In a compelling episode of The Credit Union Connection, host Sarah Snell Cooke sat down with Anthony Hernandez, CEO of the Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC), for a discussion that promises to be essential viewing for anyone invested in the future of credit unions. This interview goes beyond the surface, touching on the critical battles and strategic shifts defining the industry today.
Hernandez, with his unique background as a retired Air Force full colonel and his eight years leading the DCUC, brings a distinct perspective to the challenges and opportunities facing credit unions. He doesn’t shy away from addressing the “divide and conquer” tactics employed by bankers, asserting that the credit union movement shares a unified purpose that transcends size. What provocative stance does he suggest the industry take in response? You’ll want to hear his intriguing metaphor for fighting back.
The conversation dives deep into the legislative hotbed of Washington, D.C., tackling crucial issues that could reshape the financial landscape. From the existential threat of taxing credit unions to the intricacies of the Credit Card Competition Act and the looming impact of stablecoins, Hernandez outlines the multi-front war credit unions are currently fighting. How quickly does he believe credit unions need to adapt to the rise of new payment technologies? His answer might surprise you.
Beyond the broader industry concerns, Hernandez sheds light on the unique challenges faced by military credit unions and, by extension, all credit unions serving veterans. He reveals frustrating obstacles in providing financial literacy to service members and exposes a significant disconnect in official data regarding military financial readiness. He also discusses the often-overlooked contributions credit unions make to military operations and challenges the fairness of current policies regarding financial institution presence on bases.
Hernandez offers candid thoughts on the internal pressures facing credit unions, including the survival of smaller institutions and the complexities of succession planning. He also emphasizes the immense, often underutilized, power of cooperation within the credit union industry.
The DCUC, despite its lean team of seven, is making significant waves, increasing its advocacy and media presence. What is Hernandez’s ultimate objective for this growth, and how does he view the concept of a “unified voice” for the industry?.
This interview is packed with insights and forward-thinking strategies. To get the full scope of Anthony Hernandez’s vision for the credit union movement and his actionable advice for credit union executives, watch the complete video interview below.
Disclosure: Transcript below is automatically generated
Sarah Cooke
Sarah, hello. Welcome everybody to the credit union connection. I am your host, Sarah Snell Cooke, and I’m here today with a man who needs no introduction, but I will anyway. Anthony Hernandez CEO, the DCUC defense, credit union Council. Welcome.
Anthony Hernandez
Thank you. It’s good to be here, looking forward to our discussion.
Sarah Cooke
Absolutely. It’s great to have you, especially you’re in that the DC hot pot right now, everything that’s going on. Why don’t you just do a little more introduction of your yourself and your and defense counsel.
Anthony Hernandez
Alright? Tony Hernandez, I’ve been at DC for nine years now, eight years as a CEO. I came directly after a career in the United States Air Force, where I retired as a full colonel. I went right in, right into DC, when I literally relinquished command of my brigade level. Command had about 1400 airmen working for me, and then went right to, right into DCUC immediately, like four days later, we were Boston at the DCUC annual conference. I’ve sort of found something I equally care about, and that’s helping credit unions succeed in taking care of their members. And so DCUC has been around since 1963 we’re 62 years old, and we primarily started as an as a CUNA council that was taking care of credit unions located on base, and then we started to expand our operations, because if you take care of military, you automatically take care of veterans. And every credit union has a veteran in it, and so every credit union can join DCUC, and so we’ll be going through a couple changes we’ll discuss with the board, but we just have been expanding a lot of things we’re doing. I’m excited to talk about some of those, maybe a little bit later on, but it’s been a great run with DCUC, it runs a gamut from really large credit unions to really, really small credit unions, and they all have the same passion for serving their members, and it’s just been great. So it’s almost it’s been a fantastic second career for me, and being able to do it, and I still, because of DCUC, and our historical roots, I’m still able to be connected with the military, and that makes it kind of nice, but we’re ready to branch out and just focus on a lot of our credit unions, I guess America’s, You know, you know, vast credit union universe that’s out there, and they, I’ve seen similarities in all of them. That’s hope that, I hope that answered, yeah,
Sarah Cooke
yes, because you brought up a great topic of, you know, the bankers are trying to split the big and the small, but we’re all about the same purpose. And that’s, that’s the reason that credit unions aren’t taxed, not because of their size or whatever, you know, they’re offering that banks also offer.
Anthony Hernandez
So, you know, that’s a, that’s a great point, because it’s a classic divide and conquer strategy, right? Get us fighting amongst ourselves, you know, and, and then they just sit back and eat their popcorn. You know, we ought to be doing the same thing. Because, you know, that. You know, the the banks complain about, about themselves selling to credit unions and credit unions, you know, taking over or a bank was going to go out of business. But if we didn’t do it, the big banks would be there. And so they have a they have a similar structure. But you know, we, as an industry, we’re not good at what I call pulling the string on that sweater, right? You know, they always pull all the strings on ours. But, you know, we ought to. We ought to. We ought to fight back a little more cleverly and and see if we can pull that string and see how fast that sweater comes apart, you know. And I’m just using, I’ll use a whole bunch of metaphors. I love it. People are relate to that, right? I
Sarah Cooke
can see it. Yes, that’s how good communication happens. So, yeah, you’re right. You’re absolutely right. I think credit unions enemies, if you will, and community banks enemies are the big banks. It’s not banks versus credit unions. This is silly. Neither of us. We’re both drinking. Why fight each other?
Anthony Hernandez
Exactly? Well, you know, and that’s, that’s another thing that I saw, is why community banks make a decision, you know, to sell to a credit union, yeah, and that’s a that’s decisions based on economics. And so why would the Why would their industry trade association want to eliminate potential buyers? Aren’t they screwing over their own members when they’re you know, you’re not allowed to get the highest offer for their. For, for for selling their their operation, their banking operation, you know, kudos to credit unions, because we don’t want to see banking deserts go out there. And there’s an opportunity, you know, and and if it’s serving people, we ought to, we ought to, you know, be be we ought to be very proud of our tax exemption. We don’t take any we don’t shy away from that, because we’re still serving people and and it preserves some jobs in those communities. You know, with the with the bank tellers and the bank loan officers, there’s, there’s room to keep that economic stimulus going in that in that community, otherwise it just goes away. Right? Nothing there. And I think that’s the argument, you know, I like to talk in terms of offense and defense. There’s, there’s some in the industry that may not like those, but I like taking a more playing, on their, on their, their side of the field, which is indicates offense, right? And and start taking the the initiative. That’s another word, you know, rather than being reactive to what the bankers are throwing at us. Why can’t an industry come up with a set of talking points backed by data to take the you know, let them defend what they’re doing, you know. And I think you know, if a divide and conquer strategy work good on the credit union industry, it’ll work even more so on them, because they’ve never had to face it before, right, right? We’re used to it
Sarah Cooke
exactly. Yeah. One of the objections to to the credit unions buying banks is that there’ll no longer be an institution under CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) there. And I’ve spoken with those, the lawyers that do those deals, and they say credit unions exceed, meet, if not exceed, the CRA requirements, yeah, all the tests that they do when they do a purchase.
Anthony Hernandez
That’s That’s an empty argument, because banks are required to be under if they didn’t have CRA, they wouldn’t be doing, they wouldn’t be doing a fraction of what credit unions do. You know, they’d be, they’d be buying their, you know, their their second or third yacht, you know, their fifth mansion, you know, and I’m exaggerating, I get it, but, but, you know, you get the point. They the money would be going to shareholders. It wouldn’t be going back into the membership or the community. And the only reason why they’re there is because they took advantage of some of some very good, hard, hard, hard working people and and now they have to, you know, operate under, under, under Community Reinvestment Act. And so, yeah, we got it again. We got to get good at pulling that string on that sweater also, and get, you know, seize the initiative and be proactive in our rooms, and put them on their heels, you know, defending it, they’re
Sarah Cooke
always talking about, or all about small business and how they help small business in the communities. But when you abandon a community, there’s no capital to get to to run your business or start your business. So yeah, all of it falls apart. I think, personally, you know
Anthony Hernandez
that that’s another area. You know, we’ve been championing veteran business lending for several years now. You know, I think that’s a step toward a larger member, you know, relief from the member business lending caps that are that got put on credit unions. But what I like about veteran business the Veteran Business member Lending Act that’s currently been introduced in the Congress is that it allows for $1 for dollar reduction from the member business lending caps. And the beauty of that bill is that who wants, who wants to do something against veterans? So if the banks oppose us on that, that’s a talking point we ought to be, you know, that’s one where we take scissors and go at go at the sweater anyway, right? I mean, it’s, you know, because, and that’s what I like about what we do, being uniquely positioned to make that argument, you know, or help all credit unions make that argument, because all credit unions have veterans, you know, and when we do a veteran business member Lending Act, and of course, the banks are going to bellyache about it, but they’re really, they’re really taking away opportunity from veterans and shame on them, you know, we, we are that. That’s the message we ought to be doing.
Sarah Cooke
There’s an editorial cartoon I see right there,
absolutely.
Sarah Cooke
So, what are the most pressing issues for credit unions right now, and particularly the military credit unions?
Anthony Hernandez
Well, again, if it affects the military credit union, it affects all credit unions, you know, and vice versa. Yeah, we have some military uniques that I’ll get into a bit later. But right now, we are all together in in fighting this, this move to tax credit unions. You know, we are, we are all working to protect the industry’s tax exempt status, because that’s existent. Potential to our industry. If that goes away, we no longer have an industry. All our system partners no longer have clients, so their business goes away. And so it’s very bad on what would happen, you know, I’ve heard some people, you know, say, Well, why don’t we, why don’t we negotiate for a limited increase? No, it just opens the door to everything else, you know, we’ve gotta fight this, you know, head on. So that’s one issue. The other issue is the credit card Competition Act, and we’re seeing that get inserted into several must pass legislation. Next week, the Senate votes on their genius Act, which deals with stable coins, and they’re moved to a tax credit card competition after that. And so we’re fighting that these are things, you know, the larger battles, the tax exempt battle, but these happen underneath that. You got to pay attention to all of them, just like the CDFI Fund, it got threatened. And we have to sort of pull out of this fight and fight that one simultaneously, there’s a the Senator Holly and Senator Sanders have introduced a 10% credit card interest rate cap that estimate both bank both the banking and credit union industries. So we’re fighting that one too, and then right around the corner, you know? And I was back this morning, I was talking with Becky Reed, you know about, about what happens with the payment landscape, with the rise of stable coins? Because once, once the Senate passes their their genius Act, and the House passes their clarity act. It’s going to switch really quick. You know, it’s going to, you know, the payment platforms we’re using now will go the way of buggy whips did when Henry Ford introduced the automobile. You know, the the buggy whip industry went, went away very quickly. You know, everyone was driving cars. Now I see this with the with the demographic change in our industry. A lot of young people want something different, and they want faster payments, and they want easy payments, and so stable coins has to be protected, and you got to have a good a good network. But that’s the wave of the future, and it’s not something well, we’ll study it this year and dabble in it the next and learn you’re going to have to go move very, very quickly. And so understanding that is becoming a hot topic in our industry, because the legislation is already there. Your question was on military specific stuff, right? And so the stuff we worry about on and the stuff we worry about on military installations is being able to provide financial literacy requirements to our to our young, our young enlisted troops, or even even the officers. Heck, you don’t have to be a young one. You could be a colonel like myself and still have financial problems because it’s not taught in high schools. It’s not taught anywhere. And so DoD formed their own financial Readiness Group, and they sort of develop an organic but, you know, as a former member of the military who wants to read that stuff, it’s a government owned, you know, resource. And are they tracking my you know, submit your debt, your debt to your earn, your income to debt ratio. Who wants to do that on a government platform? You know just it’s just not going to happen, and credit unions and banks, because I’ll throw them in. Since this is a financial services issue, we operate on credit on on basis credit unions and banks, we operate on basis for free, and in our operating agreements, we’re required to provide financial education requirement. We call it financial readiness because that’s got a military flavor to it. But what we’ve seen since DoD stood up their their financial readiness cell, they’ve been given the Heisman to both banks and credit unions because they think there’s a conflict of interest there. I’m like, You guys asked us to come on the base and provide all this stuff. So, you know, Miss me with that required to do it. And quite honestly, it’s a safer way for for military members to get help, right? Because it’s it’s confidential. We can already see their if they have an account at the credit union. We can already see where they’re in trouble. We can see their credit card is maxed out, and that payment, or that money comes in on the first and the 15th of the month, and it’s gone on the on the second and the end this and the 16th, because they paid all their bills, and they’re coming to us for loans. And so, you know, I was at a, I was at a CFPB seminar a couple years ago. It was, it was getting that financial readiness for military members. And I remember. The same group DoD fin Red was bragging about, you know, 85% of the people they talk to are financially ready now. And, you know, and then I raised my hand, you know, everybody got that collective Oh, here we go. Right? That is bad data, because I’m looking at our financial data based on all those factors I just mentioned. Credit cards are maxed out. They don’t qualify for a loan. Money comes in and out of the account. I said that’s 45% of the of the military and all ranks represented that have that that really aren’t financial, right? You know, financially ready. And you can see the long faces from the stage when I pointed that out, so I ate lunch by myself that day. But you know, you got to put some some truth to this stuff, and that’s the stuff we see every day. And so that’s a big issue. And then competition, because if we’re going to be doing all this stuff for free, especially one thing a lot of people don’t realize is that banks and credit unions are are often asked to support the military mission with with cash. Right when you deploy into an austere location that doesn’t have anything, you know, it’s probably just a a hard dirt landing strip. It’s got no it’s got no internet. Doesn’t really have a ATM or any that other stuff. And those local chieftains that you’re negotiating with, they don’t take American Express. They sure as heck don’t take Bitcoin, although they might, they might adopt that technology, but they take they take us dollars. And so you see, you see it in movies, and you see a military folks, people sitting on $50 million of cash. Well, that comes from the banks and credit unions on the base, you know, to move them through, and we provide that for free. And so one thing we ask the military is, if we’re going to be doing all this stuff. Can Can you give us consideration by not allowing other banks or other credit unions onto the base, to To market, to to military members? And that’s that seems like a fair trade off to me. But you know, you’ll, you’ll see a lot of encroachment on the bases, because the other banks and the other credit unions will sponsor, we’ll sponsor something, and right forcing the rules. And so that’s always a headache. Is the one bank and one credit union policy that’s in the Code of Federal Regulations. The problem is nobody’s nobody’s monitoring that. And then those are the two big issues. And then everything, everything beneath that, is just, just, just the operational issues that we deal with, but that’s what the council was set up to do historically. And then we’ve just seen a role for DCUC, to get more involved in advocacy. You know, when the military landing Act was passed in 2015 DCUC was not involved in advocacy at that time, and what I what I’ve pointed out, is that that really discriminates against military. Everyone loves this 36% rate cap that includes all the fees. And to be honest with you, there are some small dollar loans that even the NCUA payday alternative loan would violate the military and so it’s not good, but if you’re a non military buyer, you can borrow from anybody you want to, you know. So what you see is a lot of products and services aren’t geared for military. And if and if a young enlisted troop needs $300 you’re going to find $300 and it’s not going to be from a safe lender. So the very, the very thing that that the military proponents of the Military Lending Act wanted to to promote, which was get rid of predatory lenders. They actually opened up the field, right? It’s every good basis. Yeah, you drive, you try right outside the gate, and there they are. You know, title loan companies, pawn shops. But even in the barracks you get, you get some, some other other folks making loans, right? It’s just the police. And so that’s just something else that we fight all the time too, and so that’s why we got involved in the advocacy game, is because that was a missed opportunity. And my takeaway from that is, hey, there are some things that impact military differently, like, like, the veteran. Like, like, veteran, veteran, business member, Lending Act, right? I You mean, I think I said it wrong, veteran member business lending. Yeah, there’s some, you know, those things that that we specialize in and have a different take on it. Because the tension was, does the industry go for the member Business Lending Act or they go for veteran member? Business Lending Act. And I think a stair step is you take the veteran first, because it has a stronger argument, and once you prove the concept, then you can get to the larger one. And so that’s just sort of a different take, but that’s kind of what DCUC provides to the industry right now, is a different look at some things. And let’s, let’s figure out how we can win first. Yes, you know, because winning is nice rather than, you know, opposing or defending and all that stuff, because, you know, I think members don’t really see that, and so we’ve been on a roll lately. Hey, I don’t know if it’ll come up, but we just had the NCUA authorize or provide greater clarity to credit unions for our homeless veterans, or they call it unhoused, because you can make your home any place but unhoused veterans, and that they can use the VA hospital where they were getting their veteran care as their permanent address for purposes of opening a checking account. And that’s huge, right? Because the first step in financial readiness is, Do I have a safe place to store my money? Right? It’s not safe in a can or a Ziploc bag that that’s that’s in a place where the veteran member is unhoused, right? Right? And so if you can get your monthly VA benefits or your or or just a cast that you’re able to earn into a safe place, and now you’re in the institution, so now you can find other resources that are helpful. Those are the first steps for financial for financial readiness, and so we’re very proud of that. And that’s just
Sarah Cooke
the government, yeah, especially if the government goes to direct deposit only or Yeah, more checks. Yeah.
Anthony Hernandez
Well, the VA came to us on the veteran call it the veteran benefit banking program, and any credit union can join. You don’t have to be a member of DCUC we just help onboard people as part of our agreement. But that’s because the VA is still processes checks. You’re unhoused, and you don’t have a you don’t have a checking account, you gotta go cash it at a check cashing service, and you’re going to pay a FD fee, or you can lose or damage your check, and it’s no good anymore. And so they came to us to find, you know, financial institutions, and the last time I checked, all credit unions offer a free checking account. If the veteran asked for some financial help, you know, or guidance or wellness training, you’ll be able to provide that. And last time I checked, all credit unions do both of those things, so all credit unions are eligible to join and and that’s just led to some some good conversations with other credit unions, because they always ask, Well, what else do you guys do? And just reminded me, we published this Veterans guide, Yep, yeah, and this was we witnessed with the VA, because there’s a lot of veteran fraud out there. I did 25 years in the Air Force, and I don’t know all the benefits that I’m entitled to, because I don’t know what’s entitled to. There’s a lot of fraud out there saying, Hey, here’s this new benefit. And if you’re a senior veteran, you fall you’re more susceptible to fall for it. Here’s this new benefit. Send me your your bank account information and your social security number will get you hooked up. Or you heard about the Camp Lejeune, you know, you know, poisoning in the water system, and you have all these ads on TV, these law firms that are ready to help, and some of them are, are reputable, but the the availability for people to take advantage of that is very real out there. So we came out with that guy to give the actual resources for veterans to go get help. So long answer to a short question you asked. But we’ve got a lot going on.
Sarah Cooke
Yes you do. Yes you do. So aside from all the DC stuff, what do you think is the biggest threat to credit
Anthony Hernandez
unions? Um, I Well, I mean, there’s there, there’s a lot, there’s a lot of folks, I think, particularly with small credit unions, are they going to survive in the new, the new climate? And that’s, and that’s not a new issue. That’s just an ongoing issue that I think is picking up steam, you know, and you know from, if you take a step back, our our ability to influence Congress and state representative stuff is your small town credit union, one, the one I joined as a member of a church, right or at the at the plant, the factory that I worked at, you know, those that’s where credit unions had, that’s where the power is at. That’s where the constituencies at, you know, and so when you get really big, you sort of lose contact with that, or it’s hard to marshal it. And so we know, you know, I fear that we, we lose what made us great as. Best people get, get get, you know, get merged or acquired. It’s not a bad thing. I mean, again, I don’t want to do big crediting versus small credit unions. It’s just one of those things we have to deal with. And so how do we navigate that in the future? And that leads to, you know, regulatory relief. And there’s a move out there to do away with audit committees, which sounds good, but until you have a problem, and then while you did away with this audit committee, that’s not real smart, but yeah, it reduces some of the regulatory burden, but it also keeps you out of trouble, right? And so that’s an issue outside of Washington DC, that’s at the credit and then succession planning. You know, I kind of feel it. You know, if you don’t have a simple succession plan, you’re just ringing a dinner bell to be acquired, right? We know what’s going on, and then you just negotiating the price at that point. So I don’t think that’s healthy either. The other side of the coin is, is you, sometimes you can get an NCUA examiner or a state examiner coming in, and their definition of a succession plan goes well beyond what anybody had, and they want you to go down to the director level, you know, four levels down the organization. You don’t need succession plans that deep, but, you know, so it hasn’t been bounded correctly, because you get lots of interpretations. And I heard one the other day that a particular examiner thought the person in charge of the Bank Secrecy Act was the most essential person to have a succession plan. I’m like, really interesting, you know, that’s the, I mean, it’s an important position, but it’s, you know, would think the CEO would be, you know, important. And then, and then, the last thing you know, with board succession plans, that’s very important too, but that’s harder to define, because these are volunteers, you know. And so how do you have a plan where you’re going to ask someone to volunteer their time, you know. And if you do away with some of these audit and supervisory committees, you do away with your bench. And so logging is work cross purposes. So those are two items I think at the at the local level, I think credit unions have to grapple with that’ll bubble up to DC event, you know. That’s already here, you know. And how those but, and then you get all the normal stuff, interest rate, risk, you know, having enough capital requirements, you know, all those operational things that happen. And then how do you find money to grow your credit union? Because we’ve always been in a grow or die economy. You innovate and have the funds to innovate, or you don’t. And as interest rate or hikes up there and inflation mix up there, you’re seeing credit unions getting squeezed some more. And then you get into the fee structures, and you know, they’re just, just a whole bunch of stuff out there. And even talked about technology, right? Yeah, but I, but the good news is, is that there are, there are people that are out there willing to help. So I know I painted a really gloomy picture, but there’s a lot of folks out there that are, that are, you know, able, willing to help. You know, credit unions succeed, and that’s what makes the credit union connection. And I just, I just looked up at the sign behind it, that’s what makes it, you know, that much more special.
Sarah Cooke
Mm, hmm, well, and I think, too, we don’t leverage the cooperative nature of the industry nearly enough. And I’m not going to propose or assume what the problem is there, but it’s really something that is a different superpower. And I think in part, you know, CUSOs are can be the way, a part of it anyway, and you’re seeing more and more of them formed, which is a little bit of an interesting, interesting trend. But, yeah, so what do you say about the collaborative nature of credit unions these
Anthony Hernandez
days? Well, I like I learned this in the in this industry. You know, in other words, being a 25 year military guy, I learned something new, and that was a that was the idea of coopetition, yeah, right, which is a great word, and it makes you think about all kinds of different stuff. But, you know, I’ve seen with DCUC with our member credit unions, people willing to help other or credit unions want to help other credit unions out, and that’s always made me very proud of the trade association president, to see that happening, you know, and when even stuff, where it started, where I started to see it was, remember how I mentioned how credit unions have to provide cash for the government, right? Also provide trade. Treasury general account administration. So when the commissary needs to deposit its daily receipts, they’ll go to their local bank or their credit union and make that deposit into the treasury general account. But as banks have left the base because of profit decisions, and it’s no longer profitable, credit unions still stay there a lot more credit unions are taking on the TGA or the Treasury general account responsibilities, don’t know how to do it. And so we’ve had credit unions that have navigated that path, and so I’m able to connect them to do that. And then when you come to DCUC conferences, you see a lot of interaction between credit unions and boards learning how to do something, and that’s that I think, if we can do more of that, one thing we’ve done at DCUC conferences, is try to allow for more break time and not fill the day with speaker after speaker, because it can tend to get boring after a while. And we had a saying in the military that the mind can absorb only what the butt can endure, right? And so get up out of your seat from time to time. Have a long coffee break, because people talk and and if i The one thing I like to see when I’m when I’m at a DCUC conference, and people are going to be late getting back. I let it go for a little bit longer. We build that into our schedule, right? Those dialogs to go on and then, and then, I like seeing people at people in the evenings afterwards having a beverage or two, right? Like, gotta make sure the first one tastes good, but, yeah, but no, but I see a lot of different credit unions interacting, and that’s always hopeful for me, looking at our industry survival, because that’s, you know, the networking is what’s important in our industry.
Sarah Cooke
Absolutely, 100% agree with that, for sure. So we’re also so you guys have been a lot more active, expanded kind of what you’re doing on on the Capitol Hill, also seeing you a lot more in the media. We get a couple of your press releases every week or day, couple times. And so what is the overall What’s your overall objective for growing the DCUC Because it sounds like you’re definitely in growth mode. Growth
Anthony Hernandez
mode, yeah, yeah. And just so people understand we’re only seven people, right? Yes, you know. And I heard this this morning. I was talking to Becky Reed, and we’re talking about, you know, stable coin and stuff. But I like, I like her saying, speed is a new scale, right? You know, and when you only have seven people, speed counts, getting stuff out there, making decisions and getting the copy out there, and not having to go through multiple revisions and edits and approvals. And so speed is key, but, but more to your question is, when the merger happened between kuna and Matthew into America’s credit unions, I’d never really bought into the one voice for everybody. You know the that sounded good, but we experienced several instances, and I mentioned one with the Military Lending Act, where we need, we need a separate voice out there. And I believe the industry needs a separate voice. And what I found, you know, I don’t see if you read our recent press release, I had a, we led a industry wide, all the national, other national trade associations meeting on the tax exempt there are, there are lots of different voices out there that that represent their members, right, that that need, that that exposure. So I don’t buy into the one voice thing so much. I understand having a unified voice on you but only on issues where they’re the where there truly is a unified issue that we can all rally, you know, rally together, and we’ll come together at times, and then we’ll separate into our our different messaging. And that’s the beauty of that’s the beauty of America. You know, we have different view political viewpoints out there. And it’s not good or bad, it’s it just is, and just celebrating those differences. And so dc, we used to see ourselves as being the, being the second, the second largest voice, and move and moving on up, you know. And I think it’s healthy, you know. Like I said, when we agree with the larger trade association, it’s a good thing, but when we disagree, we respectfully do that and move on. But I also see the fact that we’re small can get things out there, is that we end up challenging the other trade association to do more right, to hone their message right, to get in there and not assume that. That, you know, everyone’s just going to fall in line. You kind of have to compete. And whether it’s healthy competition that benefits credit unions, that benefits everybody else in the industry. And so, you know, I almost see us ourselves as doing a public service for the by by being out there and doing the work. And, yeah, we are pedaling very fast, I’m not gonna lie, you know, but we’ve gotten used to this pace now, and I’m very proud of what the DCUC staff has been able to accomplish. And, and it’s not quite two years yet, about about, little over 18 months, you know, just fill in that role, and then I won’t get into it much here, but there’s much more in store coming down. We’ll be back on that. Yeah, exactly, yeah. I was fishing for another invite, but you got it, but, but, no, I do. I do see us growing a little bit more. There’s some things we won’t do. I’m not going to do this because there’s too many people doing, you know, a regulatory conference or a lending conference or a marketing conference. I mean, every league has their version. The other trade association has theirs, and there’s a lot of industry partners that do the same thing. We’re going to announce a couple partners coming up that we’ve strategically partnered with to offer that because I don’t have the bandwidth. I don’t want to have to hire people to go set up more conferences and then run content for those why not just partner with an organization that’s already doing it. You know, organization like cues or a first hint. Hint, you know that we could, we could partner with and offer what, what they offered to our members as well, and that helped us scale up a whole lot quicker. So stay tuned for future announcements,
Sarah Cooke
maybe even the credit union
Anthony Hernandez
connection. Yeah, absolutely. So
Sarah Cooke
I’m going to let you have wrap up final thoughts to the crane executives out there. What do you have to say?
Anthony Hernandez
Well, again, I want to stress that anyone can join DCUC, it’s available. Everyone are trusting you will, you will, our dues or our access is very, very low. It’s very, very affordable. I think you’d be embarrassed about how low it is, but we want, we want to prove ourselves to you. So that’s message number one. The other message is our CEOs and the member that your staff and your members of your credit, are the best advocates we have in the industry. And if we can provide you with the tool, the sample letters, the postcard campaigns, the talking points, you guys are our best advocates, and so we will work very hard to supply you with with what you need to to win the day, and then try to arrange those meetings and then promote what you what all our Credit Unions are doing. So that’s our role with DCUC is to provide you with those things. And then two, let’s get all get along. We all have several common enemies. One is just, just market condition itself, but we always have the banking industry. You know, let’s take the fight to the banks, and then let’s figure out how to unravel that sweater together, and so I know we can do that, and I’m just thankful for everything that all our credit unions do for each of your communities and championing that voice.
Sarah Cooke
Alrighty, thank you so much. Have a great rest of your day.
Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks, Sarah. You.