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Dr. Leggett: Did you have the same concerns when Citibank, with loads and loads of TARP money, sponsored the new NY Mets baseball stadium?
ReplyDeleteCitibank pays taxes...
DeleteOh my, a credit union sponsoring an event that provides their city with a positive economic impact. How dare they use their tax exemption to help their community!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is one way to spin it in their favor...
DeleteWhat’s to spin? Do you honestly believe the community receives no economic benefit from this event? Do you think hotels, restaurants and local merchants don’t receive a boost? The direct economic impact from last year’s event was estimated to be around $4.5 million. In addition to that, $200K was donated to local charities. Please explain to me how this, as well as the benefits the credit union receives from their affiliation: name recognition, brand awareness, community involvement, etc., is a bad thing. Again, this credit union appears to be well managed and meeting the needs of their membership, so why is it wrong for them to spend marketing dollars sponsoring something that benefits them and their community, as opposed to buying television, radio and/or newspaper spots?
DeleteReduce paying dividends to the share-holder members. Charge them above market loan rates. Hit them hard with fees. Then take all this loot and pay to run ads promoting pro golf. Meanwhile the credit union membership can't afford to play miniature golf. But who cares about the membership - they are being pimped for the pro-golf event. The CEO gets all the recognition and glory and maybe a free play at the country club golf tournament.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteThe dirty little secret at Cuna is that they not only don't get anything done for credit unions, profess more half truths and outright lies than maybe any lobbyist, but their constituency is abundantly wise to their abject failure.
Not only do the larger credit unions know this, so does Congress.
Cuna's BFF is the dysfunction of congress, period.
Our board has had it.
Do you investigate anything prior to spewing your nonsense? This credit union is paying higher dividend rates and charging lower loan rates and fees than the majority of financial institutions in their area. And do you really know whether or not their membership can afford to play miniature golf, or is that just another wild assertion of yours based on little to no factual evidence? I live in a community that hosts and thrives on special events throughout the year, including a PGA tournament, and the economic benefit they provide are necessary for this community to prosper and grow. Based on what I see with this credit union, they are well managed and continue to have membership growth, so I don’t see how sponsoring this event is punishing their members or a waste of their tax exemption.
DeleteI am sure these are the facts, but here is the bigger problem. Movement cooperation (united we stand and serve) was the core of the 100 year success, and it is gone. Large credit unions very visibly paying literally millions to paint their names on arenas and golf events instead of helping smaller credit unions that after decades of wonderful service are visibly on their knees, is the clear evidence here from the bulk of our assets of a phony movement. Some of us are making Leggett's job too easy.
Delete"Credit Unions, Where People and fellow cus come before our want to's."
I still see plenty of “movement cooperation”, much more in this industry than most. I see it with individual CUs as well as through the various leagues and CUSOs. The problem isn’t a lack of cooperation or the unwillingness of large CUs to help small CU’s; but rather the increasing demands of CU members, increased regulation, technological advancements and the ever increasing competition from non-traditional sources: Paypal, Walmart, Intuit, etc. This, more than anything large CUs are or aren’t doing, is what’s bringing small CUs to their knees. Unfortunately, while this has been occurring, too many small CUs either lacked the expertise, or the willingness and ability to evolve and adapt to this changing landscape or the expanding needs of their membership.
DeleteIn response to the anonymous CUNA hater... I’m not sure what CUNA has to do with this particular blog post, but based on what I suspect are prior comments you’ve posted, you and your board are not happy with CUNA. If so, please be done with them: disaffiliate, stop obsessing and move on. Seriously, is it asking too much to keep these comments on topic?
ReplyDeleteSeems pointing out observations and facts about CUNA makes you a "CUNA hater" - that is a little of a stretch. But I must agree with the post. What has CUNA done for you lately? Pimped the CU community to support HR1151 and now complain about the MBL cap. Former USCentralFCU & WesCorpFCU Director - CUNA CEO Bill Cheney takes down a reported $1,129,651 in salary not including an additional tidy sum of $172,500 in Deferred Compensation. Can't expect him to fund a retirement plan on such a meager sloppy salary. Not to be outdone Mica takes down a cool $180,000 for being the CUNA lobbysist. If CUNA operated like this credit union based on pay for performance the credit union community would be entitled to a refund. Not happy with CUNA is an understatement. Fed Up is spot on.
DeleteNo, pointing out observations and facts about CUNA doesn't make you a CUNA hater; but obsessing about it and posting anti-CUNA rhetoric in the comment section of every blog post, regardless of relevancy, does. Again, can we please stay on topic?
DeleteGood idea.
DeleteLets stay on topic.
Cuna s---s PERIOD.
These sporting events, stadiums, arenas should probably be sponsored at a state's cu league level and named as such as a collective showing of the cooperative nature of all of a states cus. Surprising they have not already.
ReplyDeleteThey are tax-exempt because they are organized as cooperatives, different from banks. Right?
Yes, we are cooperatives.
ReplyDeleteCan't you tell?
We let big credit unions branch right next to little credit unions.
We agree cooperatively that we ALL want new forms of capital and of course we ALL want more MBL powers.
We have many of us that want to hedge interest rate risk but a regulator and our second largest credit union railing against it daily.
We have more trade associations and special sub groups than any 5 industries....Cuna, NAFCU, postal, defense council, aerospace, 40 leagues, cues, nacuso, large cu roundtable(s), national directors, etc. lets face it, we are about as cohesive as congress.
75% of us are saying by our actions, "just tax me and end the insanity".
Come to think of it, banks cooperate more with each other than we do on the important stuff.