A Personal Story Of How Financial Counseling Is Not Always Welcome

MADISON - Forced financial counseling is a fool's errand for any income or educational level. This was a lesson learned during my early days at CUNA, when it was a small trade association located at Filene House on Madison's East side. Vera, an employee of CUNA Credit Union, would visit Filene House twice a week to take deposits and provide withdrawals. Vera and her briefcase were the credit union to the employees, just like those found in the movement's early history.

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Vera would discourage any withdrawals, lecturing members who wanted to withdraw their savings like a child caught snacking before dinner. One of my co-workers, who left CUNA many years ago and was known for his direct manner, tried to withdraw funds from his savings account.

Vera started to lecture him in her German-accented English like a schoolteacher admonishing an errant school boy. "It's my money, dammit, give it to me," he shouted, ending the lecture quickly and giving a junior employee a lesson of the dubious utility of unwanted financial counseling. (c) 2007 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com


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