Sarah Snell Cooke The credit union community allegedly eclipsed 100 million members this year. The figure is bogus, and even the most religious credit union believers know that figure includes not a small amount of double counting from memberships by one person at multiple credit unions and other account structures.

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

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

I'm not pointing this out to be the Debbie Downer raining on credit unions' parade. This decline is real and systemic and must be faced as a community for the good of the entire credit union community. CU Times has always tried to serve progressive credit unions, and what I mean by that is those credit unions that are 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 happening and 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 want you along for the ride. Look at the $71 million Department of Labor FCU, which is utilizing vendors for efficiency in compliance and sharing a CFO with the $58 million Destinations CU. Or examine others, like The Partnership FCU, which was born of a merger between FDIC FCU and NSF FCU in 2009, and more recently completed a partnership with the $15.6 million Fannie Mae FCU in 2012. The $70 million credit union in 2009 is now $146 million in 2014.

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

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

Wal-Mart finally is making its debut into checking accounts after 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 this is short sighted. Wal-Mart knows its customers like few retailers are able; it can sort the data as only the most elite businesses can, and now it will know how much is in customers' accounts and various other bits of financial data it can massage to its benefit. This is huge.

Prior to that, Apple announced its new iPhone 6 with Apple Pay. Some pooh-poohed the idea of Apple entering the banking world. True, Apple Pay is only another mobile wallet – for now. Again, credit unions have to consider the data capabilities and the reach of a company like Apple. Financial institutions are wrong to not consider these nontraditional competitors a threat. I don't mean tomorrow.

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

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

Apple is not being that aggressive with its pricing for no reason. It's luring its customers deeper into the cult by making them feel like what?

A member.

Instant Insights /

Apple, Wal-Mart Can Teach CUs About Membership

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