Join us as we talk with Stephanie Onwuegbuna and Jordyn Sanderson, Crashers at the CUES Future Summit held in early 2020. The Crasher program gives younger professionals an opportunity to meet, greet and learn from leaders in the credit union movement. Money, I’m Home!

 

[transcript]

00:00 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m Home. Welcome on in, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson and …

00:11 Kristen Davidson: I’m Kristen Davidson with Consumers Credit Union.

00:13 LJJ: And we are co-hosting today from finance to fitness. We are taping on location in Detroit at the CUES Future Summit 2020. And I’ll tell you what, it has been quite an amazing conference.

00:26 KD: Oh, my gosh, it’s been memorable. It started with outstanding inspirational tears, ended with a great day yesterday talking about our body language and what that means, and now this morning we kick it off, and we’re gonna close our day today with the Spartans football coach.

00:44 LJJ: Mark Dantonio, it will be awesome. Hey, you know something, one of the things that really rocks this conference is a program that we have had for many years that’s called The Crashers, and joining us today on our podcast is Jordyn Sanderson. And Jordyn, you’re with PFCU. And Stephanie Onwuegbuna with Community Choice Credit Union. You guys are crashers. Thanks for crashing in on this podcast today.

01:07 Stephanie Onwuegbuna: Yes, thanks for having us.

01:08 Jordyn Sanderson: Thank you, thank you. It’s been awesome.

01:10 KD: So, you guys, tell me what is Crashers?

01:13 SO: So basically, The Crashers program is an opportunity for young professionals from other credit unions across the state to have a chance to crash, like wedding crashers, these executive level conferences and get the experience in networking, and meeting people, mixing and mingling, a lot of learning. So, we’ve gotten the full conference experience, we’ve attended all three days, every session from registration to the end. So, it’s been pretty fun.

01:37 LJJ: That is awesome. Jordyn, what have you learned so far? What’s some of the takeaways?

01:41 JS: Some of my main takeaways would definitely be to get outside your comfort zone and just talk to everybody, and even if you think they’re someone who doesn’t work related to your job, you could learn something. You could just spark that conversation that really inspires you to go to the next level, or opens the door for you to go to the next level. And, that doesn’t necessarily mean to another credit union or to work somewhere else, it’s just to a next level, to grow as a professional.

02:06 LJJ: Stephanie, when you talk about The Crashers, how long have you been involved? And, do you mind if I ask your age? You are a crasher. It’s an age related …

02:16 SO: I am 27. This is my first time crashing, but I’ve been a part of the FUEL program, which most people are now talking about, that’s the buzzing thing. I’ve been a part of FUEL since inception. So, we started the group January of 2019, so just over …

02:30 LJJ: And what is FUEL?

02:32 SO: Fueling, Uplifting, Educating Leaders sustaining the credit union movement.

02:36 KD: Oh, that’s awesome. And where did this … You said you’ve been a part of it since the inception?

02:40 SO: Yes.

02:41 KD: Give some feedback for people who would be interested in joining and learning more, how would they go about that?

02:45 SO: All of the FUEL information is out on the league’s website. So, there’s an application, there’s information on how to join, the key contact people, who to send your membership dues to. And then there’s also Listserv that we all participate in. But pretty much we meet four times a year, so once a quarter. All of our meetings are always in conjunction with a larger event. So Intentional Leadership in Kalamazoo, I was there for that. We had a session or a breakout day at the AC&E, I was there for that. We had an opportunity to attend the state GAC last year, so I was there for that. And then we had kind of like a one-off intro meeting back in January where we all met out at Vibe, credit union of Vibe. So, we focus on credit union advocacy, professional development, and then community relations, where we do some give-back activities.

03:31 LJJ: So Jordyn, what do you do on a day-to-day basis in your credit union?

03:35 JS: Personally, I will deal with anybody who needs help with any business account-related products or services. I take loan applications, I process them. I deal with the underwriting committee in lending. Also, this past year, we’ve worked really hard on reshaping our department and building up and making sure we’re up to par with what other credit unions are offering, not only in Michigan, but across the country. It’s a very competitive field, but it’s awesome that we can all share ideas and just make that idea better, and what we think is better in our areas and see how well it works.

04:14 LJJ: So, has this conference helped you grow and develop and bring something back to your credit union?

04:22 JS: Yeah, it definitely does. I think it brings a lot of encouragement in the fact that we’re not the only ones facing the issues that we have right now. And there are ways to deal with the issues that we are having and looking towards the future, how being a young professional, we’re going to grow into these roles that I’m looking up to and learning from right now. So, to be able to see the need, there’s this FUEL Michigan program available we can all join. There’s so many people at my credit union I could see that could be a part of it, that could help grow this movement and just continue to encourage it. I think this is just a great opportunity for so many people and even a reward for people who want to reach out and do better, and do more for the credit union. This is just really, really wonderful.

05:08 KD: Awesome. So, Jordyn, what would you say really has been a defining moment for you here as a crasher at the conference for the Future Summit that you would recommend for others to be able to come in and participate with?

05:21 JS: I think the defining moment for me was really sitting down with the CUES board who put this on, and be able to ask them questions about things that we see in our credit union and also what we see in leadership, and we see the changing in leadership, and how are they dealing with it. And then also seeing them as normal people. We all just want each other to grow professionally and encourage each other, and to really be on that level with someone who’s a CFO or a CEO or a VP, and just connect with them on a normal thing and have something in common. It’s just very encouraging. We can all get there.

05:55 LJJ: Stephanie, what do you do on a daily basis for Community Choice?

06:00 SO: Technical support, IT communications … I help with special projects. I kinda do a lot.

06:08 KD: What’s your favorite thing to do, everyday?

06:10 SO: I would have to say support. I like helping people. I like educating through technology. A lot of times, I feel like people have issues just because they’re not educated, and that’s not their thing. But when you take the time to teach somebody how to do something, they wanna do it themselves, and we won’t get another call for the same thing.

06:28 KD: So, Stephanie, let me ask you about that just a little bit, to help others, a big piece is how do they educate through technology, that’s a common question that we’re facing every day. What do you guys do at Community Choice that you would recommend others consider?

06:41 SO: We have what we call the Daily Interest, where we … It’s like a daily newsletter of what’s happening in our credit union every single day. If it’s … we’re putting on a new offer, if it’s a community outreach event …

06:51 LJJ: Every day?

06:52 SO: Every single day, it’s up there like 7:00 AM. So what we try to do from our department is, put technology fun facts, technology tips, those are the things that I write, that we know that users are gonna see, and like, “Here’s a how-to on how to do this on your computer.” Or, “Here’s something that’s coming down the pipeline. Here’s an update, this is what the update actually is.” Not just throwing it out there and people are like, “Oh, my computer is slow.” But this is what it is, this is why we’re doing it, this is how it protects the organization, and this is how you can help us. I think, like I said, keeping people informed, helps to keep them engaged and not frustrated.

07:23 KD: So, you’re talking my language, in case you didn’t know. A step further, does that letter go out through e-mail? Is it on an intranet? How does that get shared?

07:32 SO: So, we use SharePoint, that’s our intranet site, so it’s posted every day, I think around 7:00/7:30 by our marketing department, and then everybody reads it at their own leisure. We post every single day, no new content on Friday, just ’cause Fridays, people are out, extending their weekend. So, Monday through Thursday is new content, Friday is like a recap of the week.

07:54 KD: Love the initiative. Hopefully, some others can take away what you just shared.

07:58 SO: It’s awesome.

08:00 LJJ: Hey, Jordyn, how do you bank? In the past, and I’m gonna age myself here, walking into a credit union or a bank, and you’ve got your checkbook, and you would write the checks when the bills came, and some people did a ledger. That is just long gone.

08:19 JS: It is long gone. If I cannot do it on my phone, I won’t do it.

08:24 SO: I’m not doing it.

08:25 JS: Period. Yeah, I won’t. I’ve had those certain situations where I have to provide a check of some sort, even if that happens because I work at a credit union, it makes it a little easier, but outside of that, I might even pay a fee for convenience payment.

08:40 LJJ: Stephanie, is it same?

08:41 SO: Yeah, if I can’t do it on my phone, quite honestly, I’m probably not gonna do it. Even working at a credit union, I go into the branch to talk to colleagues, but not necessarily to bank. I would … Like she said, I’ll pay a convenience fee, even though I’m paying my rent or something, just ’cause I can’t pay it on my phone.

08:57 KD: How about your families?

09:00 SO: Well, I’ve gotten my family on the Community Choice bandwagon, so…

[laughter]

09:02 KD: Alright.

09:03 SO: My family is …

09:04 LJJ: Yeah.

09:04 SO: We’re all on the mobile app, we’re doing member-to-member transfers, we’re making it real easy for each other. So, my parents are finally getting on the whole app board wagon, they’re doing it.

09:17 LJJ: That’s an interesting thought. Was it hard or difficult to teach some people that you are with? I know individuals who I say, “Hey, Venmo me.” And, I’m never doing it, I will never do it. They’re just adamant that I’m not gonna change.

09:32 SO: Definitely. My dad is like that, he’s totally against Cash App. He feels like Cash App is the worst thing in the world. But I have gotten him to do the member-to-member transfer. He will do the Zelle thing too, but he’s definitely totally against Cash App. But my grandmother, she’s 84, she’s a Community Choice member, and she is on the app.

09:52 KD: I love it.

09:53 SO: So, I’m super proud of that, I’m so excited. She does it, she checks her … ‘Cause she used to go into the branch every week, like Monday, “I need to make sure my money is still there from last week.”

10:00 LJJ: I wonder if she misses that, though. [chuckle]

10:01 SO: She doesn’t. She doesn’t like driving anymore. So, I’m like, “You can check your money everyday, every hour if you want.” Now, she does it more often, but, yeah. She was that old person like, “I wanna check my balance every Monday.”

10:15 LJJ: How about you, Jordyn?

10:16 JS: My parents, I think, still have the Saturday trip to the credit union to get their 20s and their … Whatever it may be. But outside of that, I’m trying to show them more how to use our mobile banking because I feel it is very user-friendly, and you can do everything on there. But, I think they’re still stuck in the, “Well, you know how to do it. Just do it for me.”

10:40 LJJ: Oh, that’s interesting.

10:42 JS: “You can navigate through it, you’re a pro at this. You do it. Why are you telling me how to do this when you can do it?” Education, but okay.

10:51 KD: Education is key.

10:52 SO: Yeah.

10:53 LJJ: It certainly is. At your credit union, Jordyn, do you have types of information that really is helping not only the members learn, but also anybody that you’re working with day-to-day?

11:08 JS: In a specific scenario, for example, I work on a committee where we’re trying to upgrade our current products and services. So, we did a member engagement survey, “What do you not like the most? What is going wrong for you?” We got their feedback, then we talked to our member service representatives, “What are they complaining about the most? What is not working?”

11:25 LJJ: What’s the pain points?

11:26 JS: Yep, and we took all that data, put it together and said, “Okay, this is what we need to focus on. Here is our initiatives, what are our end goals, and we’re creating change.” Right now, working on FAQ videos, how to do things for both members and for our loan member service people, just for them to reference as well, and just … we’ll roll that out when we have it done, and then we’ll see in a couple of months how well have those objectives been met. So really, just creating a plan for everything.

11:54 LJJ: Oh, that’s great. That’s great. Stephanie, when you work on the IT side, have you found that the change is so fast and drastic? How do you keep up with the technology change that’s happening?

12:11 SO: Change definitely is fast, but we try to do a really good job of getting ahead of the curve. And so, one of the things that my department focuses on is proactive maintenance. We wanna be in front of things, knowing that things are coming down the pipeline before they hit our team members, because that’s what causes the biggest pain point. So if we know we’re getting an in-app SMS update or something, we’re trying to put that out there, “Hey, guys, this is coming weeks from now, put this on your calendar, this is the time we’re gonna do it, so you know, your computer may be a little slow.”

12:38 LJJ: No surprises.

12:38 SO: Right. So, we’re definitely big on proactive maintenance and trying to alert everyone before the change comes. We’re all change agents in a way, so my whole philosophy is, if we’re excited about it, everybody else will be excited about it. So, we walk around with an attitude like, “Hey, it’s fine, it’s gonna be fine. We’re all working on the same system, same network. If you’re slow, I’m slow too, so mine isn’t running any faster than yours, I understand, but we work through it together.”

13:09 KD: So, attitude is everything, right?

13:10 SO: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

13:11 KD: And you said proactive maintenance, but what I really heard was, it was proactive communication, proactive planning, proactive education, obviously, all of those pieces. So, that’s wonderful.

13:22 LJJ: So Jordyn and Stephanie, we love to wrap up our podcast with some information from you, a little personal note saying, “Hey, you know what, my a-ha moment in using money, dealing with money, was this.” Who wants to go first?

13:39 SO: I’ll go. We had a speaker yesterday, and she was talking about the round-up, and one of her examples was a $217 car note, or loan, and it was rounded up to $250, and I had never, never seen that before, and I thought that that was awesome. So that was my a-ha moment, I went and scheduled an automatic transfer. So, the same day I paid my car note, I’ve rounded it up and scheduled one for my savings, it’s like my own round up, but I thought that that was really cool.

14:10 LJJ: That’s awesome.

14:10 SO: Yeah. And I was like, I’m already doing my own savings, but that’s like a bonus because I’m gonna spend that maybe extra 10, 15 bucks on getting lunch or something.

14:18 LJJ: And just think, automatically that’s an instant round-up.

14:20 SO: It’s done. I never have to think about it again.

14:23 LJJ: Yeah, set it and forget it.

14:24 KD: What a great thing then, to put into your newsletter, your daily newsletter too for others, “Here’s a tip I learned,” right? So, the key is, going to these conferences and taking something back, and that’s a great idea.

14:35 SO: That’s definitely a good one. Last year, I know we did the 52-week savings, and then we did a drawing at the end of the year for everybody who kept up on it, so this will definitely be a good one.

14:44 LJJ: Oh, that’s great. Jordyn?

14:46 JS: One thing that I learned that I think piggybacks off of Stephanie’s would be that you can take all these literacy classes and use all these tools and learn all these things, but until you enact something, such as setting up that automatic transfer, or creating these goals, and then looking back a few months from now, after it’s happened, “Did I reach these goals?” Reflect on what did and didn’t happen, and see where you need to grow and need to work better, but you have to set these goals and follow through with these things, you can’t just learn and hope things are gonna happen for you.

15:17 LJJ: Action.

15:18 JS: Action, exactly. But once you take advantage of these things that are offered to you, like through our wonderful credit unions, you can have that financial literacy, you can grow your goals, you can grow anything in your life. But action is super important.

15:31 LJJ: Well, Jordyn and Stephanie, thank you for crashing with us today, we sure appreciate it. We are at the Detroit Future Summit, and it’s 2020 for CUES, and we have had just delightful guests. Kristen Davidson, thank you so much for co-hosting today.

15:47 KD: Thanks, Lynne. It’s always fun.

15:49 LJJ: Money, I’m Home. Join us next week, we will tune in with another great financial education tip, or maybe fitness. Finance to fitness, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union.

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