MADISON, Wis.-For Dave Colby, chief economist for CUNA Mutual Group, one of the most important lessons credit unions learned from the recession has been this: "Fundamentals are fundamentals for a reason."
"Credit unions did not stray from their lending fundamentals," he said. "Hopefully when we get out of this, they will have a good reputation with Congress and with consumers. Credit card issuers are shrinking their portfolios, but credit unions are increasing theirs. We stayed the course and didn't go with wild offers. Fundamentals are a good strategy, let's stick with it."
According to Colby, it would be an "interesting data-crunching exercise" to figure where CUs' numbers would be after stripping out the various assessments and corporate write-offs they've been hit with. "What was the operations net, as opposed to the outside things that were out of their control," he wondered.
