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 Affinity Plus staff with member Tracy The WINcentive Savings program recently announced the final prizes awarded through the Minnesota statewide prize pool for 2022, including two grand prizes of $5,000 each, five $1,000 quarterly prizes, and 50 $100 monthly prizes.
Members from Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union and West Metro Schools Credit Union were the lucky recipients of the annual grand prize drawings. Members from Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union and Minnco Credit Union were among the program’s quarterly winners. Affinity Plus employees of their Coon Rapids branch surprised grand prize winner, Tracy H., in the branch with a check presentation! Participating members of all 22 Minnesota-based credit unions offering WINcentive were eligible for the monthly, quarterly and annual statewide prizes for 2022. Each credit union is also guaranteed to have one $100 winner each quarter. As of December 2022, over 8,700 members of credit unions in Minnesota have saved a total of roughly $13 million in WINcentive savings accounts throughout the state. WINcentive Savings incentivizes consumers in to save by offering risk-free rewards. WINcentive prizes are awarded on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis, with prizes ranging from $100 to $5,000. Account holders in Minnesota qualify for up to four chances per month for each $25 increase in their month over month savings balance. The Minnesota Credit Union Network and TruLync also administer prize-linked savings programs for credit unions in Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin. To date, the programs provide over 33,000 members throughout the nation the chance to win through prize-linked savings accounts, with nearly $70 million saved. Prize-linked savings facilitated by TruLync have awarded over $1 million dollars to members of credit unions since its inception. By Steve Rick, Chief Economist for CUNA Mutual Group [This article is provided through MnCUN's partnership with CUNA Mutual Group. To learn more, visit the Solutions Directory.]
The latest economic and market data show a road to recovery, with slow growth in Quarter 1 through Quarter 2 of 2023. The U.S. economy is poised for a comeback next year, albeit rather slowly. 2023 Inflation and Interest Rate Predictions Inflation slowed to 7.7% year over year (YoY), a good sign for 2023. Right now, next year’s inflation rate is forecasted at 4%. The supply side of the economy is working out issues in the supply chain, leading to a slowdown in inflation. The inflation rate will likely be high in Q1 and Q2 of 2023 but taper down as demand cools and supply ramps up. Interest rates rose by 3.75 percentage points this year and are predicted to increase by 0.5 to 0.75 percentage point at the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on December 14th. The committee meets again in February 2023, at which time I expect them to raise rates by another 0.5 percentage points. The goal is to get interest rates to 5%. This article provided as part of MnCUN's Strategic Alliance with Eltropy. For more information, visit the Solutions Directory.
The power of Text messaging is well documented, with a 98% open rate and Texts being responded to on an average of 3 minutes, so identifying a new Text messaging solution is a top priority. But with so many platforms on the market, it can be difficult to nail down which is the best fit for financial institutions. There should be certain elements to keep in mind when looking for the next solution. Security Text messaging is an increasingly popular way to communicate with members, but with it comes a slew of security issues. In addition to Text messages being unencrypted, financial institutions must follow rigorous FCC & TCPA compliance. So, a ‘one size fits all’ type of messaging solution just doesn’t work for a team trying to leverage the full potential of Text messaging. Integrations Offering Text messaging enterprise-wide requires a solution that integrates with your existing solutions. If your loan department wants to collect a document securely to expedite an application, that Text solution needs to be able to integrate with your LOS. If your collections department wants to send a Text to a member in order to collect a late payment, that Text solution needs to be able to integrate with your payment solutions. Customers want to Text with all of your departments, so your financial institution needs a Texting solution that can make that happen. The best solution is one that is built with built-in security and seamless integrations into the top solutions across all departments. A platform that over 45 other financial institutions have already made the jump from, a solution like Eltropy. the Eltropy platform not only gives you the best Texting service on the market, but we go beyond the power of just Text by offering a full suite of omnichannel solutions: video banking, voice, chat, cobrowse, and AI. Staci Schoenrock, Director of Credit Resolutions at Fort Community Credit Union, and Emily Hamilton, VP of Lending at Atlantic Federal Credit Union, talked to the Eltropy team about their experience switching from ZipWhip to Eltropy, and to overall boost Eltropy has given to their respective departments. You can check out a recording of the ZipWhip webinar here.  Employees of Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union celebrate with a holiday prize winning member In December, five members with WINcentive Savings accounts were the lucky recipients of a special holiday prize, $1,000, simply for saving money through the program. Members of credit unions throughout Minnesota who participate in WINcentive Savings were eligible to win one of the five prizes, given away based on November savings, as a celebration of the holidays. 50 $100 prizes were also given away for eligible savings entries in the monthly statewide drawing.
Recently, the Minnesota Credit Union Network welcomed two newly participating credit unions to the WINcentive Savings program – Magnifi Financial Credit Union and Mower County Employees Credit Union. Members from both credit unions will now have the opportunity win in the statewide prize pool simply for saving in their WINcentive account. Through November 2022, WINcentive in Minnesota has reached over $13 million in total saved in 8,730 accounts held by members of credit unions throughout the state. In January, the WINcentive Savings program will announce two prizes of $5,000 each as a part of the annual prize drawing. Participating members of all twenty-two Minnesota-based credit unions offering WINcentive will be eligible for the monthly, quarterly and annual statewide prizes for 2022. Stay tuned for special announcements and for the grand prize winner celebrations! For details about prize-linked savings, please contact Director of Engagement, Ben Hering, via email. More information about WINcentive Savings, including a list of participating credit unions, can be found at wincentivesavings.org.
By Steve Heusuk, CUNA Mutual Group (this article is provided by MnCUN's partnership with CUNA Mutual Group. For more information, visit the Solutions Directory.) Credit unions and other employers are competing for talent in one of the tightest labor markets in U.S. history. While the labor market has cooled a bit, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that August job openings and the quit rate remained well above historical averages. Job openings, which peaked at 11.9 million in March, stood at 10.1 million in August - well above the historical average range of 5-6 million. The total non-farm quit rate stood at 2.7% in August, which was also much higher than its long-term average of 2.0%. With numbers like this, it’s no surprise that Cornerstone Advisors found the percentage of credit union executives who stated they are concerned about their ability to attract qualified talent rose from 19% in 2021 to 63% in 2022. To better understand how the current talent shortage is impacting credit unions, CUNA Mutual Group sponsored the “Making Strategic Choices for Growth: Talent Management and Culture” survey, which took place between June 15th – June 29th, 2022. A total of 170 credit union CEOs and human resources executives participated in this research. One of the most striking findings from this research is the large proportion of credit union executives expecting the total number of employees to increase despite the current talent shortage. Over two-thirds (68%) of study participants indicated they expect the total employee count at their credit union to increase by year-end 2022. Looking at these results by functional area, we see most credit union executives expect the number of call center and IT employees to increase and between one-quarter and one-half expect headcounts in lending, back-office operations, marketing and in-branch member service to increase (see Figure 1).  Figure 1 The Vendor Involvement Program is an effective way to showcase your company to credit unions across the state of Minnesota. Returning participants in the program will be invited to register for early for MnCUN's biggest conferences: ACCELERATE 23 and LEAD 23. Additionally, your V.I.P. registration will auto renew each year for your convenience.
The Vendor Involvement Program combines advertising, exhibit hall packages, and other benefits.
MnCUN Event Benefits:
ACCELERATE 23 April 13-14, 2023 (Thurs-Fri) Radisson Blu, Bloomington, MN LEAD 23 Sept. 13-15, 2023 (Wed-Fri) Madden’s Resort, Brainerd, MN The cost is $1,500 per year. Sign up by January 15, 2023. The Minnesota Credit Union Employees Benefits Plan had great success in renewal rates for 2023 with an average increase of only 1.7% across the whole plan. Some credit unions even saw a decrease in their premiums.
All credit unions are encouraged to get a quote for their 2023 renewals to take advantages of the benefits of utilizing the cooperative model to reduce cost and risk volatility. Request a quote today! Law firms continue to send demand letters threatening a lawsuit or file a lawsuit against credit unions alleging members were improperly assessed overdraft and/or NSF fees. In addition, regulatory scrutiny of overdraft and NSF fees continues to increase.
These lawsuits, most of which are class actions, have plagued the financial services industry over the last several years resulting in multimillion-dollar losses. While CUNA Mutual Group has shared risk insights and mitigation tips with credit unions numerous times on this litigation trend, credit unions continue to be targeted. To help minimize these risks, CUNA Mutual Group’s Risk Management and LOANLINER Compliance teams have created an on-demand recording: Overdraft / NSF Fee Litigation. The on-demand recording is accessible to all credit unions within Related Resources on the Overdraft / NSF Fee Litigation page of our Emerging Risks Outlook web series. The Overdraft / NSF Fee Litigation recording (approximately 42 minutes) highlights:
In addition, the Emerging Risks Outlook page provides credit unions with access to key discussion questions and relevant, straight-forward responses along with links to other related RISK Alerts and resources (some require User ID and Password). Visitors can also submit questions/feedback to our Risk Consultants directly from the web page. |
The PulseThe Pulse is MnCUN's newsletter that keeps credit union professionals and board members updated on current news and information. Archives
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