Over the last 30 years, credit unions have done a great job of advancing their image beyond the traditional mom and pop shop. Granted, thousans of credit unions that fit that image still exist, operating out of tiny offices under stairwells in blue-collar work facilities. However, in general, today's credit union is not your grandfather's credit union.

Then, the Great Recession hit. In its wake, credit unions must contend with the CFPB and a shrinking middle class.

Low-income households often don't earn enough to cover basic necessities and many don't receive regular paychecks. Whether they are underemployed working families or the soon-to-explode population of baby boomers financially unprepared for retirement, they probably won't qualify for the traditional lending and transaction products that form the foundation of the prevailing credit union business model. Regardless of your views on wage inequality, the data show that the 99% shares a much smaller piece of the pie than it did 30 years ago.

As a result, the industry needs to take a hard look and make some tough decisions about its future.

What is a credit union? Is it a nice bank that saves the shrinking middle class money by charging lower interest rates on loans and fewer fees? Is it, as the banking lobby asserts, a financial institution that predominantly serves those of modest means? Is it a financial cooperative that allows consumers to handle their money without profiting someone else?

Individually, credit unions are all of these things, but as a result, the average consumer can't tell you what the difference is between a credit union and a bank.

I had a rather embarrassing exchange recently with a former client – a successful global marketer with an impressive résumé – who expressed interest in entering the credit union market.

Her idea was to produce digital-friendly content credit unions could share with members that would reinforce industry branding and position credit unions as consumer finance experts. This content would be shared by all credit unions, with the option of adding individual branding.

That all sounds great, except for one big problem: There is no consistent industry branding to reinforce. CUNA has done a good job of executing some branding campaigns, but there has never been widespread industry buy-in.

Field of membership is partly to blame. Credit unions take on the culture of their common bond and exist to serve only the needs of their members. Of course, a credit union that serves well-paid career employees is going to look much different than one that serves a low-income, unbanked community.

But credit unions can't individually fend off Wal-Mart, Apple or even online startups that match borrowers with investors.

Last week, CUNA Mutual SVP of Strategy and Business Development John Lass told attendees at the firm's Discovery Conference that credit unions need to take collective action to fend off financial services disruptors. As an example, he cited how airlines worked together to create Orbitz to compete against Priceline and Expedia's online reservation services.

This strategy isn't new to credit unions: The CO-OP Network and shared branching already accomplished this. But Lass urged his audience to think even bigger.

"It's going to take industry leadership, vision and commitment to create a truly disruptive credit union model that competes against disruptors," he said.

I couldn't agree more.

Heather Anderson is executive editor of CU Times. She can be reached at [email protected].