In the latest episode of 22 Minutes in Lending, we’re joined by Elizabeth Adcock and Darcie Morgan of MAC Federal Credit Union who have helped oversee transformational growth at the credit union, driven by a diligent approach to AI and digital investments. Discover how this credit union has bridged the gap between traditional and technical services while still keeping their communities loyal and engaged.

Key takeaways:

01.35: An overview of MAC FCU and how they strategically expanded their physical footprint to more effectively serve their members.

03.00: The rationale behind MAC FCU’s expansion into real estate lending, both commercial and residential.

05.36: How MAC FCU’s digital transformation addresses both the needs and wants of its membership.

07.34: The infrastructure roadmap and additional investments necessary to upskill and launch MAC FCU’s digital services.

08.30: What taking “a foundational approach to AI” means, and how credit unions can safely adopt open source solutions.

12.26: Navigating member perceptions, usage, and risks of newly launched AI solutions.

14.30: Working in primarily auto-lending to support people with “bumped and bruised” credit.

16.19: How credit unions can navigate increasingly high delinquency rates, and support personal and commercial members through financial difficulties.

17.42: Increasing process efficiencies and focusing on products-per-member growth are critical growth areas for 2025.

Resources Mentioned:

1. www.macfcu.org MAC FCU

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#CreditUnions #Lending #AutoLending #DigitalTransformation

In this episode, Capitol Hill insider John McKechnie takes an unflinching look at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Rule 1033, unpacking what it means for credit unions, consumers, and fintech. In this top-level discussion, McKechnie and host Vince Passione discuss the liability risks posed by third-party data sharing, the rule’s black, white, and grey areas, and the roadmap for navigating further regulatory complexities in the year ahead.

Key takeaways:

00.47: Key implications for credit unions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Rule 1033.

02.20: The origins of the rule’s intention date back to the turn of the last century with the dotcom boom, but were really brought to bear when the Dodd Frank Act passed in 2010.

04.15: The intent of the rule has long been contentious, with parties pointing out that consumers already have access to a wealth of data and can control it how they choose, therefore why would it now need regulating?

04.50: What party is obligated to protect consumer data remains vague, and the CFPB’s own director still seems elusive on details.

08.10: The day after the rule was announced in final form, the Kentucky Bankers Association filed a suit challenging the regulation.

09.10: The rule’s inclusion of major fintech providers like PayPal and ApplePay shouldn’t have come as a surprise–although it was widely reported as one.

10.45: How the objections to Rule 1033 are strong enough that we may see credit unions and banks working together to challenge the legislation.

15.08: The law doesn’t provide for oversight of third parties that have access to consumer data, which is a “huge legal sticking point.”

17.48: With the incoming political administration, there’s a high likelihood that the House and Senate will repeal the regulation and require a new iteration be presented.

19.00: Credit unions have cause to be nervous with so much potential change to the tax legislation in 2025.

Resources Mentioned:

• https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-finalizes-personal-financial-data-rights-rule-to-boost-competition-protect-privacy-and-give-families-more-choice-in-financial-services/ Rule 1033
• https://www.cftc.gov/LawRegulation/DoddFrankAct/index.htm Dodd Frank Act
• https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1838/text Credit Card Competition Act

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#CreditUnions #Lending #Data

In this episode of 22 Minutes and Lending, host Vince Passione welcomes Juan Fernández Ceballos, president and CEO of Luminate, the credit union league for Louisiana. From helping smaller credit unions build economies of scale to challenging core providers to do better; addressing succession issues to navigating the incoming political administration, Juan Fernández offers a bold new vision for how credit union leagues can adapt and evolve their services to ensure every credit union can thrive. This conversation is a must-listen.

Key takeaways:

0:00 Intro

1:15 An overview of Luminate, the credit union league for Louisiana, and its three core pillars: Collaborate, Innovate, Thrive.

4:50 How complacency and an aversion to risk at the Board and executive level could be contributing to the credit union system’s contraction.

8:27 Why credit unions need to be more intentional and proactive in ensuring their Board of Directors reflect the type of members they are (or want to be) serving.

10:12 Fintech is omnipresent and necessary, but it cannot replace the personal connections and relationships that credit unions offer.

15:02 The important role that credit union Leagues play in helping smaller and medium-sized credit unions leverage economies of scale.

17:55 The core conundrum: How core providers are locking credit unions into long-term deals that can inhibit growth and innovation.

19:06 What the incoming political administration could mean for credit unions.

22:31 The state of the credit union league system–what they need to focus on to support the long-term growth and success of the credit union system.

Resources Mentioned:

• https://luminate.coop/ Luminate website
• https://www.lendkey.com/podcast/think-inside-the-box-the-growth-opportunities-staring-credit-unions-in-the-face/ Dr. Brandi Stankovic episode of 22 Minutes in Lending

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#CreditUnions #Lending #Fintech #Advocacy

In this second of two episodes with Kareem Saleh, Founder and CEO of FairPlay AI, host Vince Passione continues the conversation on how AI, to date, has fallen short of its potential to deliver a fairer lending environment for all consumers, but how addressing historical bias in the learning data can create a more equitable future.

Key takeaways:

0:00 Intro

1:00 How historical data–the data that AI is typically trained on–contains bias, and therefore can perpetuate bias in the future.

2:27 The challenges for lenders of using historical data that contains bias, but also has valuable insights, such as an individual’s repayment performance.

3:25 Sometimes lenders have to “test and learn” into new markets to define their risk parameters.

5:26 Racial and ethnic minority groups are often wrongly stereotyped as always being underserved and/or in need of fundamental financial services.

6:44 The more financial stimulus to enable lending in under-represented populations, the greater the opportunity to remove long-term bias from data sets and have a fairer AI-driven underwriting system in the future.

8:21 A detailed overview of FairPlay AI, the algorithms it uses to pursue fairer lending for all, and its outputs and outcomes.

13:02 The double-risks posed to lenders by climate change: The risks to their members and the commodities borrowed against, and the physical risk to lenders’ collateral.

14:47 How climate change also represents a powerful opportunity for credit unions to grow and deliver on their mission.

16:14 The lending opportunities for credit unions interested in addressing climate change.

16:48 The NCUA has made it clear they are hyper-focused on fair lending, particularly in the auto market.

Resources Mentioned:

• https://fairplay.ai/ Fairplay AI
• https://www.novacredit.com/ Nova Credit
• https://www.lendkey.com/podcast/credits-new-frontier-cross-border-records-and-the-role-of-cash-flow-data/ Misha Esipov episode
• https://www.cooperaconsulting.com/ Coopera Consulting
• https://www.lendkey.com/podcast/service-or-stereotypes-can-credit-unions-engage-multicultural-consumers/ Victor Corro episode
• https://www.filene.org/reports/the-changing-climate-for-credit-unions The Changing Climate for Credit Unions
• https://ncua.gov/regulation-supervision/regulatory-compliance-resources/consumer-compliance-regulatory-resources/fair-lending-compliance-resources Fair lending resources from the NCUA

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#CreditUnions #FairLending #AI #Lending

In this first of two episodes with Kareem Saleh, Founder and CEO of FairPlay AI, host Vince Passione takes a deep dive into the world of AI underwriting: How it’s been used in the past, how it has fallen short of its potential to remove bias in lending decisioning, and how the pioneering concept of Fairness-as-a-Service may yet revolutionize the AI lending game.

Key takeaways:

0:00 Intro

2:06 How the murder of George Floyd compelled Kareem Saleh to look for ways he could more effectively change the system he operates in, and increase fairness for everyone.

3:08 Machine learning is capable of learning, but also of learning the wrong things.

3:55 Financial services regulators have clearly defined definitions of “fairness”: One focusing on disparate treatment, the other focusing on disparate impact.

5:18 One of the core challenges (and/or failures to-date) for using AI to mitigate bias is that it can only learn from the data it is trained on; and that typically over-represents certain populations.

8:49 Traditional logistic regression models don’t always work because they assume credit behaviors are linear. In reality, an individual’s financial behaviors are non-linear.

9:31 Unfairness can be born out of AI-driven models when seemingly independent variables interact with one another in a way that most humans wouldn’t interpret, but machines do.

10:01 Underwriting regulation and compliance hasn’t yet caught up with the technological capabilities of our AI-driven world.

11:56 Why monitoring an AI model’s fairness trends is critical.

14:40 Examples of ways seemingly disparate or arbitrary variables can interact with one another to bias an outcome–and how personal attributes are still being leveraged to a greater or lesser extent in decisioning models.

19:53 Concerns vs. regulatory comfort with using personal attributes like age and gender in decisioning.

22:44 The privacy implications, particularly in light of 1033, and how finding a way to share your personal information in some way–even if it’s just through the census–will help contribute to a fairer credit system.

Resources Mentioned:

• https://fairplay.ai/ Fairplay AI
• https://www.fdic.gov/system/files/2024-06/iv-1-1.pdf Fair lending rules and regulations
• https://www.justice.gov/crt/equal-credit-opportunity-act-3 Equal Credit Opportunity Act
• https://www.justice.gov/crt/fair-housing-act-1 Fair Housing Act
• https://www.lendkey.com/podcast/modern-credit-reporting-can-old-tech-handle-new-data/ Christian Widhalm, Bloom Credit, episode

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#CreditUnions #FairLending #AI #Lending

In this episode, Misha Esipov, co-founder and CEO of Nova Credit, joins host Vince Passione to discuss the millions of “Credit Invisible” people in the country, and how innovations in credit reporting can help more lenders reach and serve them.

Key takeaways:

0:00 Introduction

1:29 Millions of people arrive in the U.S. each year, many of whom have been credit-worthy in their respective nations but the U.S. credit system doesn’t recognize their credit history.

2:19 There are around 100 million Americans whose credit data is inaccurate or incomplete and are missing out on loan opportunities as a consequence.

5:04 An overview of Nova Credit’s three core products: Cash Atlas, Income Navigator, and Credit Passport.

8:10 How, as a credit reporting agency (CRA) Nova Credit furnishes data to lenders and other credit bureaus.

9:00 The three core swimlanes of Nova Credit’s operations: data collection, analytics, and FCRA compliance.

9:48 The challenges preventing cash flow data from being recorded in traditional credit reporting bureaus' data–and the benefits for consumers and lenders when it is captured and used.

13:35 How government stimulus incentives issued through the pandemic may have skewed consumer credit information, and is leading to long-term underperformance on certain loans.

15:57 How Buy Now Pay Later transactions remain under-reported.

18:47 Augmenting underwriting with cash flow information is a journey. Any step towards it is progress.

21:09 Key takeaways from the inaugural Cash Flow Underwriting Summit, held in September 2024.

Resources Mentioned:

• https://www.novacredit.com/ Nova Credit
• https://www.unfcu.org/ United Nations Federal Credit Union
• https://www.novacredit.com/cash-atlas Cash AtlasTM
• https://www.novacredit.com/income-navigator Income Navigator
• https://www.novacredit.com/credit-passport Credit Passport®
• https://www.cashflowunderwritingsummit.com/ Cash Flow Underwriting Summit 2024

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#CreditUnions #Lending #CreditReporting

Join host Vince Passione as he meets with Bill Moniz, CEO of Cinch, to discuss the turbulence and trends of the auto finance industry. From the rise of negative equity to prime-only lending strategies, Bill shares insights on how credit unions can navigate credit quality challenges, discusses educating members on financing options, and gives his thoughts on market reactions to an expected Federal rates drop.

Key takeaways:

1:21 - The history of Credit Union Loan Source and Cinch: Two organizations operating as one.

3:07 - ‘Market Day Supply’–the metric used to calculate how many days it would take to sell all of a specific car model–is still higher than long-term trends, but is leveling out to near pre-Covid levels.

6:50 - Almost a quarter of new vehicles financed have negative equity rolled into them.

9:08 - While credit unions’ market share of auto loans has increased over the last two years, so too has delinquencies–increasing risk for credit unions.

10:48 - Consumer debt priorities have changed. Now, cell phone bills are the priority.

12:59 - Could subvention be utilized more effectively in the EV market?

16:23 - Auto-focused fintechs are cutting back, not making as many inroads as they have done in previous years, but direct-to-consumer innovation remains.

18:17 - Inventory management is an underutilized innovation category that could support more auto-purchasing.

19:55 - Personal unsecured loans have underperformed, and this is a concern for lenders and a risk for credit union balance sheets.

21:17 - Auto-lending is a nuanced service that takes time and expertise to navigate successfully.

23:28 - Expectations of what happens if and when the Fed lowers rates.

Resources Mentioned:

• https://site.manheim.com/en/services/consulting/used-vehicle-value-index.html Manheim index
• https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240628537547/en/KBRA-Releases-Research-%E2%80%93-CMBS-Loan-Performance-Trends-June-2024 KBRA, delinquencies on asset-backed securities report
• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdk-attack-update-outage-car-sales-impact/ CDK outage
• https://www.occ.treas.gov/topics/supervision-and-examination/bank-operations/accounting/current-expected-credit-losses/index-current-expected-credit-losses.html CECL reserves
• https://www.cinchautofinance.com/ Cinch

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#CreditUnions #Lending #AutoFinance #AutoLending

If the 67 million Hispanic consumers in the USA were their own nation, they’d have the sixth largest GDP in the world. And yet, they’re overlooked and underserved by mainstream banks and credit unions alike. On this episode, host Vince Passione and Victor Corro, CEO of Coopera Consulting, discuss how credit unions can earn the right to serve these nuanced members.

Key takeaways:

03:17 - “Hispanic, Latino, Latinx” are imperfect labels that fail to acknowledge the depth and nuance of individual identity.

06:51 - Credit unions need to increase their research in, and understanding of, multicultural members as the nation prepares to be “Majority minority.”

10:26 - How building and earning the trust of underserved communities is key to a credit union’s mission, and its long-term growth.

13:08 - Hispanic members gravitate towards fintech solutions because fintech have done a better job of reducing friction points.

16:05 - Key products, services and solutions to support the breadth and scale of Hispanic members.

21:27 - The credit union system is lacking a sense of urgency, and needs to be more proactive about investing in serving multicultural members.

23:25 - Multicultural consumers are often pigeonholed–and that’s leading to poor service from financial institutions.

Resources Mentioned:

• https://www.brookings.edu/articles/latinos-and-the-future-of-finance-why-we-need-to-examine-the-motivations-and-effects-of-latinos-fintech-adoption Brookings study
• https://www.cooperaconsulting.com/ Coopera Consulting

Thanks for listening to the 22 Minutes in Lending podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review to help get the word out about the show and be sure to subscribe so you never miss another insightful conversation.

#CreditUnions #Lending #Credit