You have to fight for your right to parttttyyyyy – Beastie Boys. A recent Wall Street Journal article by Jennifer Levitz, entitled “Hi, My Name Is Fred, And I’m Addicted to Credit Cards” brought my attention back to the idea of credit union’s hosting Tupperware like parties on the topic of financial thrift. I believe the article validates that there likely is consumer demand for knowledge pertaining to how to improve one’s financial life, specifically how to ween oneself off of the credit card addiction that so many Americans suffer from. Personally, I believe the Filene Research Institutes i3 idea called MoneyWorks could be modified to serve this need and make a real difference for credit union members. So maybe credit unions should be looking at fighting for their members in providing some tough love to do just this and I think that a Tupperware type of party could be the ticket to deliver this knowledge in a non-intimidating way. The price of food and gasoline is making more American’s receptive to this tough love. Ms. Levitz’s article talks about support groups – why can’t credit unions be at the epicenter of helping members solve this problem and make a difference? Dave Ramsey has created an empire from this concept. Credit unions are logical candidates to localize this concept.
Andy Mattingly on June 13th, 2008 at 10:25 AM
I serve on the board of Momentive Consumer Counseling Service and one trend we have been noticing since the beginning of the year is the number of faith based financial workshops. Serveral churches in our area are offering ongoing workshops, classes and more to help their members. We have been discussing how successful these have been in getting people to look at budgets and the fact that Momentive actually gets referrals from these groups. Maybe as Credit Unions we should see if we can plug into a channel that already exists and offer our assistance in that manner. Churches have a stronger affinity than credit unions do, are usually willing to provide free space and the church is usually more local to the consumer than a branch. Plus, most churches are willing to accept help in these matters. Just a thought and one that we here at FORUM are trying to figure out how we can be of assistance and plug into this existing social network. And these workshops are not all about financial woes, some are for newly married, etc…great segments for CUs to be involved with.
Doug on June 13th, 2008 at 01:13 PM
Andy, you are right on with the potential of partnering with churches. Was presenting earlier this week at the Kentucky Credit Union League and had a wonderful chat with a CEO at a $37 million faith based credit union in southern Indiana. We discussed the potential of leveraging their credit union’s relationship with the church in providing a financial support group.
Danielle on June 26th, 2008 at 12:05 PM
I keep wondering about starting regular group meetings like Debtor’s Anonymous does (http://www.debtorsanonymous.org/ ). Would it work if you have a tighter common bond that means people might recognize each other at the meetings? Would that put them off? Would anyone even show up?
Also thought about how to enable a chat area on the social network we’re playing with and seeing about doing an online chat groups once a month at a certain time…not sure if that would work, either. Maybe better just to do a web meeting? Still not sure if anyone would show up. But at least with a web meeting they could truly stay anonymous if they wished to.
Doug on June 26th, 2008 at 02:20 PM
You have a point about the likely craving for anonymity with such events. I still think that the credit union could help members organize events to help each other and preserve privacy. Keep us updated on the social network and potential chat area you are playing with. Would you like to do a guest post here at FORUM Solutions on what you are doing – I am sure others would benefit from your work.