TUKWILA, Wash. - Looking for ways to leverage the opportunities left in the wake of the mortgage mess? A mortgage CUSO is gearing up to share 18 strategies to do just that.
“I learned a great deal, yet nothing more important than this–the upheaval in the credit markets, caused by the subprime debacle, has given us a rare, 18-month window to claim our position as the nation’s trusted, reliable, affordable, sustainable source of affordable housing finance,” said Joe Brancucci, chairman and CEO of Prime Alliance.
Brancucci said he learned this “pearl of wisdom” from Fannie Mae’s senior VP of corporate strategy Mercy Jimenez, who spoke at Prime Alliance’s recent symposium, where she said that the credit markets will remain unnerved and uncertain for the better part of that time. She said it will take 18 months for credit union competitors in the mortgage markets to regroup, refocus and restrategize.
So in the meantime, Brancucci said that credit unions must “move with speed and agility.”
To help guide credit unions to do that, Prime Alliance has developed 18 strategies it believes credit unions must implement to be successful now, for the next 18 months and for the longer-term, Brancucci said. Starting June 2, Prime Alliance is publishing one strategy per day.
“Once we’ve shared all 18, we’ll recap them, then regularly follow up with them with more detailed information, including suggested tactics and action plans over the coming months,” he said.
Here are a look at Prime Alliance’s first five of the 18 strategies:
Make your culture Housing Finance Culture. “It’s time for Housing Finance, what we once thought of as mortgage lending, to become a dominant culture in every credit union,” Prime Alliance said.
Top Three in Three. Prime Alliance suggests determining where your CU would like to be in three years. “Set interim goals for 12 months and 24 months so progress is easy to monitor on your way to your three-year goal,” Prime Alliance said. “Measure dollars and measure the number of loans.” Prime Alliance also recommends learning your present market position. “Shoot for a top three spot within three years.”
Appoint a Housing Czar. “Who is this person, the ideal candidate? An intense, caring, passionate, strategic individual who can execute yet also understands that housing is today’s toughest economic challenge for most members,” Prime Alliance said.
Fine-tune your product mix. Prime Alliance said the right mix for the next 18 months is “back to basics,” including conventional, conforming fixed-rate and straightforward adjustable-rate loans.
Fine-tune your member experience. Prime Alliances advised to go back to the beginning, and “walk the member path,” making sure the path is clear, and not confusing. “Consider having a group of members participate in a focus group exercise, watch them walk the path, then make your adjustments based on their recommendations.”
MORE
Read more about how credit unions are trying to grow their mortgage market share at cujournal.com and searching the following bolded terms in the archive:
CUs Offer Strategies For Building Share of Mortgages, for a special report on how CUs are leveraging the opportunity created when other lenders scrambled to get out of the mortgage market.
Mortgage Meltdown, for a variety of stories about the troubled mortgage market.
For info on this story:
* www.primealliancesolutions.com
* www.cuna.org(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
