SAN ANTONIO — Reflecting on a career in credit unions, Tim Haegelin says he became involved in the movement because "I guess I'm one of these types of people that wants to save the world, and I got a little bit frustrated until someone told me, 'You can do that, but you have to do it one person at a time.'"
Haegelin retired in November 2012 as CEO of Generations Community FCU here, but his tenure in the credit union community stretches back nearly a half century. He is set to be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Herb Wegner Memorial Awards from the National Credit Union Foundation during CUNA's 2014 Governmental Affairs Conference in Washington.
When Haegelin joined then-San Antonio City Employees FCU in 1980, he had already served as president and CEO of Central Texas Catholic CU for 12 years, coming on board at the San Antonio CU as assistant manager.
When Haegelin arrived at SACE FCU, the credit union had one branch, $37 million in assets and 14,000 members. By the time he retired, it had rebranded as Generations FCU, and had grown to 14 branches, 49,000 members and more than $400 million in assets.
"I think what really kicked it off was the fact that we dealt with people that were not unlike the city of San Antonio," recalled Haegelin. "When we became a community-based credit union San Antonio was so perfect for us because we looked almost exactly like the city did." He noted that the city isn't particularly wealthy and contains a high Hispanic population — two trends that the credit union mirrored.
As such, Haegelin said, Generations worked with members to help them manage hard times when the Great Recession hit, including working out payment plans and refinancing loans with struggling members.
"These people want to pay, so we would just keep them on the books until they would pay," he said. "We would adjust their interest rate and allow them to pay when they were recouping their income and getting other jobs. They really did appreciate that."
The members appreciated it so much, he added, that they made sure to thank the CU's collections department.
"I've never seen a collections department that receives Christmas cards and Christmas baked goods from our members like the existing collections department does here," said Haegelin. "It's amazing. Usually the lifetime for a collector is about two and a half to three years. These [employees] come here and they're there for 15 or 20 years."
Personal Touch
It wasn't unusual for Haegelin to give out his personal phone number to new employees or to work one-on-one with members. In some cases that was as simple as sitting down with members to discuss the rebrand when the CU changed its name from San Antonio City Employees FCU to Generations FCU.
In another case, however, Haegelin worked closely with a member who was the victim of domestic violence and going through a difficult divorce. The member was in a lot of debt from physical therapy and being out of work. She needed a car to get to her new job, but local banks wouldn't give her a loan. So she sent Haegelin a letter explaining her situation.
Haegelin called her and personally guaranteed that she would get the loan from the credit union. Beyond that, he held a fundraiser for Generations employees to allow them to wear jeans if they donated $5 or more to the local battered women's shelter. The CU raised about $500 as a result.
Regulator Relationships
It's commonly thought that credit unions have an adversarial relationship with their regulators and examiners, but Haegelin tried to dispel that myth. He said that his philosophy — which he has tried to articulate to his employees — is that any regulators, auditors or examiners are only trying to make the credit union better, not worse.
"We don't need the regulators to be our pep rally people; we need regulators to be there to better our performance," he said, adding that if there is a negative feeling at all, it is toward the NCUA board.
Examiners, he said, "don't necessarily agree with everything they have to enforce, and some regulators will tell you this and some won't. But they do know that there is a higher power that makes the regulations, and they're just the enforcers, unfortunately."
A Look At The Future
With nearly fifty years in credit unions under his belt, Haegelin offered his take on what the future holds for the community.
"A $50 million credit union can't really make it into the future, because there are other credit unions that are merging, and these are mergers of equals," he said. "There are economies of scope and economies of scale that these credit unions will reach, and because of that there will be these mergers of equals and credit unions that will suffer. The only reason that credit unions can maintain themselves is if they would be in smaller neighborhoods where they would be operating and competing with community banks."
Haegelin acknowledged that all large CUs started out small, but he said that one of the tricks that Generations relied on was taking appropriate risks in order to grow.
"It was tough for us to make it, but what we were making it on was that we were getting paid for the risks that we were taking," he said. "Who wants to work that hard to get there? Well, that's the question. Because there is — and there was and there has been and always will be — easy pickings. There will be those cherry pickers that will start credit unions or merge credit unions and go after the easy dollar."
Haegelin — along with VP of Corporate Communications Ashley Harris — noted that one of the most important risks a credit union can take isn't just the risk on the member, but risks with products and services.
Generations was the first credit union in its market to offer checking accounts, debit cards, electronic records and more, and often was called upon to assist other CUs in the region when they rolled out those products themselves. The pair stressed the importance of "taking the risk to be the first one out there."
Looking back at his career, the longtime credit union leader said he is most proud of his CU's members and staff. He also offered a piece of advice for credit union professionals who might hope to emulate his success.
"People like to be listened to," Haegelin said. "Way too often have I interrupted that process. If you listen to people, you can learn a lot more about yourself and them, and you can serve them better. You begin to hear what they need, and you can differentiate between the needs and the wants."
