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Are you ready to grapple with the new NCUA requirement that every credit union have an up to date succession plan that covers both senior executives and board members?

The good news: you’re not required to have a written plan until January 1, 2026.

The bad news: if you don’t have a plan by then, or if your plan falls far short of NCUA’s expectations, the credit union can be written up by an examiner.

On the show is Jeff Paille, partner in The Bonadio Group’s Assurance Division, who offers a primer on what every credit union needs to know about this NCUA requirement.

And he also talks about what will happen if you simply tell the examiner you haven’t gotten a plan together.

Incidentally, although the NCUA explicitly flagged mergers triggered by a lack of a succession plan as a prompt for this new requirement, Paille says that a common succession plan at many credit unions is in fact merger.

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Some 4.18 million Americans will turn 65 in 2025 and many of them will have to make difficult and crucial decisions about their Medicare coverage.

Credit unions can play a crucial role in this process and in this episode from May 2023 Rock Carter tells exactly how credit unions can get involved.

And if you think Medicare has to be easy, well, get ready to hear the complexities.

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25% cashback on an Amazon purchase. 35% back at Kroger.

Now do I have your attention?

And this is cashback on a debit card. You thought debit card cashback vanished a decade ago? It had.

But now it just may be coming back.

On the show are David Metz, CEO of Prizeout, an innovator in adtech, and he is here to talk about a new product, CashBack+ Pay.

Also on the show is Amy Sink, CEO of Interra Credit Union, an Indiana institution with assets around $2 billion, an investor in the Prizeout CUSO.

As for those eye popping cashback purchases, they are real and both were enjoyed by Interra members who had signed up Cashback + Pay, relates Sink.

According to Prizeout, “The first group of credit unions now live with CashBack+ Pay includes Interra Credit Union, Michigan State Federal Credit Union, United Financial Credit Union, Golden 1 Credit Union and People Driven Credit Union.”

Cashback rates vary - sometimes by day, often by a member’s particular demographic. But, says Metz, the usual rate now is averaging 6.8%.

Rewards are instant too.

Metz in the show tells about the mechanics of Cashback + Pay and Sink is the articulate evangelist.

Also on the show in a cameo is Andrea Holland, who handles communications for Prizeout.

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Buckle up, there may be turbulence on this ride.

On the show today is Elizabeth Eurgubian , now a lobbyist in Washington DC but who just a few months ago served as NCUA Director of the Office of External Affairs and Communications and Policy Advisor to Chairman Harper. That’s an important position at NCUA - it’s a political appointment.

Before that she was deputy chief advocacy officer at CUNA and before that she was a vice president and a lobbyist for ICBA.

She knows Washington DC and she especially knows the lobbying intricacies involving credit unions and community banks.

This episode was recorded the day before NCUA chairman Kyle Haputman revealed the staff reorganization plan for NCUA which is a slightly deeper staffing cut than Eugubian predicted but that makes her predictions for NCUA operations with a smaller staff even more chilling.

Bottomline: she says everything will take longer at a slimmed down NCUA, an agency she says was thinly staffed before this 20+ percent staffing cut.

Along the way Ergubian gives a short course on how to lobby effectively and offers insights into the likely future of NCUA (will it stay independent?), the credit union federal tax exemption, and credit union examinations in a slimmed down NCUA.

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Today’s topic: How to Pass the NCUA Tech Audit (Without Losing Your Mind)

The guest is Mike Robins, COO at Dynamic Edge, a company that’s helped many credit unions - particularly ones with assets between $25 million and $400 million - successfully navigate the NCUA Tech Audit which occurs “periodically,” according to the agency.

Hear what’s involved in the audit, how to pass it and - crucially - how to prepare for it.

Robin’s key point: prepare and you won’t lose your mind.

Interesting, too, is that NCUA provides cheat sheets for the Tech Audit on its website. Robins tells where to find them and how to use them.

He also tells if the auditors are in fact following the cheat sheets.

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On today’s show is Paul Dionne, chief strategy officer at Quantum Governance, L3C.

What’s an L3C? Good question: It’s a low profit limited liability company and, in the case of Quantum Governance, that means it “help[s] nonprofits, credit unions, associations and foundations realize the full potential of their missions.”

The company’s work with credit unions revolves around governance - especially issues involving the board and organizational leadership - and strategic planning.

That’s why a key focus of this discussion is a credit union board’s fiduciary responsibility especially in the case of a merger. When a merger is on the table, a board member’s responsibility is to make decisions that are in the best interest of the membership, said Dionne.

What’s that mean? How can a board member go off course?

In the show Dionne, who worked at Filene before joining Quantum Governance, tells the good, the bad and the ugly.

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Is this the twilight of the golden age of credit unions? On the show to discuss exactly that question is Jim Blaine, the now retired longtime CEO of SECU, the second biggest credit union in the country. Blaine may be retired but he still has opinions about credit unions, as evidenced in his blog, SECU - Just Asking!

In this podcast Blaine also digs deep into the question: what exactly is a credit union? We also talk about democracy in credit unions and often the lack thereof.

Recently Blaine has been sparring with his old employer with the flash point being the institution’s new leadership’s desire to move to risk based pricing for loans. Blaine is against that and successfully resisted it in his years as SECU’s CEO.

Blaine, definitely, is opinionated. But he also is - undeniably - a credit union champion. What he says may make you mad - it definitely made various NCUA employees mad. But listen up because Blaine, very clearly, articulates a philosophy about credit unions that he didn’t just spout, he lived in building SECU into a US credit union powerhouse.

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No one has a richer background in credit union journalism than Frank Diekmann. Over the past 35 years he has been co-founder and editor at Credit Union Times, publisher at Credit Union Journal, co-founder at CUToday, and now he is the founder of The CU Daily, a new publication that is the liveliest credit union pub in my opinion.

Nobody has written more published words about credit unions than Diekmann.

Diekmann has opinions.

Longtime listeners probably think I’m opinionated.

I am.

But Direkmann can and does go toe-to-toe with me on a range of topics - credit union mergers, the future of small credit unions, the credit union federal tax exemption, the future of NCUA and lots more. There are even glimpses into the very future of credit unions - if there is one.

This is a lively show and, remember, Diekmann has years of reporting experience that back up the opinions you’ll hear.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto