The credit unioncommunity allegedly eclipsed 100 million members this year. The figure is bogus, and eventhe most religious credit union believers know that figure includesnot a small amount of double counting from memberships by oneperson at multiple credit unions and other account structures.

However, I don't think many, if any, would argue that creditunion membership is not growing; apples to apples comparison of thefigures showed a 2.9% year-over-year increase. Of course the debateremains over the quality of those members as measured by number ofproducts used, savings versus loans, and other variables.

So while everyone is touting that faux 100 million-memberbenchmark, the fact that membership declined at 54% of credit unions was glossed over. A number of factors play intothis decline, ranging from lack of resources to lack of energy tolack of interest from those credit unions or the potential membersor both.

I'm not pointing this out to be the Debbie Downer raining oncredit unions' parade. This decline is real and systemic and mustbe faced as a community for the good of the entire credit unioncommunity. CU Times has always tried to serve progressivecredit unions, and what I mean by that is those credit unions thatare interested in growing, looking at the future realistically,examining what's beyond the walls of the individual credit union,and keeping the board and management educated on what's happeningand what's to come.

We don't discriminate against credit unions based on asset size;if your credit union is thinking ahead for the long haul, we wantyou along for the ride. Look at the $71 million Department of Labor FCU, which is utilizing vendors forefficiency in compliance and sharing a CFOwith the $58 million Destinations CU. Or examine others, like ThePartnership FCU, which was born of a merger between FDIC FCU and NSF FCU in 2009, and more recentlycompleted a partnership with the $15.6 million Fannie Mae FCU in 2012. The $70 million credit union in 2009 isnow $146 million in 2014.

No matter a credit union's will, if it lacks the management, theresources or membership demand, serious and complex decisions needto be made regarding the future of the institution. In thatinstance, the board and management cannot forget to do what's bestfor the membership. Too many hang on for too long, until thedecisions are made for them, rather than by planning in athoughtful and strategic manner. That is absolutely not in themembers' best interest.

With that in mind, two massive companies are muscling their wayinto financial services.

Wal-Mart finally is making its debut into checking accountsafter a series of baby steps with its own branded rewards card,Green Dot, and Bluebird.

What next? Orange Armadillo?

Credit union executives may be dismissive of Wal-Bank, but thisis short sighted. Wal-Mart knows its customers like few retailersare able; it can sort the data as only the most elite businessescan, and now it will know how much is in customers' accounts andvarious other bits of financial data it can massage to its benefit.This is huge.

Prior to that, Apple announced its new iPhone 6 with ApplePay. Some pooh-poohed the idea of Apple entering the bankingworld. True, Apple Pay is only another mobile wallet­ – for now.Again, credit unions have to consider the data capabilities and thereach of a company like Apple. Financial institutions are wrong tonot consider these nontraditional competitors a threat. I don'tmean tomorrow.

There's no need to panic, but to not even ponder thepossibilities and the impact on credit unions is incrediblydangerous. Apple possesses a cult-like status among its customersthat most, if not all, credit unions cannot touch. Consider, alsothat iPhone users tend to be younger than Android users, accordingto Ad Age, so Apple already has all of those millennials creditunions are missing.

Apple knows that too, and it has built further loyalty byoffering free old iPhone trade-ins through Verizon to upgrade tothe iPhone 6.

Apple is not being that aggressive with its pricing for noreason. It's luring its customers deeper into the cult by makingthem feel like what?

A member.