Why We Remember 9/11 – 25 Years Later

Tomorrow is the 25^th anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. We recall because the past is always with us – or as novelist William Falkner said 75 years ago – “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

The impact of 9/11 marked all Americans and the credit union community.

Tomorrow veteran CreditUnions.com writer Cal Harrison will share cyrrent conversations and archive excerpts from Callahan’s website about our industry’s response to the 9/11 attacks.

The aftereffects of 9/11 cast a shadow still today: war and instability in the Middle East; the Afghanistan 20-year military engagement; an economy weakening and consumer confidence falling; new travel security and airline’s and other industry’s confront continuing risk from geopolitical events.

Ed Callahan’s Member Assurance

The threats facing us then continue now. We can learn from past responses. In a January 2002 post on creditunions.com, Ed Callahan, former NCUA Chair and CEO of Patelco wrote of his credit union’s actions that day.

He pointed out President George Bush’s national address the evening of 9/11 affirmed the federal government has reopened its offices, “our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well.”

Ed wrote: “People at my credit union and undoubtedly thousands more wanted to be with their families on that terrible and unsettling day. Who knew what else might be in store for us, or where? I sympathized. I felt a keen need to be with my family also.

“We allowed anyone to go home who felt strongly they should do so. But others remained and kept the doors open that day, and the days following. This was important on two levels. One was symbolic, of course: We would show a face of continuity, and we would not take an action that might lead others to succumb to fears about their savings. The other was functional: We really were there to carry out transactions, provide cash or whatever else people wanted.”

No Better Place to Be

Like many in the wake of 9-11, I believed this latest national crisis was an opportunity to show the strength of credit union’s service model. In October 2001 I wrote of the inherent capability for cooperatives to stand up during a crisis:

“In the past, the credit union approach has flourished in times of uncertainty. The Federal Credit Union Act was passed in 1934, building on experiences from over 20 states, to help members find collective strength to meet individual need during the Depression.

I can think of no better time or place to be in the fall of 2001 than working in the credit union community.”

Cal writes tomorrow about personal experiences of that day. A day we witnessed together a foreign attack on America’s homeland. With all the uncertainty about what would come next for our country. Questions that are ongoing today.

September 9, 2026September 10, 2026

Recalling Events of 9/11 Twenty-five Years Ago

Excerpts from a post-event writings in 2001. The first of three aericles this week about events a quarter of a century ago.

What’s different after September 11?

By Chip Filson, President, Callahan & Associates, Inc.

“Do things you’re supposed to do.”

A credit union leader as well as a veteran of three US wars (WesCprp’s DIck Johnson) called to provide his thoughts. He said credit unions are faced with some exceptional challenges: 0% car financing, very low investment yields, heavy cash inflows. What should they do?

While he had no crystal ball, his message was that people are depending on us to do our job-let’s do it. It is all right to cry, to pray and to be fearful. But if this leads to closing up shop or people loosing jobs, then the terrorists are winning. We have to go about our business. Now.

The Economic Impact

There are two clear trends. Short term, events are going to be more difficult. Longer term, wars have contributed to pulling the US economy out of a potential depression, recession or perhaps simple slowdowns.

Last week i was with a credit union team from Las Vegas. The board’s primary concern was the Vegas economy. It is built on airline flights and discretionary spending where people want to be free of ordinary constraints. Layoffs at hotels had already occurred.

But at the same time, the board’s consensus was that the worst thing the credit union could do was to “do nothing”, that is to wait and see what events bring and then react. Their impression was that there would be unusual opportunities and to “go for it.”

Some Initial Steps Forward

The flags are flying everywhere-in branches, on websites and in media. There is a changed mood, call it patriotic, or a sense of community. People are united and in many ways lifted out of their individual priorities. There is a willingness to lead or to participate.

Communicating in all possible ways with members is more important than ever. They want assurance and the certainty that all is safe with their credit union and their funds. . .

According to the corporate numbers, credit unions are still seeing record cash inflows. . .

Loans have always been the backbone of credit union results. . .0% financing is here, which means the auto manufacturers are getting their profit out of the car sale not financing. We need to explain that fact to members as well as offer competitive rates. . .

the net result for the rest of the year will probably be a decline in earnings from the .96 basis points at midyear. That’s all right. A period of adjustment in ALM is normal.

A New Sense of Community

People and a nation were changed by September 11th. Credit unions will change too. One experience that continues to resonate from the tragedy is a new sense of community. We care about New York. We worry about our military. Everyone is asking what they can do to help.

In the past, the credit union approach flourished in times of uncertainty. The Federal Credit Union Act was passed in 1934, building on experiences from over 20 states, to help members find collective strength to meet individual need during the depression.

I can think of no better time or place to be in the fall of 2001 then working in the credit union community.

September Events Impact Third Quarter Trends in 2001

The traditional seasonal patterns of very low savings growth and strong loan growth in the third quarter were completely reversed in 2001. The three-month increase in savings for the 1,587 credit unions over $50 million in assets was 3.6%, or almost twice the rate in the same period in 2000.

Likewise, the three-month loan increase of only 3.1% was half the 6.5% rate in the 2000 third quarter.While we now know that the economy has officially been in a recession since March, the primary event affecting this quarter was the September 11th terrorist attack and the subsequent pause of most consumer spending, borrowing and investing activity.

Source: Callahan & Associates article, fall 2001

July 23, 2026July 23, 2026

Some Events You May Have Missed

Several events you may have overlooked. I believe each has significance for credit unions’ future.

GESA credit union will purchase the Salem based Oregon Bancorp at at purchase price of $43-$45 per share. Prior to the announcement the bank’s publicly shares had traded around $27 or lower for the past year.

According to a Banking Dive article, this is the fifth proposed whole bank purchases by credit unions in 2026. The report says there was a record 22 bank purchases in 2024. The number. fell to 16 last year.

Bloomberg News reports the US 30-year bond yield is trading above 5% for the longest stretch since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007. One factor is the US government’s detonating fiscal situation. Total Treasury debt is $31 trillion or about the same size as US GDP. Total debt was only $4.7 trillion in 2007. Interest payments on the debt not total $1.0 trillion per year. This government borrowing is occurring at the same time debt issuance in the private sector for AI and data center growth is expanding by hundreds of billions of bond and corporate borrowing.

Two days ago the House Committee on Financial Services held the first Congressional hearing on the Federal Home Loan Bank system in 15 years. The 11 regional Federal Home Loan Banks made $677 billion in loans to financial institutions in 2025. Two notes from this Next City’s The Bottom Line report on the hearing:

After Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks are the third-largest “government-sponsored enterprise” created by Congress to support the housing market, , ,

Today, . .the nation’s largest banks and private equity funds on Wall Street have become the biggest borrowers from Federal Home Loan Banks — and recent analysis shows those large institutions no longer use those funds to boost their residential mortgage lending, as was the original purpose of the Federal Home Loan Banks. . .

The articles conclusion: Even if all the reforms discussed in today’s hearing were to pass, many communities won’t benefit from those changes without local banks or credit unions to make use of those changes.

And what has the CLF been doing to assist credit union mortgage lending?

The Rest of the Story

In and earlier post this week, I lifted a headline from a front page story in Credit Union Times April 22, 1992, “High Roller” Lifestyle called “contemptible” in NCUA Memorandum. Several readers asked for more details.

The opening paragraphs in a very. long account:

Former credit union leader RichardD. Mangone has been enjoying the kind of retirement many people dream about: frequent cross-country trips, first-class accommodations, top-notch entertainment and more–all free of charge.

But Mangone’s “high roller” lifestyle was brought down to earth this month by court-imposed travel restrictions. The reason, according to National Credit Union attorneys, is that Mangone’s “life of Riley” has been at the expense of defrauded credit union members.

Since August 26, 1991, Mangone, most recently the president of Digital Employees Federal Credit Union, has been under a court order to limit his spending to $8,000 a month. The order was imposed to prevent Mangone from draining or transferring his assets while lawsuits are pending against him.

Mangone has been sued by NCUA, Digital Employees, and Berkshire County Savings Bank for his role in an alleged real estate loan scam.

The Article’s Relevance Today

Following several additional paragraphs, there is a related story with the title: Digital Members Set to Vote on New Board

So there was a time in the not too distant past when the NCUA, the members, the credit union’s new leadership and the community stepped up to hold self-serving leaders to account. Without leaders with integrity, governmental regulation and exams, internal governance and leader accountability are just concepts, not meaningful checks and balances.

The coop system did have such individuals who rose to their responsibility in the past. There was a credit union press which published traditional investigative journalism. And in the present?

July 21, 2026July 23, 2026

Why History Matters-Three Past Same Day Headlines

Before the era of virtual media, credit union stories appeared in print. The most newsworthy were the front page leads.

Here is an example of on issues top news:

NCUA Suspends Salary Bonus Program

“High Roller” Lifestyel called “contemptible” in NCUA Memorandum

From Iron Wills to Silver Anniversary, NAFCU Turns 25

The front page picture was of a CEO holding a piggy bank in one hand during a speech at a CUES conference. The speaker compares the priorities of credit unions versus those of for-profit banks. The CEO: Jim Blaine

If anyone can tell me the date and publication name, I will send them the only extant, actual copy of this critical chronicle of credit union history.

The issues and challenges remain very similar-high rollers, and NCUA costs-just the names of the players change.

Without a knowledge of the past, the movement’s leaders can become zombies-no past, no future, just present scares.

July 15, 2026July 15, 2026

Do Credit Unions Have Values?

At the Western CUNA Management Scoool, students are discussing the future of credit unions. Is the cooperative system just another financial option for Americans or does it have a different public priority from its founding and subsequent tax exemption?

Some assert what makes credit unions different is that the system is based on values. Some would point to the seven or eight cooperative principles as one indicator of the difference from for-profits.

But can institutions have values? America was founded on values, especially the freedoms and rights founders asserted were enabled by democratic rule, that is the consent of he governed.

Are Organizations People?

The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that organizations (such as corporations and unions) are “legal persons” and possess First Amendment free speech rights. Landmark cases like First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978) and Citizens United v. FEC (2010) established that political spending and advocacy by organizations are protected forms of free speech.

But institutional design, or legal character, do not guarantee virtuous conduct. Individuals are the source for corporate decision making. All organizations need individuals to participate and in some instance, to get their future back on track. Even credit unions.

The Challenge of Power

Calling credit unions financial service providers is not incorrect, but the issue is why we believe that is credit unions’ defining characteristic. The challenge is not that the description is wrong, but why is it the primary focus.

People can lead credit unions but may have their outcomes set on the wrong things. Some believe and act as if it the size of the balance sheet along with the supposed advantages of scale are the critical factors in credit union success. Size denotes market power and can lead to market and financial dominance.

But credit unions succeed not with conventional approaches to market conquest, but with relational power. That is the trust and service that promotes members’ financial well being. Trust does not come in big or small packages. It is present or not in an organization’s action. A lesson Rudy Hanley used to guide his tenure at Schools First for almost 30 years.

Institutions don’t have values. People do. The responsibility for ethics and justice lie not in some abstract organizational concept, but directly with the individuals who design, participate in, and regulate that system.

The democratic credit union governance can be an advantage in achieving this relationship power. For democratic participation should enable constant debate to restate what ethical boundaries and values should be embedded in the financial rules of the game. Is this how your credit union acts?

Discuss with your fellow students.

July 1, 2026July 1, 2026

Credit Unions and America’s 250th Anniversary

As we head to this Saturday’s national celebration, this week’s posts put credit unions’ role in the context of the country’s ongoing pursuit of “life, liberty and happiness.”

The country’s fulfillment of its ideals has not been a straight line for either individuals or our collective accomplishments. Independence and interdependence in our common life often seem at cross purpose.

Credit unions operate in an economy dominated by capitalist ownership and the incessant drive for financial success, individually and corporately. The cooperative way is a decision we must actively choose for ourselves.

As one commentator observed: It is almost impossible to turn away from what seems like the only game in town (political, economic, or religious), unless we have glimpsed a more attractive alternative. It’s hard to imagine it, much less imitate it, unless we see someone else do it first.

Cooperatives are designed to meet individual needs with collectively managed resources in a democratic structure. Theory and practice unfortunately do do not always align in specific cases. As in the country at large, credit unions must constantly strive to achieve their goal of enhancing members’ economic freedom.

Doing the Right Thing and Me-First Ambitions

Credit unions’ ongoing challenge to be an alternative to the dominant ethos is not new. It is a struggle for individuals in all generations as described in this story-poem.

Grandma Shorba’s Ragamuffin Stew

by Freya Manfred

During World War II, Grandma Shorba
handed plates of bread and meat to strangers
who asked for work in exchange for food.
After chopping wood and mending fences,
the lean, stoop-shouldered men went on their way.
“May God watch over them,” Grandma said.

I was glad I didn’t have to follow them
down the long train tracks silvering west.
I didn’t want to sleep beside a strange campfire
around the bend, in the next world.
But I worried how they’d survive, and asked
my parents if they could live with us.

My begging only made everyone nervous.
Maybe Grandma’s stories of The Good Samaritan
and the Loaves and Fishes weren’t true?
If I’d been in charge, I’d have asked those men to stay—
but Gramma, who trusted God,
fed them, then sent them on their way.

The Eternal Striving for an Unclouded Day

We all have a dream in which life’s contradictions are resolved. A home where we don’t have to face all the ambivalent choices of life This dream of perfection. of “a city on a hill” motivated America’s founders. Credit unions are one example of searching for this “home where no storm clouds roam.”

Credit unions are a uniquely American accomplishment. In just over 100 years an alternative, member-owned financial choice is thriving in a system dominated by privately owned, profit making institutions. And in doing so they constantly strive to bring “unclouded days” for members.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE3nN6IvlGA)

June 30, 2026June 30, 2026

Credit Unions & America’s 250th Celebration-History’s Lessons

Today credit union momentum for the 250th birthday of America was interrupted by a Supreme Court decision. The 6 – 3 conservative majority ruled the President had authority to fire members of independent agency boards established by Congress to be partially shielded from total Presidential direction.

The decision overturned almost 100 years of precedent. It means Trump’s firing of NCUA board mebers Harper and Otsuka will be upheld by lower courts where the case is on hold. Trump may then choose to select two new board members to join his recently nominated Chair John Crews, a republican working in the Treasury Department. Or he could leave the positions vacant.

This event and its conseqences will be greeted with mixed reactions by credit union supporters.

But history can also provide us perspective to the current moment. And more importantly, point the way forward.

Not the First Time for President’s Firing NCUA Leadership

On March 10, 1976, Administrator Herman Nickerson, Jr. of the National Credit Union Administration testified before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions (chaired by Senator Thomas McIntyre) regarding S. 1475. The hearing focused on proposals to restructure the NCUA from a single-administrator agency to a multi-member board.

Nickerson testified that a single-administrator structure left the agency highly vulnerable to political pressure, stating that under his “day-to-day” tenure “you don’t know whether you’re going to take a position that would be your last day in office or not”. He argued that a three-person board would provide better long-term stability and continuity for regulating federal credit unions.

In the hearing Administrator Herman Nickerson, Jr. was asked about his vulnerability to being fired, and Senator Thomas McIntyre confidently responded by assuring Nickerson that “it would never happen”.

Merely two hours after the hearing concluded, President Gerald Ford summoned Nickerson to the White House and fired him without cause.

March 19, 1976 Office of the White House Press Secretary

————————————————————

NOTICE TO THE PRESS

The President has accepted the resign.,tion of Herman Nickerson, Jr., as Administrator of the National Credit Union effective upon the appoint ment and quaJification of a succes sor. He was appointed on September 15, 1970. There is no successor to announce at this time.

The Three Person NCUA Board Legislation Approved

Senator McIntyre was reportedly shocked by the firing. He used the incident as a stark, real-time example on the Senate floor to successfully argue that the NCUA must be restructured into a multi-member independent board to protect its leadership from sudden political retaliation.

This hearing served as a major catalyst in the legislative shift that eventually established a multi-member, bipartisan board to govern the agency.

(Sources: Rosemary Hardiman, then a reporter for CUIS, Gerald Ford Library, AI search for hearing summary)

Today’s Response and the Future of Credit Unions

The three person, independent NCUA board was intended to moderate the extreme policy fluctuations if every President could choose to appoint new regulators who would then implement whatever policy priorities he wanted.

In contrast, the theory supporting independent agency status was to ensure experienced, knowledgeable board members would be appointed to protect and promote the public interest not partisan political agendas.

Only two NCUA board members could be from the same party. In theory this assured some public debate or even opposition in policy and agency oversight.

The theory worked for NCUA’s first two chairs, Larry Connell and Ed Callahan. Both were experienced state regulators with direct knowledge of credit unions. While other board appointments would appear more like political sinecures, agency leadership was in expert hands.

The assumptions of industry expertise and apolitical Chairs ended with the appointment of Senator Roger Jepsen (defeated in a re-election effort) to succeed Callahan in 1985. Rarely have future Chairs had regulatory or credit union experience with the exception of JoAnn Johnson from Iowa.

She had been Superintendent of credit unions for the state and joined the NCUA board in 2002, becoming chair from 2004-2008. After returning to Iowa she was again Superintendent of Iowa’s credit unions until her retirement in May 2017.

The vast majority of NCUA board appointments have had little to no credit union affiliation. NCUA’s board appointments have been filled with former congressional or agency staff members seeking continued federal employment. Some have had strong professional credentials (McWatters) but virtually none had prior credit union associations or knowledge.

Credit unions have long abandoned efforts, individually and as a system, to identify and promote knowledgeable individuals for NCUA positions.

Both democratic and republican administrations have used NCUA board seats to reward political loyalists versus those with credit union credentials.

In pactice the theory of the independent agency with expert leadership acting in the best interests of credit union members has rarely happened Instead NCUA board appointments have become a backwater for those seeking the prestige, or sometimes the spoils, pf a political appointment.

The Future of Federal Credit Union Regulation

Just as in 1976, there will be a reaction to the current political excesses and NCUA’s increasing impotence shaping the future of the cooperative system.

The Agency may become a department with a single administrator within Treasury, like the OCC. The NCUSIF merged with the FDIC.

The future may be a more cooperative and innovative state support system.

NCUA may be caught up in a sweeping federal government reform post election or post Trump.

Following yesterday’s precedent in this week leading America’s 250th , it is useful to express our future hopes for the country and cooperatives in music. While this was not my original choice for today, it seems to be one approach to future events when asking Who shall wear the starry crown?.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2LjgalcsVI)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2LjgalcsVI

June 29, 2026June 29, 2026

Credit Unions Learning from America’s 250 Celebration

This week ends with the 250th July 4th national birthday celebration.

It is a moment of community consequence for a country founded on ideals and a vision begun with the words all men are created. . .

Our implementation of this founding declaration has been uneven. Even with ever increasing economic prosperity that leads the world.

So this milestone celebration creates ambivalent feelings for many who believe our vision is falling short in critical areas of our national life together. For example, those whose families came to America from far away and many who believe immigration has been a source of America’s international standing and internal strength.

The Credit Union Parallels

Likewise there are strong parallels in today’s credit union story which spans less than half the country’s.

The movement was founded on an ideal that cooperatives could be an alternative to the for-profit capitalist motivation which viewed consumers as profit centers.

Credit unions’ financial success is impressive. These institutions are now the second largest depository system in the country with $2.5 trillion in assets and generations of members numbering in the tens of millions.

However, as financial success is achieved, some ask if the system has lived up to its aspirations.

For in America today, as Jim Blaine stated decades ago, “those who have the least or know the least, pay the most for financial services.”

There have been significant contributions by the movement’s founding mothers and fathers that have given credit unions a legacy to be proud of and a system that can do great things for individual members and their home communities.

But as in the country’s celebrations, there are concerns that the founding ideals are being lost. There is increasing evidence that in some credit unions, and as common practice in many, the impact is to actually widen the gap between those who are well off and those who live on each pay period’s income.

Reasserting the Things that Make Us Special

To address any ambivalence you may feel about either our country’s or our movement’s histories, or current challenges, I want to select music that honors our aspirational goals as a nation and as individuals.

When words are sung, their meaning is amplified and transformative.

Visions never die. They lie dormant until leaders arise to challenge our ambitions, to call us to our higher selves and to ignite hopes that spark everyone’s individual pursuits–of life, liberty and happiness.

A Credit Union Anthem

Here is an anthem for the credit union movement’s collective purpose: Hard Times Come Again No More. Written by Stephen Foster in the 1850’s, it addresses the cycles of economic reality and the collective willingness to help each other when these circumstances occur.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fddr0CTflQ)

May 7, 2026May 7, 2026

Dollar’s Merger Claim: Merger Guidance From the Experts

Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion fame, is taking his radio performance on the road around the country in one night stands.

Recently he was in Des Moines and drove across the Iowa farmscape prompting this post:

It was dramatic to drive for hundreds of miles and see no barns or silos, no windmill or grove around a farmhouse, the Grant Wood landscape of rural America, and see what corporate industrial agriculture looks like. It looks like Siberia. A place you send people as punishment.

A culture is slipping away that raised some fine self-reliant relatives of mine like my Aunt Eleanor who could handle a rifle, hitch up horses to a wagon, bake bread, plant a garden, throw a baseball, kill a chicken, sew clothing from a pattern, do basic repairs, and speak her mind in firm declarative sentences. The farm made her a strong woman and I say the world could use more like her.

Well, cultures are mortal, just as we are, and it’s a shame when the worthwhile peter out and the worst prosper, such as the culture of consultancy. Some of the stupidest managers I’ve encountered in my life now hang out their shingles as consultants prepared to advise on strategic planning and team building, who when I knew them were adept at strategic blather and creative imitation. I believe that AI will devastate their ranks and soon we’ll encounter them at drive-up windows, consulting on condiments and large vs. medium shakes.

Mortal Cultures

I found myself reflecting on the idea that cultures are mortal in this obsevation which Keillor titled Looking Around, Not Looking Ahead as I read the following ad via a virtual credit union daily subscriber list:

Dollar Associates has successfully guided over 400 credit union mergers in their 22 years in business. As their tagline says, “We know credit unions backwards and forward. Especially forward.”

Mergers as a so-called growth strategy began in earnest following PenFed’s national McKinsey-like strategy of seeking mergers nation-wide in 2016. The first big success was acquiring Fort Belvoir FCU, a local well-entrenched competitor. The standard gambit was promises of a better future combined with multi-year sinecures for the CEO, plus bonuses for senior management, three-year employee commitments or large separation payments to staff. And of course, nothing for members except a bigger organization. All details wrapped up with non-disclosure agreements including non-disparagement clauses for everyone who cashed out.

The solicitations were overt. And PenFed’s over two dozen mergers from a post office credit union in Wisconsin to a Sperry Associates in New York did not add a single member, loan or asset to the movement.

But it changed the merger game from historical rescues of faltering credit unions in return for expanded FOM’s by regulators, into a wide-open pursuit of non-organic growth strategies. Mergers looked easy, quick and most importantly, the continuing credit union gets paid in-free capital. Just for taking over a business you already know how to run.

These are not market based transactions despite occasional regulatory utterances suggesting the same. They are private deals, done in secret without any member input or notice, documented by signed “definitive agreements” and then sprung upon members. Often accompanied with a PR barrage with videos of the two CEO’s proclaiming a new promised land all executed without any member input or knowledge.

This is the merger world today. Dollar claims to have “guided over 400 credit union mergers” which it would be fair to assume the bulk have taken place in the last decade of the movement’s merger frenzy.

Not Business Combinations But Political Events

These transfers of control of an entire credit union’s operation, net worth, facilities and its legacy franchise value are not business transactions. The only “negotiations” involve how much the selling CEO and senior staff and sometimes board members will gain from the deal. If there are enforceable agreements about future commitments, they are never disclosed or done so with the caveat “if conditions permit.”

While members have a say in all states except Illinois state charters which use proxy voting, the process, transparency and information for informed consent is a charade. Almost all votes are returned by mail ballot with the official Board Notice letter urging member approval—as the event has already received regulatory blessing, subject only to the member vote.

The Need for Facilitators and Go-Betweens

Because these are political events not real business transactions, facilitators are needed. Brokers to quietly solicit candidates, test the waters and make introductions. Accountants, “strategic” consultants and lawyers to draft the private definitive agreements, Most importantly, external professional experts, such as former regulators, to assure boards, for whom this will be a singular and the final event of their tenure.

These volunteer board members need external assurance that they are doing the right thing, because it is irreversible. The so-called professionals will assist getting the necessary regulatory sign-offs-just look at our track record of 400 cases. Trust us, everybody else is doing it as well. You are in good hands.

The facilitators all take their cut of the pie, the vendors who are eliminated get cancellation fees, and staff promised greater professional opportunities. The member-owners receive nothing and lose their accumulated net worth. Most consequential is that the legacy relationships and goodwill which built the credit union as a community resource to be paid forward for future generations is now gone.

“Looking Backwards”

Invoking Dollar’s hindsight, almost all mergers in this decade long period of private deal making have been of credit unions at least three generations old, with long serving records of meaningful community relationships and contributions.

Per Dollar’s claim, the industry now has lost 400 independent charters, their several thousand volunteer board members, and the CEO and other professional community leadership roles. Their local and state political standing is gone.

Most importantly their function as an economic intermediary, taking the savings of local members and reinvesting back into loans for those same owners, no longer exists. For now all these functions and responsibilities are controlled by a new board, often without any connections or knowledge and whose priorities are set following their historical ties and priorities. The merged entity has no standing or recourse as the new brand and culture assert their sway and operational model over the merged field of membership.

“Looking Forward”

The facilitators and apologists for this cooperative self-annihilation claim they are positioning credit unions for the future. Consolidation is inevitable, just let us show you the charts. You need to get ahead of the game before all the “best” options (read payoffs) are gone. Or worse, there might be a new regulatory change that would make it harder to get your cash prize payout. Or worse, you may have to be more transparent in your intent and process.

Let’s be clear. No one knows the future, Change is inevitable. The current culture and political example of getting yours while you can, may indeed continue. The animal spirits of capitalism, the drive for monopoly power may infect credit unions so thoroughly that the industry goes the way of the S&L’s. The big go away. The small and traditional, still around, but humble, toothless in all except a few communities and a charter neither sought by individuals or desired by the public

But change could also come in the form of a backlash–public, political or regulator. New coop regulatory leadership might start asking questions such as, what is the public duty credit unions owe in return for their federal tax exemption? What is the common good member-ownership is supposed to inspire? Are credit unions following their own principles of governance and historical values? Has cooperative leadership been usurped by self-interested individuals oblivious to their inherted legacy, current members’ welfare and their future generations?

The credit union system knows full well what this period of merger manipulation and self-dealing entails. For at the same time credit unions are actively buying whole banks as part of their “external growth” strategies. And in these events, the owners get paid out for their common equity interest and then a premium on top as credit unions can only pay cash, not stock to bank owners.

Certainly, one potential path to the future is the Dollar model. The firm claims 400 success points to prove it can get the job done. Cash out now, forget the past legacy, take the money and let someone else worry about the future of your members.

Will That Be With Large of Small Fries?

I may just be like Garrison Keillor surveying the loss of the family farms to the industrial agriculture industry today. I would prefer a different, more diverse set of credit union options and leadership voices drivng the future. But sometimes the next generation’s responsibility may be to clean up past excesses before creating something that inspires again.

May 5, 2026May 5, 2026

A 1982 Credit Union Leader’s Video “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before”

I just received this video of six credit union state league Presidents recording a song in a studio.

The six state CEOs will be familiar to many CU veterans. From left to right they are: Tony Schumacher , Gene Farley. Carroll Beach, Brad Murphy, David Dinning and Bob Biancini.

Note: Skip ahead to 17 seconds to begin the video.

To All the Girls

The Video’s Story (from a participant)

I thought you might get a kick out of this . The video was shot in 1982 I was at a meeting in New Orleans with a number of Credit Union League CEO’s . I do remember our gang walking from our hotel to a restaurant, “The Court of 2 Sisters” (still in business!) On our way we passed this recording facility where you could watch people making mostly silly videos. The general consensus was, why would anyone embarrass themselves like that ?

On the way back from the restaurant after consuming about a bottle of wine each, this was the result.

The Significance of 1982 and State League Directors

The song’s lyrics might not pass muster today, but you have to admit they put on an excellent show. But I think it tells a lot more about credit union leadership than the changing culture attitudes on relationships.

In this year of credit union history, the state league system was at its peak strength. In some states credit unions were so numerous that there were even competing state level organizations.

Leagues were vital pillars of the movement in this formative decade as credit union entered deregulation. State charters were the only option until 1934. Leagues were the driving force in the federal law pasage providing proof that credit union could be run by ordinary people. State leagues were the vital organizers of both federal and state charters.

At this moment there were 16 state insurance options along with the NCUSIF. States were the incubators for change, innovation and creativity. These included activities off limits to FCU’s such as field of membership flexibility, share drafts, home mortgage loans, ATMS and regulatory oversight and access. NCUA had become a three-person independent agency only in 1977. The Agency was on its second chair, whereas some of these local leaders had served decades.

The state leaders founded CUNA at Estes Park. CUNA was headquartered in Madison with a regulatory office in Washington DC. Through ACULE these leaders coordinated legislative priorities and national leadership. The corporate network was supported by the leagues initially with cross board membership which NCUA ultimately banned.

The system also spawned other organizational support groups with credit unions of similar fields of membership. For example the League of IBM credit unions, Educational. Credit Union Council, the Airline Credit Union Association, and many more with like sponsors.

The results were a strong, grass roots state level system rapidly expanding their growing role in communities in every state. The movement’s success and the system’s support structure were closely linked and interdependent.

The Illinois Example

Leagues provided support services, education and chapters to promote local social and political interactions. As a state supervisor from 1977 to 1981, I spoke at chapter meetings, annual meetings and worked with the league when examiners found problems. We would ask if someone from their two dozen or more field representatives might help out as we pursuded the shared the goal of a sound system. For in 1977 there was no mandatory share insurance requirement for state charters.

Illinois had the largest number of credit unions of any state with over 1,100 active charters. We wanted the Illinois system to be a national leader in serving Illinois residents. When the Suburban Bank Group sought a charter for its employees, we granted the new charter. Then we hired the energetic person who organized the effort, Wanda Mallow, to promote new charters across the state.

One of those new charters went o Baxter, the medical services company. The company then hired Rex Johnson who was deputy supervisof of DFI’s Chicao credit union office, to be its first CEO.

Through NASCUS, we learned how other state supervisors in Texas, Michigan and California operated. NCUA was rarely present on the ground,

Together the League led by Dick Ensweiller and the Department recodified the Illinois Credit Union Act in 1979 introducing deregulation and flexibility for a changing financial marketplace.

The Cooperative System Today

The shape and character of the movement’s system is very different today. Leagues have merged, The number of credit unions has fallen from over 16,00 in 1977 to 4,300 today. Large credit unions operate on their own, some with national ambitions in multiple states.

CUNA moved its operational leadership to DC and focused on national advocacy withdrawing from many support services often offered through the leagues.

Large credit unions dominate the industry. National issues of technology adoption, CUSO business partnerships and regulatory responsiveness leave many smaller organizatons feeling left out or irrelevant. There is no system support for new charters, In fact the opposite is happening with mergers of long serving, sound credit unions a seeming priority for leaders.

The strong capital ratios averaging over 11% and with long serving safe franchises have caused many credit unions to rely less and less on system support, except as an independent business decision. CEO turnover at both credit unions and support organizations has caused the shared efforts from the past to be just memories. NCUA has been leaderless for over a year. Since the 2008 financial crisis, it has strived to be “independent” of credit unions or as one board member more bluntly stated, don’t look to Washington for advice.

The critical question facing the movement is whether a support system is even necessary and if so, for what purpose. The shadows of many of these groups still exist, but there is little to no shared sense of priority or direction. Advocacy means protecting the status quo.

The sense of purpose and serving the common good are sometimes referenced in local planning, but rarely are part of national conversations. At a time of increasing shortcomings in many ways and at many levels of political and business activity, credit union identity is becoming more and more market-like. Coop leaders are playing the merger and growth games they find, rather than defining the game they want to play.

So maybe the nostalgic message of prior relationships recorded by these State League Directors is more prescient than they could have realized. Is the system that spawned today’s credit union industry just is a nostalgic moment of an era now gone forever?