NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.- Credit Union Journal asked both banks and CUs during the Harland Financial Solutions 2011 Connections Annual Conference here,"What are you seeing in loan demand, and what are you doing to drive volume?"
Leslie Ellis, CEO, Credit Union 1
Anchorage, Alaska
Risk-based pricing, getting employees to look at the member's total credit picture, and stealing loans from other financials is what's working for us. We have been able to get a lot of relationships brought over by looking at members' credit bureau score and calculating how much we can save the member if they bring that loan to us. This year loans are up 20% over last year, and part of that is due to the fact we set loan origination goals for our staff.
Now we have the entire credit union involved in lending. Even the IT guys-they will hear about friends who need a loan and tell them about our great rates. When an employee brings in a loan like that we publish it on our intranet as a "Cool Story." Whoever helps us reach our goal shares in the bonus we pay if we reach our lending target. We are all tethered together here at the credit union on our loan efforts.
Tim Simpson, VP of IT, Community First CU of Florida, Jacksonville, Fla.
Lending is a struggle, especially in the mortgage area. Consumer lending in general has been a bit difficult, but first and second mortgages have really taken a hit. Like everyone else, I think we are struggling to meet our loan goals and I don't know what the answer is. We have tried some things the last few years and nothing seems to grab anyone's attention.
Jack Hopkins, President
Community Bank of Raymore, Raymore, Mo.
Loan demand is flat right now. We had a pretty good increase last year, but we are seeing more deterioration in the economy in the last 12 months than we did in the previous 12 months. Last year our success came much from commercial real estate. But we are not really seeing a clear picture of what the future will bring. We are pretty comfortable right now with our portfolio. A lot of the big banks are coming in and being price aggressive on commercial lending so we are not sure we want to compete.
Silvana Milelli, SVP/COO
Liberty Bell Bank, Evesham, N.J.
