:12.319
onboarding process that really aligned with the small step things

378
00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:12.839
that they need to do.

379
00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:13.599
The other piece.

380
00:18:13.640 --> 00:18:16.160
But I think that's really shifted is someone needs to

381
00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:17.799
go into a bank and you'd sit down and you

382
00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:19.359
fill out the form and they would do it all

383
00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:20.839
and you'd sit at the desk for an hour and

384
00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:22.000
then at the end of it, you get your check,

385
00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:23.640
you get your debit card, you know, whatever it is,

386
00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:25.960
and you kind of walk out and I think consumers

387
00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:28.920
today don't have that hour time, so they're expecting to

388
00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:32.079
do that onboarding and small five minute distracted you know,

389
00:18:32.200 --> 00:18:35.119
things between their Facebook feeds, you know, the Instagram posts.

390
00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:36.920
They want to do those small little things.

391
00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:39.640
And I think that that digital onboarding gives the ability

392
00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:42.799
to give them small micro tasks that onboard them that

393
00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:47.079
don't require this huge commitment of things, you know, to

394
00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:49.119
do all up front. And you know, I think if

395
00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:50.559
people are going to do the work of switch, they

396
00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.640
want to do it on their terms, their timeline, you know,

397
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.839
et cetera. And just because you sent them one email

398
00:18:55.319 --> 00:18:57.400
that they didn't notice doesn't mean that they don't want

399
00:18:57.400 --> 00:18:59.240
to do it. It's just the timing of that email

400
00:18:59.319 --> 00:18:59.720
wasn't right.

401
00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:02.039
Yeah, that's a great point.

402
00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:03.960
I hadn't thought of it in that way, the idea

403
00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:07.759
of micro tasks, or if you combine that with I

404
00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:09.599
know this is true in my personal life as well.

405
00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:12.279
But you know, no one wants to talk to a

406
00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:14.799
live customer service rep until you want to.

407
00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:16.160
And then you want that person immediately.

408
00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:19.200
And so how do you create that almost concierge like

409
00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:22.039
service as a credit union to guide people through the

410
00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:23.880
steps let them do it. On their time, but you

411
00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:27.319
know you're there helping nurture them along. I think could

412
00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:28.519
be really important.

413
00:19:28.599 --> 00:19:30.799
Yeah, I'll give you a great example that occurred recently.

414
00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:34.119
I had two different credit unions that were clearly encouraging

415
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:36.240
mobile wallets, and both encouraged me to put my credit

416
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:38.559
card in my mobile wallet, only about ten years after

417
00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:40.839
mobile wallets really kind of became a thing in my mind.

418
00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:42.880
But either way, they finally got around to it. They

419
00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:43.839
in sented me to do it.

420
00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:45.680
I put my both cards in and then I went

421
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:48.200
and tested the mobile wallet and both of them declined

422
00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:50.319
the first transaction because it's the first transaction, it's a

423
00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:52.799
high fraud risk. Well, the flip needs to be true,

424
00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:55.000
which is the first time your consumer try something. It

425
00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.680
needs to work one hundred percent of the time. You

426
00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:59.200
can put the fraud controls on number two through ten, right,

427
00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:01.400
put on that first one. You're better off just waving it.

428
00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:03.440
Yeah, totally.

429
00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:06.519
And so how how does a credit union, you know,

430
00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:09.200
navigate stuff like that, because back maybe back to the

431
00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:14.839
partner idea, you know, build those customer relationships through technology

432
00:20:14.839 --> 00:20:16.680
that's maybe new to them or haven't thought through those

433
00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:17.160
use cases.

434
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:18.640
How do you even begin to.

435
00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:21.839
Find a partner to know where your gaps are. It

436
00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:25.200
seems like that would be just a daunting analysis paralysis

437
00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:26.279
kind of exercise.

438
00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:29.240
Yeah, I think. I think there's a couple different ways.

439
00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:30.680
I think A, you can put the lens on.

440
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:32.480
I need to find a partner that is going to

441
00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:37.480
do this naturally in my mode and kind of strategy

442
00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:41.960
and align with a digital onboarding experience and a process

443
00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:45.359
that is these micro components and aligns with that. So

444
00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:48.279
I think, A, that's super important. They need to have

445
00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:52.920
the tools and the capacity and the wherewithal to recognize

446
00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:57.160
these are individual you know, experiences and journeys and your

447
00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.839
your your systems and your processes need to be to

448
00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:03.000
find at that individualized basis so that if I mean,

449
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.160
I can tell you like every time I Credit Union

450
00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:07.759
says enroll in these statements, when I'm already enrolled in

451
00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:09.640
the statements, I want to poke myself in the eye

452
00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:11.240
and be like, how do you not know I'm enrolled

453
00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:13.359
in need statements? Especially because if I forget and I

454
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:14.799
go log in and it tells me I'm in rolled

455
00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:17.119
in statements, I'm like, now I'm even more frustrated that

456
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:19.279
I did this five minute thing, and it's you know,

457
00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:25.119
and it's almost brand Uh, it's a reduction in the

458
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:27.960
value of your brand when you don't treat and understand

459
00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:31.200
the consumers you know, spot in that process. And so

460
00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:34.400
I just think that's a continual thing credit is to evaluate.

461
00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:38.839
Yeah, totally totally agree. Well, I know we've covered a

462
00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:41.680
lot already. Are there things you think that we've missed

463
00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:43.519
or you want to make sure we highlight in terms

464
00:21:43.559 --> 00:21:48.160
of you know, partnership, cross selling, you know, onboarding consumers,

465
00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:48.880
any anything.

466
00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:49.960
Yeah.

467
00:21:50.039 --> 00:21:52.079
I think I think that you know, understanding that first

468
00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:55.400
hundred days and understanding the digital tools and the analytics

469
00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:57.319
that you need to help drive that in which partners

470
00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.079
can really help you there is key. I think the

471
00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:02.440
second piece really is also understanding what are the other

472
00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:05.480
pain points and opportunities that are just low hanging fruit

473
00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:08.640
in there to help the consumer migrate, right, So not

474
00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:10.759
be just you know, how do I help them going

475
00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:13.359
through this process, but if they move a car loan

476
00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:15.119
over to me and I noticed they have this other

477
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:16.960
loan that I have a better rate on, that's your

478
00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.279
opportunity to grab that business and make that super simple

479
00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:21.559
as well, and not just asking the same fourteen questions

480
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:22.680
either right right.

481
00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:26.799
Yeah, great, yeah, I think great advice, great place to end,

482
00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:28.559
you know, appreciate the time.

483
00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:30.359
Is always always good to catch up a bit.

484
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:34.240
And maybe we'll do a follow up episode live from

485
00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:35.079
the winery sometime.

486
00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:36.720
Sounds great, that'd be awesome.

487
00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:38.640
All right, well, thanks again, Kirk,