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About the Guest: Chrissy Siders
Chrissy is a seasoned professional in the credit union industry, having begun her career in 1998. A degree holder from Michigan State University, Chrissy has developed a deep understanding of the financial industry through her extensive work in compliance, fraud, security, and internal audit. Since 2017, she has served as the President and CEO of True Community Credit Union, headquartered in Jackson, Michigan. Under her leadership, the credit union has expanded significantly, undergoing mergers and converting from a federal to a state charter, illustrating her commitment to strategic growth and technology enhancements.
Chrissy is a seasoned professional in the credit union industry, having begun her career in 1998. A degree holder from Michigan State University, Chrissy has developed a deep understanding of the financial industry through her extensive work in compliance, fraud, security, and internal audit. Since 2017, she has served as the President and CEO of True Community Credit Union, headquartered in Jackson, Michigan. Under her leadership, the credit union has expanded significantly, undergoing mergers and converting from a federal to a state charter, illustrating her commitment to strategic growth and technology enhancements.
Episode Summary:
In this episode of the Teaching Tax Flow podcast, co-hosts Chris Picciurro and John Tripolsky delve into the intriguing world of financial institutions, focusing on the distinctions and similarities between banks and credit unions. Joining them is Chrissy Siders, the knowledgeable President and CEO of True Community Credit Union, who shares her insights and expertise accumulated over a career that spans more than two decades.
Through engaging dialogue, the episode sheds light on how credit unions and banks differ in their structure, membership requirements, and community involvement, drawing attention to how credit unions operate as not-for-profit cooperatives versus the for-profit orientation of banks. Chrissy Siders elaborates on the evolutionary path of credit unions, detailing their increased involvement with both personal and business banking, and highlighting the notable technological advancements that make credit unions competitive in today's digital-first landscape. Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of these financial institutions and be encouraged to consider the best fit for their personal and business banking needs.
Key Takeaways:
- Credit unions differ fundamentally from banks in their not-for-profit cooperatives structure, with volunteer boards elected by members, contrasting with banks' profit-driven models with shareholders.
- Credit unions are deeply embedded in community engagement, often extending beyond regulatory expectations to deliver impactful local support and services.
- Technological innovation is a priority for credit unions like True Community, with significant investments in digital tools to facilitate banking processes and enhance member experience.
- The eligibility for membership in credit unions involves specific qualifications related to community ties, unlike banks that open accounts to any prospective customer.
- Credit unions are increasingly competitive in offering business, home, and specialty loans, often personalizing services to ensure comprehensive member financial support.
Notable Quotes:
- "Credit unions are not for profit. We operate with the intent not to make some gigantic profit margin, but to invest back in our members." – Chrissy Siders
- "It's inherent in our DNA and our business model to be deeply ingrained in the community." – Chrissy Siders
- "Your money is just as safe in a credit union as it is in a bank, backed by adequate insurance." – Chrissy Siders
- "We want to partner with you in writing a life story that stretches beyond your imagination." – Chrissy Siders
- "We can't cookie-cutter approach to everybody. Every individual human is different." – Chrissy Siders
Resources:
Episode Sponsor:
Integrated Investment Group
- (00:04) - Comparing Banks and Credit Unions: Differences and Similarities
- (03:44) - Credit Union Industry Insights with Chrissy Siders
- (07:49) - Differences Between Credit Unions and Banks in Structure and Community Impact
- (18:27) - Credit Unions' Technological Investments and Fintech Competition
- (22:13) - Credit Unions' Unique Approach to Banking and Risk Management
- (30:06) - Exploring Credit Union Benefits and Community Engagement in Michigan
Creators & Guests
What is Teaching Tax Flow: The Podcast?
Welcome to “Teaching Tax Flow: The Podcast”, the show that’s all about demystifying taxes and helping you keep more of your hard-earned income in your pocket.
Hosted by tax experts from the Teaching Tax Flow team, this unfiltered (but clean) podcast is designed to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to confidently navigate the world of taxes. We’ll cover everything from understanding tax laws and regulations to maximizing deductions and credits.
In each episode, we’ll break down a specific tax-related topic in a clear and accessible way, providing practical tips and strategies you can use to optimize your tax situation. We’ll also answer listener questions, share the mic with amazing guests, and share real-world examples to help illustrate key concepts.
Whether you’re a freelancer, small business owner, real estate investor, or just looking to understand your taxes better, this podcast is for you. So tune in, take notes, and start building your confidence in taxes today.
Produced and hosted by Teaching Tax Flow.
www.TeachingTaxFlow.com
Hey everyone and welcome back to the teaching tax law podcast episode 104. Today, we are gonna look at comparing banks and credit unions, what the differences are, what the similarities are, I have more questions and answers going into this. So before we jump into it, let's take a brief moment and thank our episode sponsor.
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John Tripolsky:Alright, everybody. Welcome back to the teaching tax flow podcast. I know this is a topic that people wanna hear because we've heard it over about the past 2 years. So I know we're into the triple digits of this podcast. And whether you are self employed, you're a real estate investor, somebody that might be, you know, venturing down that path of being self employed, or heck, you just have a bank versus credit union question, you're in the best place.
John Tripolsky:And I say that not only because I like to toot our own horn here at teaching tax flow, but we also, let's just say, birds of the feather flock together. You know, we think we're kinda cool, so we hang out with cool, smarter, better looking people. And, Chris, I guess, welcome back to your own show for once. You know, I always gotta, you know, welcome you back to your own party.
Chris Picciurro:Well, it's great to be back. This is a topic that I've been wanting to do. We we have a tracking sheet or a spreadsheet that of course, your dad would be proud of our spreadsheet. But sorry sorry it's not on the desktop. It is a cloud based, spreadsheet, so I don't know if your dad would appreciate that.
Chris Picciurro:Don't know if he's graduated there, and and it and we always either have to throw one of our dads under the bus. We always we throw out the state of California there. You know, there's there's our usual suspects. However, this has been a topic that has been on the sheet for, like, 6 months, and we've just been waiting for the right person to come on the show and talk us through this because banks and credit unions, I'm sure, have some similarities, but definitely some differences. And I wanna talk through those with an expert.
Chris Picciurro:Also, when is it best to move towards 1 or the other, and, what are, you know, what are the like I said, what are the differences? What are the similarities? And what should someone look for specifically? Because there are a lot of credit unions I know that that are really geared towards certain industries, certain geographic locations, sometimes nationalities, ethnicities. This is a really exciting and intriguing, topic that really applies to everybody.
Chris Picciurro:Sometimes our topics are applied to certain segment of of the audience, but, ultimately, we all need in in the United States system economic system here is a is a is some type of financial institution to help us do business. So I'm excited about this, John.
John Tripolsky:Yeah. And and, Chris, you know what? When we thought of this topic, I had to go back through my proverbial rolodex a little bit and think, like, alright. You know, who knows the most about this? And somebody that actually knows about it, that works in the industry, hence, Chrissy Siders.
John Tripolsky:Chrissy, welcome. I should say, welcome to the teaching tax flow party. How are you?
Chrissy Siders:Inviting me. I was so excited.
John Tripolsky:It's either you know, you're either really excited or you're just like, what in the world did I get roped into to talk to these turkeys about? Excited. I'm good. While we're while while we have you on here, we already hit the record button, so you can't bail yet. Unless all the unless anyone's listening to this, all of a sudden, everybody disappears.
John Tripolsky:It's because Chrissy literally disconnected the Internet, and she says, you know what? I'm out of here.
Chrissy Siders:Right. I'm a try to make my computer not work, but you roped me in with my phone. So, you
John Tripolsky:know You you failed. See? And speaking of technology. Right? So we're about to talk.
John Tripolsky:Obviously, tech's gonna be a part of this conversation. Again, Chris, I know you said you're super excited about it. I am because, again, I don't even have many answers to this. I did make the the confession to Chrissy just so everybody else before this that I am still with a bank. So if by the end of this podcast, she somehow converts me, she has done very well.
John Tripolsky:So that being said, Chrissy, why don't we actually start off a little bit, so people know really why you're joining us? And then maybe your background, where you're at now. I know you guys have gone through a little bit of a transition, or an acquisition, it sounded like, over the past couple years at True as well. So give us kinda your story as well as as what you guys are up to over there.
Chrissy Siders:Yeah. So, I actually started in the credit union industry in 1998. I was, going to college at Michigan State University. Go green. And Go white.
Chrissy Siders:Oh, it's not.
Chris Picciurro:You finally got a, Sorry. You finally got the right guests on here. Darn it. I know.
John Tripolsky:I didn't know that.
Chris Picciurro:I have I have to tell you our our in in it once you I know you're gonna do this podcast and follow all of our social medias. You're gonna realize that one of the favorite people in the teaching tax law community is our dog, Sparty. Oh. It's she is a doll. So sorry.
Chris Picciurro:Didn't mean to sidetrack it.
Chrissy Siders:You're good. You're good. I thought I was going to go on a totally different career, following a totally different career path. I was working at the credit union because I was, you know, 20 years old, newly married, and needed a job, and, fell in love with the industry. I mean, I am admittedly biased towards the credit union industry.
Chrissy Siders:I grew up in it. I drank the Kool Aid very young. But I still think that that also gives me the beautiful benefit of understanding the industry to its fullest. And, you know, started as that part time teller, moved into various positions, graduate with a college degree, moved into what's called really the risk management space, which is compliance, fraud, security, internal audit. Worked in that for about, oh, 15 years or so probably before I became, president and CEO in 2017, which is the position that I'm in today.
Chrissy Siders:I'm at a credit union, named True Community Credit Union with our headquarters in Jackson, Michigan. But, John, to your point, we've undergone a lot of change over the last 7 years when I became CEO. We've actually merged, twice, with 2 different credit unions, to to generate some expansion for us. We also, changed our charters. So we were a federally chartered credit union, and we're now a state chartered credit union.
Chrissy Siders:We've also, to your point about technology, implemented a number of technology enhancements, at our organization as well, just to be able to serve our members better. So, we are a every new employee that comes in, I tell them that we are a growth minded organization and that we are going to work very hard to grow to serve the members in the Michigan community. So, that's my story. That's how I got here. Again, unashamedly biased towards the industry, but I will try to be as unbiased in my answers as I can be.
John Tripolsky:Hey. You know what? It's almost it's, you know, it's kinda like asking, well, you know, we already said it, his favorite school.
Chris Picciurro:I you know what?
John Tripolsky:If I would've known you were a state fan, we would've completely changed this topic. You know, it's speaking of, like, Internet being
Chrissy Siders:just even smarter than you originally thought that I was.
John Tripolsky:Careful. I'm close to Ann Arbor where I'm at right now. We don't want, you know I'm sorry. That last thing, I need some Wolverine fan blowing through my window. They, but it you know, so, obviously, we have experience in this industry.
John Tripolsky:So we get, you know, a lot of the a lot of the conversations with me, Chris, other partners we have, other CPAs, just random taxpayers. I mean, down to people talking about getting auto loans. Right? So how does maybe let's start there too. So how does really, in your mind, obviously, being biased towards credit unions, which is great because you know more about it than any of us all put together.
John Tripolsky:So, really, what are the the big differences? Generally speaking, I know you guys are are really very tech savvy, and I know you so I know you guys focus a lot more, and I'm not gonna say any other specific credit unions. But you guys do a very, very good job on almost taking community engagement to a whole another level. Yeah. It's not like you guys just sponsor a float in a parade and, you know, you give your thumbs up and that's all you do.
John Tripolsky:You do a ton more. But let's talk about that between banks
Chris Picciurro:and
John Tripolsky:credit unions. So what's the biggest kind of
Chrissy Siders:well, let me let me take you back to the basics first. The I actually think that that's where it's probably most important that you understand. There are some inherent differences that are just there between Credit Union Banks and the structure. And and neither, you know, I mean, I am totally biased towards the Credit Union structure, but there are some amazing small community banks. Right?
Chrissy Siders:And so, you know really, the biggest thing is that we are run by a volunteer board of directors. Okay? So our board of directors gets paid 0. Zilch, nothing. They come to monthly board meetings, they govern the credit union, you know, they are ultimately who the members are accountable to.
Chrissy Siders:But our board members are wholly volunteer and they are elected by the membership of the credit union. So we have 80,000 members at the credit union. As long as you have $5 in your account, everybody is the same dollar amount, makes you the same equal weight in a credit union. So that's different. Right?
Chrissy Siders:With banks you have shareholders. The more shares you own, the more ownership control that you have in the organization. It's just a different structure. Right? So our board of directors is actually nominated, or actually voted for by the membership.
Chrissy Siders:So as long as you have that par value, that $5 in the credit union you get to vote for the board members. Very different than a bank structure. Right? A bank structure is based more on you buy shares, Right? You have some controlling interest in the company.
Chrissy Siders:You gain the profit from, you know, the bank. That that is just an inherent difference in our structure. Credit unions are also designed as cooperatives. And the whole goal is really to use, you know, the the savings, the shares, the deposits of our members to turn around and lend them out to our members, you know, to invest them to to generate additional product services people for our members. And that's just a little bit different in structure as well.
Chrissy Siders:And then, you know, I think that community impact, I love that you bring that up because, this is actually where it's there's a similarity and a difference. So, I don't believe that anyone gets up in the morning and doesn't say I wanna do good, be good. I wanna serve people well, and I believe a bank and a credit union alike want to do that. One of the differences is that it's inherent in our DNA and it's inherent in our business model being cooperatives and being in the community. And you there is no regulatory requirement that we give to the community or have a certain amount of dollars, right, invested in the community.
Chrissy Siders:Because it is just naturally part of us. And so you won't find a credit union that isn't just deeply ingrained in their community. Banks have something called, you know, CRA, Community Reinvestment Act. And so that does have some requirements, you know, for them to, give a certain amount of dollars, grant a certain amount of dollars, do certain things in certain industries. And so that's why I said there's similarities, but there's differences.
Chrissy Siders:You know? For credit unions, it is just baked into who we are. And to your point, John, we don't just show up and say, hey, we're gonna put a a float in, you know. We give our dollars, we give our time, you know, we give our people. We just sponsored actually a, a Hispanic Heritage, festival in the Jackson area.
Chrissy Siders:We gave away $20,000 in scholarships. We didn't just say, hey, here's a boost. You know, here's here's, you know, just like, you know, some food, some sponsorship. We actually gave $20,000 which means that our people have to vet the applicants, you know, they have to engage with others in the community. And we did that actually with several.
Chrissy Siders:We did that with Juneteenth as well. You know, or or, you know, you'll see us sponsoring businesses or you'll see us sponsoring, and showing up at various things that each community does in our area. And I'm not saying that banks don't do that. I'm just saying that that is absolutely inherent in who we are. And, you know, I have actually an employee whose title is chief community impact officer.
Chrissy Siders:He is, like, that is her role, is how do we impact the lives of the people that we serve, and and bring substantial impacts to their lives. So, you know, that that definitely is a difference there.
Chris Picciurro:So no. That's a great point. So, obviously, ownership and structure of bank is is a little bit different. It from my understanding, it's more of a for profit organization where credit unions are are non for profit. Is that or nonprofit organizations?
Chris Picciurro:Does that make my
Chrissy Siders:So I love that you asked question because sometimes people get this mixed up and then this is where I think people think credit unions are trying to pull one over on somebody. We are not for profit. We are not nonprofits. Right? Nonprofits are kinda running like a zero based budget.
Chrissy Siders:Right?
Chris Picciurro:Right.
Chrissy Siders:We are we are not for profit organizations so we don't operate with the intent to make some huge profit, some large margin. Right? That's just not our that's not our intent. And you actually could see that if you break the numbers down, you know, you can see the profit margins of banks and credit unions. Now where you can see some blurring maybe is a little bit in some of the smaller community banks and credit unions, but you you know, more similar in that intent.
Chrissy Siders:But credit credit unions are absolutely not for profit, and banks are absolutely for profit. Again, just a structure difference. Right. And I I love that you mentioned, you know, your board of difference. Right.
Chris Picciurro:And I I love
John Tripolsky:that you mentioned, you know, your board of directors.
Chris Picciurro:Thinking about credit unions and banks in general, can you kind of touch on the differences between eligibility of being a part of of the organization as a customer or client? And then also, maybe some of the regulatory and insurance because, you know, we know about FDIC, but not a lot of people know that their credit unions also have have some insurance around their deposits.
Chrissy Siders:Yeah. I love that question. So, you know, this is absolutely an area where there are similarities again, but just differences with who, who owns it or who who owns the insurance portion. So while banks, you know, you're fully insured to at least $250,000 and the FDIC is the one who in does does that portion. Likewise, on the credit union side, most are insured through the National Credit Union Administration or what's called the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.
Chrissy Siders:And, again, it's to at least $250,000. Now we actually at True offer an extension to that even, and we add additional insurance, for our members. You know, that is just something that, you know, the credit union purchases, the credit union pays for, but it's something that's very important, for us, you know, that that they, people would certainly, understand that piece. So yeah. You know, we are your money is just as safe in a credit union as it is in a bank.
Chrissy Siders:You know, and, and we have those, same requirements, to be insured. You know, we we can't not be insured. Now there are some states that allow private insurance, but, you know, you you are required to be insured in the state of Michigan. You have to be part of the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. And then about membership.
Chrissy Siders:So, you know, you could walk in any bank today and you could open an account at any bank today. No qualifications, you know, you just you just could open an account. With credit unions, there is a difference. You do have to qualify for membership. And so each credit union is set up differently.
Chrissy Siders:There are multiple common bond credit unions. There are single source credit unions. You know, but you do have to qualify. So for example, for our credit union, we used to be a federally chartered credit union and you had to belong to one of about 400 different, businesses in order to be, you know, a member. That's one of the things that we do when we go into new community.
Chrissy Siders:You know, John experiences a little bit with us is, you know, you just you grow in that community, you make connections, and then you offer up your services as a credit union to those in that community. Now we switched to a State Charter Credit Union in 2020, which gave us it's really kind of interesting. It it gave us the opportunity to expand even though it looks like it's more limited. So when we were federal, we could have expanded maybe a little bit more outside the state of Michigan. And now that we're state chartered credit union, you can live, work, worship, or go to school in the entire state of Michigan, and you can be eligible for for membership at True.
Chrissy Siders:So definite differences there. There are eligibility requirements with credit unions, and there are not with banks.
Chris Picciurro:Mhmm. Yeah. I was wondering about that state versus federal charter, and that was that's very interesting and, you know, a really neat strategic move for you guys because I you have tons of locations, specifically all through kinda southeast to south central, you know, Michigan. Mhmm. And, you know, I I that that just always kinda it was kind of a a question for you know?
Chris Picciurro:Yeah. Question that I always say I already always had. Obviously, you know, it seems like credit unions in general are a little more involved with their microeconomies, and, you know, sometime could you kinda touch on the differences in technology? I know your credit union specifically is very forward thinking on technology. I'm impressed that you have a lot of outreach as far as education even for kids.
Chris Picciurro:Mhmm. So that's pretty cool, and we'll leave all that in the show notes as well. But, you you know, one of one of the concerns sometimes is that someone feel someone might feel as if a bank might have more tech technological resources. You know, I mean, you have a larger credit union in my I mean, 80,000 members is a significant amount. But, yeah, you gotta touch on on on that.
Chris Picciurro:Any other differences or similarities in the technology?
Chrissy Siders:I think what's interesting is I think we might be in the top 25 of credit unions in Michigan. There are credit unions that are way larger than us. I mean, way larger than us. Right? And so, you know, we're we're a midsized credit union for sure.
Chrissy Siders:I am wholly biased about our financial education program. You know, we run student run credit union programs, in all of the school districts in the Jackson County area, all those we kind of 13 connected community schools, plus additional, programs where the students actually run the credit union. You know. And so we teach financial education and financial wellness from a very, very, very young age. That I could be on a soapbox for an hour about why that's critical, to the success of adults when they get older, both, you know, socially, emotionally, physically, spiritually, that you've gonna kinda understand the financial well-being of people.
Chrissy Siders:But, you know, from a technology perspective, it's it's interesting to me that there really is, I think, a misnomer that credit unions may not invest in technology as much as other financial institutions. I just call bull on that. You know, we, we have had actually a massive investment in technology over the last 7 years. We changed our core processing system that we're using to be quicker, to be more agile, to be able to program things ourselves. We've hired people to be able to program our systems.
Chrissy Siders:We've, switched our drive throughs over to what are called interactive teller machines where they're still a human. I promise they're still there. They're just in the window, you know, of the box of the machine. Yeah, we've, changed our digital, app, to be better. We're in the middle of a card conversion, updating the contact list and digital issuance and all of those things.
Chrissy Siders:And here is what's so important about technology in our industry. It is moving at mock speed. And if you do not keep up with it, you will lose the race as a financial institution, bank, or credit union alike. So what that does is it makes it a really tricky endeavor for you to figure out how do you strategically grow your business while still investing a lot in technology. That is one of the beauties of being not for profit.
Chrissy Siders:You will take time to do the investments because the bottom line isn't nearly as important. You wanna be you wanna make money, right, because your examiners will be upset if you don't. But you don't need to make a a gigantic amount. Right? You can turn around and invest those dollars back for your members.
Chrissy Siders:And then the only other piece I would say about technology is, you know, we're balancing the spectrum of of generations. Right? So, you know, I have a 23 year old and a 21 year old who really just wanna do everything on their phones. Right? You know, I had a dad, he's passed away, but when he was alive, you know, he wouldn't even go through a drive through McDonald's.
Chrissy Siders:Right? So, I mean, you know, you're Yep. Trying to handle the generational pieces of people with technology, with branches, with your infrastructure. But technology, I always say this, I've been at the crane 26 and a half years, and there are departments and processes and products that we don't have today just 25 years later because they're no longer wanted or needed with the generation that is using them today. And so if we don't continue to move, you know, with with with that, that's that's gonna be critical to our success.
Chrissy Siders:And it's interesting you're asking about banks and credit unions because I'll I'll give you a plug for one additional podcast you might wanna have and it's about Fintechs. So with the Fintechs, here's the big thing. There are Fintechs who are running a business with no brick and mortar, very little people. They don't have to have all the technology pieces that we have. They don't have to have all the branch network that we have.
Chrissy Siders:They don't have to have all the expenses that we have. We are competing with them candidly probably even more than I'm competing with other financial institutions. Right? And so it if you dug into Fintechs and the value of do you compete with Fintechs or do you partner with Fintechs as a financial institution, you would probably have a a fascinating conversation, you know, with with somebody who knows even more than I do about it. But that is where the market is today is in the Fintechs.
Chrissy Siders:I'm gonna let all the other really smart people develop the products, and then I'm gonna partner with them to deliver them to my members. But that's a technology piece that is so critical.
Chris Picciurro:Mhmm. And, Christy, it's always
John Tripolsky:not like I remember, you know, from my own experience. Right? And this is, you know, when I lived down south in South Carolina for 10 years, and I was traveling a lot. We actually had one of our clients who were in Massachusetts. There was a credit union, and I feel like during that time yeah.
John Tripolsky:This was probably about 10 years ago. It almost seemed like there was more of a divide Mhmm. At least on the tech side between credit unions and banks because, obviously, they were just dump banks were just throwing money at things, it seemed like. And they were not trying to be the early adopters if you will, but it seemed like they went through and figured out what people wanted and what they didn't want. And then credit unions now are you know, y'all are moving at the same pace, at least just from a consumer side.
John Tripolsky:But a big question I have for you actually is thinking of it for, like, business loans, home loans, investors, etcetera, real estate investors, is is that application and and kind of financing process very different? I know I hear a lot from individuals that go through a credit union and say it's fantastic. You know, I I feel like I have more of a partner that wants to work with me instead of just a yes, no binary, you know, we want your money or get out of our door kinda relationship. Is that is that true to some extent?
Chrissy Siders:Yeah. I mean, I would say again, you know, that's inherent in who we are. And it's I mean, I can speak the truth specifically. You know, we have a mission to cultivate legacy defining moments for the people and places that we serve for generations to come, and a vision to partner with you in writing a life story that stretches beyond your imagination. Both of those things, our mission and our vision require us to dig deeper with the person in front of us.
Chrissy Siders:Right? So you sit down in front of me. I have a there's a great example. We had a member who walked in and they wanted a home and they just they would not qualify. Right?
Chrissy Siders:After the the economic crisis in 0 eight, 09, the rules were just they changed considerably. They're a little bit stringent in my opinion. And, you know, they require very specific things and 8 underwriting factors and they just the people didn't qualify. Right? Now my my employee could've left it there, you know, which might happen in another financial institutions.
Chrissy Siders:But she didn't. She said, let's let's go through a plan for the next couple of years, and then we're gonna get you into that home. And about 2 years later those members came back, and they got into a home that was even bigger and better than what they thought, and they were in a better financial situation. That's what it means to partner with someone to write a life story that stretches beyond their imagination. But you know what that requires?
Chrissy Siders:Commitment. It requires time and energy and commitment. And, you know, I I'm biased again. I will wholly admit it, but I do not think that every financial institution does that. I think there is a difference in here in that.
Chrissy Siders:Now when you asked the question about is it easier, I think one thing that we do have to understand is, you know, we have kind of a digital first mentality at True where we want to make it easy for you to apply. We know that people are running from here to there and they do not have a lot of time. Right? And so we do wanna make that first process really quick for you. So we have invested in technology for application, quickness, and applying and getting that first, you know, app over to us, then we'll lean into some of those other conversations.
Chrissy Siders:So I would say it's maybe a little bit of a hybrid model at at our credit union. It's how do we serve you up quickly, but also how do we dig deeper with you to really make sure we can meet your needs the best that we can. And understand that's why it says to write a life story that stretches beyond your imagination is every single person's life story is different. Every small business is different. Every large business is different.
Chrissy Siders:Each individual human is different. And so we can't cookie cutter, you know, approach to everybody. So, yeah, I would absolutely hear do that.
Chris Picciurro:You kinda touched on I've gotta, you know, to kinda wrap things up. I have a couple questions just on market segments as far as bank and credit union because I just feel like and and I'm I've been in business over over 22 years. So I feel like now credit unions are more business friendly where traditionally you thought credit unions kind of for your personal maybe you're with the within in a certain union and you work in that or a community. So what are you seeing? And you did mention the generational things.
Chris Picciurro:I wanted to retouch on the generational differences, maybe the business versus personal differences. And then it seems like credit unions might have the ability to be a little more nimble as far as working, specifically with people in the cannabis industry, where federal banks, seemingly cannot. So, and Yeah. Can you touch on I know I just threw 3 things at you, but Yeah. I think that's a pretty place to Yeah.
Chrissy Siders:Remind me of them as we go if I'm in the Yeah. Remind me of
John Tripolsky:them as we go if
Chris Picciurro:I'm in the So so
Chrissy Siders:yeah. Let me just So you
Chris Picciurro:have generational gen generational differences between what you're seeing in Banks First Credit Unions as far as the avatars you're serving more, and then businesses, and then, cannabis industry.
Chrissy Siders:Yeah. Let me answer first, with this I kinda wanna give you this large kinda contextual umbrella to your observation. And first and foremost, it's that it is it goes back to the design of banks and credit unions. So one of the things you have to remember is that credit unions can't raise capital the way that banks can raise capital. Right?
Chrissy Siders:So banks can go out and issue more stock, and that raises their capital. Credit unions cannot. We we we cannot. Right? We don't have stock.
Chrissy Siders:We don't have shareholders like that. Right? The only way that we generate and increase our capital is by our net income and booking those dollars over to our reserves. Right? Now I just got done telling you we are not for profit.
Chrissy Siders:So we're not, like, banking a bazillion dollars each year. Right? So it's a really slow growth to that. But what you have seen is actually some of what you guys have said is that, people have, got wind of how great credit unions are. And so more membership growth is happening.
Chrissy Siders:More people are getting loans and and and saving at credit unions. And so just naturally we're seeing this growth in our market, which is super cool, which leads us to be able to take more risk and really go into some of those areas that you described. So, you know, the generational differences, they're one of my favorite things. Cause I feel like I'm a 47 year old woman who really behaves like a 20 year old from a banking perspective. Right?
Chrissy Siders:I don't really wanna go downstairs to the teller line. I wanna do it all on my phone. Like, I need I don't wanna talk to a human. I just wanna chat with a human. Those types of things.
Chrissy Siders:Right? And so there's certainly is that piece where we're doing a lot of that investment, in that space. I wanna get on the small business piece because one of the things we've been doing at True is not just figure out how we meet small business needs, but actually understanding systemic issues to, things like, minority owned businesses or black owned businesses. And what their perception is of the lack of access to capital for them that you I held a kind of a question and answer session with a bunch of black owned businesses in our area a couple of years ago to seek to understand, you know, why why don't they feel comfortable walking into our credit union or any credit union or any financial institution and maybe they're going to those other types of lenders that are are not healthy for them. Right?
Chrissy Siders:But it's the best, safest way for them to get that. And so again, that's about risk taking. Getting there, understanding the questions, what is it that we can do, where can we take the risk, and how can we serve you better? But that's again the credit union difference of learning more about the person and the human. Right?
Chrissy Siders:And then lastly, you asked about cannabis banking. God, this has been all over the place. Right? I mean, we've been waiting for them to pass a rule federally about this to give us a safe harbor for, I don't know, it's like the lady from Titanic, like, 80, 40 years.
Chris Picciurro:Right? Yeah.
Chrissy Siders:And, you know, and they have not. Yeah. But they have, obviously, with it being legal in the state of Michigan now, there's a lot of credit use in base. They're just taking the risk and saying, listen, we're gonna set together, set up a really great program that's safe. What's happening is these individuals are unbanked.
Chrissy Siders:And when you are unbanked and you are rolling that rolling, no pun intended, that amount of cash. Right? And it's it's not sitting in a financial institution. That's dangerous. Right?
Chrissy Siders:And so, you know, it it makes so much more sense to me to be able to give them access to financial services. And so we're currently running a program, you know, with an an individual a a cannabis company. You know, to see how it works and see how our examiners take it and to make sure we mitigate the risk and we cover it. But all of those things that you asked about, the industry itself had to get to a spot where it could grow and sustain risk in a way that we wouldn't go under. You know?
Chrissy Siders:Should we put too much risk in a certain area. And so that's why you're seeing, you know, Craig News being able to step more into that space is that people have gotten a wind of how amazing our industry is. And they're they're they're investing in us, right, through accounts and loans.
John Tripolsky:Well, I think we laid I mean, talk about laying out the differences, but similarities in some of it too. It's Yeah. It's funny. Chris has seen these come up a lot. You know, some as we're going through our conversation, here I am, you know, almost while some of it looks like my 3 year old tried to draw me a picture of a happy face.
John Tripolsky:But I'm writing down all my sticky notes, and I tend to, like, stick them all over the wall. Mhmm. It's funny because I don't really have as many questions as I thought I would after the fact. Because I think the biggest thing that I'm taking away from this, right, it's almost, Christy, how we met. I mean, that was 2018.
John Tripolsky:So almost 6 years ago or so.
Chrissy Siders:Yeah.
John Tripolsky:And I remember the first interaction I had with somebody from from y'all's company is they were literally just out in the community. Mhmm. I had no idea who they were, what they did. They just kept showing up kept showing up. And it's nice to see when you guys enter a new market, because it was a new a new geographic market at that time, that that truly is how how you guys operate.
John Tripolsky:And I hear that more about credit unions, and that's why I'll be I really pose that question about just the process and Mhmm. And working together. And, Chris, you had asked you about membership. And I take it back to your response a little bit earlier on as it's really it's in that DNA where
Chris Picciurro:I mean, it is
John Tripolsky:what it is. Right? You guys are more there to serve the community versus, you know, reporting to shareholders on, you know, a much higher level. Because, obviously, if you own 10% of a larger institution, which is a lot because they're a hugest I mean, you you kinda want your money back. Like Absolutely.
John Tripolsky:You you're there with intention. You don't really care how what they do, figuratively speaking.
Chrissy Siders:Right.
John Tripolsky:But it is really good to see it. So it's, you know, kind of, kind of putting your money where your mouth is Mhmm. Literally. But then Yeah. You know?
John Tripolsky:Absolutely. Just the engagement. And, you know, why we thought of this topic, Chris, kinda circling back to that before we do wrap is, you know, we within teaching tax flow, you know, we meet so many different people. The individual taxpayers, as I mentioned, business owners, people thinking about taking that plunge, real estate investors, you name it. We've talked to them in some way, shape, or form.
John Tripolsky:And there's also which is interesting. There was so much interest in just this conversation and this topic with other CPAs at all the conferences that me and Chris have gone to. So I think it's it's so good to have this. It's so good to lay it out. And, again, not to make this a commercial about you guys, but, like, how many branches and and locations do you guys have?
John Tripolsky:Because I think you operate a couple of them in schools too
Chrissy Siders:So if I remember right. We operate in about 30 schools where we have student run credit unions. And then we have 15 branches that serve members, all the way down I 94 in Michigan, basically from Parma to Dearborn. And so, you know, you mentioned this a little bit earlier, you know, so now we have, a very, very rural area. Right?
Chrissy Siders:I mean, Parma is, you know, Parma Tuckie is what we call it often. You know, and then Dearborn is such a beautifully diverse community of Arab American, you know, population as well as if you kinda just go around the corner, we've got a great Hispanic population. You know, their needs are so different than the people in Parma. And, that is a differentiating factor. You know, we're having conversations about, you know, making sure that we have loans for quinceaneras or understanding the, you know, the Islamic faith and the fact that, you know, there's there's rules with regards to loans and interest and those types of things because that person that's a member of our credit union is an owner of our credit union, whether they have $5 in our credit union or $5,000,000 in our credit union.
Chrissy Siders:And so they're the same. The exact same. And we're just trying to meet them and meet their needs through our products, our services, our people, and impact them the best that we can. And so that that's a big differentiating factor certainly between our industry.
John Tripolsky:Awesome. I love it. Well, Chris, as I mentioned, I really don't have any other questions.
Chris Picciurro:What about you? No. This has been really informative. We appreciate it. We encourage people to really dive into your own situation and see what is the best fit.
Chris Picciurro:And especially if you live in Michigan or work or worship in Michigan, you know, we'll leave leave all Chrissy's information avail out on our on our, show notes, but this has really been helpful. And, and we appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Chrissy Siders:Yeah. Thanks for having me.
John Tripolsky:Absolutely, Christine. I know you're you're at a conference, so we appreciate you taking the time. And either it's a really good conference, it's going good, or you're like, I need a break.
Chrissy Siders:So No. It's good. It's good.
John Tripolsky:Yeah. But we we love we love the conversation, and and, again, thank you for joining us. And we'll definitely have we'll have another discussion on this too because I'm sure it'll be like everything else. I think it questions after the fact. But as I always like to close this out with for everybody that's listening or watching, we will see you back here again next week, roughly the same time, completely different topic here on the Teaching Tax Flow podcast.
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