Single Best Investment
By Joyce Moed, Reporter

ORLANDO, Fla.- Ed Swanson, vice president of national accounts for Patelco Credit Union, said that the single best investment a credit union can make is a quality loan.

"Our business is very simple," he said. "We are in the business of buying money and selling money. The key is to loan the money out to people who are going to pay us back."

Swanson said this during a session titled "Riding the Loan Growth Wave: How to Make More Loans," which he led recently at the Florida Credit Union League’s 2008 Annual Convention & Exposition at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes.

"It’s almost June," he said. "We’re almost halfway through the game. What are we going to do the second half of the game?"

In 2007, the average ROA for CUs was .64%, Swanson said, and at present the number of CUs is 8,268. In 1980, there were 21,500 credit unions.

"Our numbers are dwindling," Swanson said. "I started in the credit union industry in the ‘80s. We’re not as viable an industry as we were back then."

That’s why it’s important to offer unique service to members, he said.

"If we’re not going to take care of our members, someone else will," Swanson said. "It’s important that we make relationships with our members. We have to let members know - when they call us, when they come through our doors, when they log on to our website–they are the most important things in the world."

"Make a dialogue," Swanson suggested. "Learn a little about your members. We’re so busy in our days we don’t let our members know how important they are to us."

Reasons members leave a credit union include: impersonal service, poor response time, unavailability of products or services, unfriendly people, poor service and poor training, Swanson said.

"The key is in how we train our employees," he said.

Examples Swanson cited in regard to poor member service included: employees saying "yeah" instead of "yes," and being too busy to be nice.

"There are little things we can do that go a long way," he said.

These things include: answering the phone with a smile, addressing members by their name, and saying "please" and "thank you," Swanson said.

"Members do not need us," he said. "There are plenty of other alternatives available to them. There is no such thing as loyalty in today’s competitive marketplace."

Treating members right will also lead to referrals, Swanson said.