SAN DIEGO - As the economy continues to be a hot topic, Credit Union Journal asked attendees of WesCorp’s recent Future Forum here, ‘What is your corporate doing to help your CU get through the economic slowdown?’
Las Vegas, Nevada is the No. 1 foreclosure market in the nation. The things we have talked about here [at the Future Forum conference] regarding the economic status of the nation and where we stand as an industry is helpful information WesCorp provides. We did not get into the subprime mortgage market, but we are being affected by people not being able to pay their other bills. People like Dwight Johnston [WesCorp’s vice president of economic and market research, who summarizes financial events during his weekly podcast] are allowing us to stay well informed on issues.
We have higher liquidity, so corporates are a good source of investment opportunities for us at competitive rates. We have other concerns, obviously, that have nothing to do with investments. We do not have subprime lending, so we are not directly affected by the mortgage crisis, but we are affected indirectly.
We have seen a huge inflow of deposits in the first quarter, some of which is from stock markets, while some is from other institutions. WesCorp offers laddered CD investments that offer yields comparable to short-term government bonds. In such a volatile market, it is nice to have alternatives to government bonds.
We use WesCorp for most of our processing needs and have for years, so they’ve always helped us. Today we have liquidity concerns, and WesCorp has offered us several solutions. We are a smaller credit union, and we serve an underserved area, so our deposits are flat but our loan demand is high. WesCorp offers competitive rates the market can’t even touch. In addition, WesCorp offers loan participations and advice on other options.
WesCorp provides a lot of services. We belong to two other corporates, but we’ve been WesCorp members for 30 years. We want to be the trusted advisor to our members, and we look at WesCorp as our trusted advisor. We utilize the Purchase One program, which helps our efficiencies. Plus, WesCorp has several investment options for excess funds. We consider WesCorp to be our partner. They do presentations to our board to address concerns or just to discuss investment options. They are in it for the long haul, not just looking to make a quick sale.
