OCEAN CITY, Md. — Rory Rowland of Rowland Consulting knows two things: humor and magic. Oh yes, and then he can school your credit union a bit on lending too.
In a highly active and entertaining session during the Maryland & D.C. Credit Union Association’s annual conference last week, Rowland laced his lending tips with humor and kept people in their seats to see if the hanky signed by an audience member really ended up inside a green pepper.
One of Rowland’s top recommendations was to run a credit report immediately when a member signed up. The membership application should serve double duty as a loan application, the Missouri-based consultant added.
Rowland said that he saw a lender’s new online application that he was so excited about that he applied.
When he decided the application was taking too long he dropped off, but the next day he received a call following up with him since he had made it past the point for his phone number. He said he loved that concept.
The consultant offered up his rescue rate calculator for free to attendees and advised them to use it to steal loans from other lenders. The calculator sets current payments side-by-side with what the payments could be at the credit union; then he advised that credit unions “sell the dream.” For example, the money pocketed on a refinancing could fund a family vacation.
