How Credit Unions Win with Heart and Humanity in a Digital World

Doug English Welcomes Lee Silber

Doug English: Welcome, Lee Silber to C.U. on the Show.
I’m delighted to have you with me today. I am delighted. You wrote a book about the credit union movement, so, uh. Tell me, Lee, how did you, uh, get working with credit unions? How did you decide to write a book about credit unions and why? What’s behind it? What’s the emotion behind why a person would write a book about credit unions?

Lee Silber’s Journey into Credit Unions

Lee Silber: Wow, that’s a lot back. Let me start with the fact that I am a lifelong member. So my parents were members. I’m a member, so I’m an insider. And then, uh, CUNA, which is now America’s credit Unions, asked me to do a kind of a documentary. So I went undercover in several credit unions in different roles. I was a painter, I was a plant maintenance guy.

When I say plants, I mean like the little. The plants with leaves, you know.

Doug English: the green ones? Yeah.

Lee Silber: Yeah, the green ones. Thank you. Um, and I turned it into a documentary about all the good things I saw behind the scenes, and I went back and, um, some of the stories were so moving. There’s a, a credit union in San Diego called Cabrillo Credit Union, and one of their tellers on Friday would drive up to Los Angeles to be with her husband who was suffering from brain cancer.

And she would come back on Monday to work and she would be. Bright and cheery and um, but they said, you know, we really would wish we could give you, you know, she used up all her PTO time, so this credit union, they got together and said, we’re gonna form a new policy that allows us to gift our, our PTO to this teller.

And so that she could be with her husband and she. Uh, for, I don’t know, they maxed out. She was there while he went through treatment. Unfortunately, he passed away and she had time to grieve. But I love that credit unions, especially the smaller ones, can turn on a dime like that and do something that impactful, that meaningful, not just for the members but for each other.

Doug English: So, so tell me what, what’s the, what’s behind your book? Like, what causes you to be passionate enough about Credit Union Movement to write a book?

A Personal Story of Family and Inspiration

Lee Silber: So, I, uh, speak at credit union events and I always tell a story about my dad, how he was that member that would go into the credit union, get the free coffee and the, and the bagel every day.
And they loved my dad. My dad was a character. And so, um, he would go in and, uh, one of the, the, the branch manager said, uh, one day he went in and, uh, my dad was wearing a really nice Aloha shirt he got from Hawaii. And the guy says, Hey, I love your shirt Harvey. And my dad just gave it to him.

So, um, unfortunately my dad, yeah, my dad, uh, fell off a ladder and my brothers and I thought he, maybe he had, um. Punctured a lung or broke a rib, but after a whole day’s worth of tests on a Friday, they said Your dad has stage four lung cancer. He maybe has five days left to live. So I wrote my dad a long note saying how much I loved him, how much I learned from him, how much I was proud to be his son.

Um, and then I had to go give a speech. So while I was in the air, he passed away. Hmm. But in that time, my whole life, and while he knew he was dying, he never said, son, I’m proud of you. So at a celebration of life, the branch manager who had retired since the, my, the, the aloha shirt thing, ’cause he had Parkinson’s, he could barely speak, but he, he, he gave, he gave this great speech about my dad.

And then when he came off the stage, he pulled, he pulled me aside and says, you know, your dad was really proud of you. Um, he would buy all your books and give ’em away. And, uh, I thought, wow, I never would’ve known my dad was proud of me if this credit union branch manager hadn’t told me that. And that inspired me to say, well, maybe there’s more stories like this that I can share.

And that’s how it started. And I, I also, as an author of 27 books, I’ve been in the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series and I wanted to recreate that, but for credit unions, and that’s what I did. The Credit Union Way is kind of a chicken soup for the soul for credit unions.

How Credit Unions Differ from Banks

Doug English: So how, how does it, uh, how does it differentiate from non-credit unions? Like what’s the difference that, that you experienced or that you wrote in the book?

Lee Silber: Well, I mean the whole model of what a credit union is and their, their slogan, people helping people, and as a member, you’re a part owner and just, they always do the right thing. It’s almost, there was a old Star Trek episode where.
The whole premise on this planet was the more that you did for other people, the good deeds you did, the richer you became. So not how much money you had, but how many good things you did. And I thought, man, if that was a real, a real planet, I know the show was fake. I get that. But what it. This is about as close as you can get to that model.

And I thought, I wanna make sure that they are, that people realize that the credit union is a good choice for, for where they put their money. And the interesting thing is I hear from people, even today, I, I don’t know, uh, you know, do they do business loans? Um, you know, they just don’t understand the concept.

And so instead of, you know, going through the list of all the things credit unions do, I try and do it through stories.

Doug English: Yeah. Well, we’re gonna, I’m, I’m gonna try to extract some of your top stories, uh, uh, from, from you. So li like, uh, why don’t you, uh, when you think of the stories that you wrote in the book, let’s hear a couple of ’em. Tell us some inspirational credit union stories.

Stories of Tellers Going Above and Beyond

Lee Silber: Well, the tellers are the first, um, people you meet, right? I mean, so even though they’re not the highest paid, and they’re not, they don’t have that big titles, they’re important. And, um, sometimes when you’re a, a, a leader of a credit union, uh. You kind of, I think the frontline workers, I think undercover boss taught us this. They have some really great ideas.

So, uh, a woman came in with her three kids and she wanted to check on, uh, a deposit. Was it made, uh, overnight and it wasn’t. And the teller said, well. You know, you don’t need to come in, you could just use your phone. And she said, ah, my phone’s not working. Um, and, uh, she said, well, uh, why don’t you get a new phone? She says, oh, I can’t afford it. And she was just in tears.

And one of the, one of the three kids pulled the teller aside and, and said, uh, you know. Her mom was, uh, expecting this money from the dad who was kind of a deadbeat dad. Um, so the teller said to the mom, um, you know, why don’t you come back later? I don’t know if you know this, but we have a special, if you’ve been with the credit union for five years, you get $500.

And a new phone. And so she left with the kids and the teller next to her was like, what are you talking about? We don’t have a policy. She said, we do now. So, and ran into the branch manager and said, this is my idea. And she made that happen. The, the family came back. She had gotten her a phone. I mean, that kind of stuff doesn’t happen at banks, I don’t think.

And I think that’s a unique thing to credit unions where they care enough to make things like that happen.

The Human Touch vs. Digital Convenience

Doug English: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s, uh, it’s funny. In today’s world, that whole foundation of that experience was based on a member coming into a branch and having a branch relationship that is. I can’t tell you how when the last time I was in a credit union branch, right? All my banking is at a credit union, but I never go into the branch and I want, how do you, um, how do you see that changing? How does that human element play into this, uh, all digital world?

Lee Silber: Well, I always try and keep it positive, but I will say, um. Some of those human interactions are more important than how much time or money may be saved using some sort of artificial intelligence or some sort of automated system. There’s something about that one-on-one. And so smaller credit unions are still, you still go in.

I mean, here’s a story. So a guy comes into a credit unit in Montana, and I guess in Montana, everything’s far away. There’s no big place. Yeah. It’s a big place and big sky country, I think is what it’s called. Anyway, the, the fact is he went into the credit union and asked the teller, can you help me with my phone?

I don’t know how to set it up. It’s a new phone and I’m having trouble. And the way that the teller and the, the credit union looked at it like he trusts us enough. Yeah, come in here and ask us for, for that service in addition to being someone who came in. But so in cer certain places, the credit union is kind of a hub.

And when, uh, COVID hit my credit union outside of the credit union, they had a kind of a, an exchange where you could bring some, everyone was baking sourdough bread. I don’t know why, but they were. And so you could bring in something to give away and you could take something that you needed. It was a, it was a, a hub for the community.

When, and, and that human, we ought to get out of our house and walk to the, to the credit union and see people. That’s why it’s important to balance between what is the human element and what will save time and money that could end up. Turning off members who are used to that. Now I’m, you’re probably thinking, well, these are the older members, the younger members, gen Y and Gen Z.

They’re more comfortable with, you know, mobile apps and whatnot. But, um, even, you know, when you can automatically deposit a check, why would you go to the credit union? Sometimes there’s just something that you need to discuss and it’s so much better to see the,

Doug English: it’s the coffee. It’s the coffee. You went to coffee in the coffee?

Lee Silber: Yeah. Free coffee. Agreed.

Doug English: I mean, uh, time is so hard to come by, uh, in life, you know? And, and it’s like the idea of. Going to, uh, the credit union, deposit a check versus doing it remotely is just something I would, it’s just, it’s never gonna happen, right? It’s just not an option for, for, you know, people that sign up for too many things like me.

But, uh, I, I do imagine that there is a, uh, a portion of the membership that is still like that. The question, uh, is, is, is. The younger folks, and by younger, I would say 50 and under. Right? The younger credit union members, especially at the source of auto loans that drive the industry, like how do they, uh, how do, how do they have those experiences?

Are they having them in the old traditional way? Are they having them in new hybrid ways, whereas partially from, uh, technology and partially from in person. I mean, what do you think?

Experiments in Credit Union Branch Design

Lee Silber: Well. I’ve been to many, many credit unions in researching my book and speeches, but uh, I remember everyone was thinking of when Apple changed the way that you went into a retail store.

You could try things, right? That was a great experience, but they also didn’t have a cash wrap. Like they had someone with an iPad or a phone that would do the transaction. So you didn’t have to wait in the line. They would do it on the spot. So credit unions saw that, said, Ooh, that’s a great idea. My credit union tried that.

It didn’t really work. I, I don’t know what, for whatever reason they, they did away with it. Now I see credit unions that have like robots that kind of roam around or

Doug English: really? Wow.

Lee Silber: Yes, yes. And, uh, as much as I think it’s unique and neat, I wonder if that’ll be the same thing where we, we try it and we realize, you know, sometimes there’s no replacing.

The one-on-one where, like you said, when you’re getting a loan, uh, I mean you, you, you can ask questions in, in a human interact. I don’t know. I’m just, I’m old school, so maybe I am the one that would go into the credit union and want to meet. And talk to someone, whereas others don’t. But, uh, I know that, I find that experience when there’s a tragedy or something happens, a credit union is first on the scene.

So maybe it’s not just that we go to the credit unions, but the credit unions are out in the community doing great things. Mm-hmm. Robots don’t do that. People do that.

Doug English: Robots don’t yet. They don’t do it yet, Lee. Oh, come on. No, no. Um, so. Credit unions, uh, are, you’re pretty challenged to keep up with, uh, the pace of change, right?

Competing with Banks and Fintechs

AI is going at, at a, at a, at a order of magnitude every month, just massive, massive increases in change. And, you know, credit unions have, uh, struggled to be the, uh, primary financial institution. Right. It’s very difficult ’cause you’re not just competing against other banks, you’re competing against fintechs, uh, that can pop up in months and they can be just on your phone, super low cost of funds.

Uh, and they only know you through that interface. I mean, how, how do credit unions compete with that?

Lee Silber: Well, two things. Don’t, don’t let me forget to say something about the heart. But before that, I wanna say. Sometimes credit unions have an inferiority complex. Well, we’re smaller. We don’t have as much, you know, of everything.

But that’s, that’s the, that’s the good thing. We can turn around faster on an idea, right? We, we have that ability where, yeah, we have a board and you know, we have to run a, but sometimes that can be quick. Whereas a giant financial institution could take forever for them to make a change. So. The smallness and the quickness of credit unions should be celebrated.

The other thing is, if we can get people to stop thinking with their head and think with their heart, then their decisions are based on emotion and emotion. It’s a, it’s a tricky thing, but when you got someone and they say, I love. My credit unit, I would never think of going anywhere else. Yes, they have a lower interest rate over here.

Yes. This is maybe a little more convenient. There’s more at whatever the reason, if you get them in their, with their heart to think from an an emotional standpoint. It’s ’cause it’s not logical, it’s not numbers, it’s a feeling, right? It’s a loyalty, it’s a, it’s a trust that’s more valuable than, uh, you know, a higher, lower interest rate.

Whether you earn more or pay less, whatever, sometimes than the fact that they are in, in a, uh, a relationship, a long-term relationship and hopefully a monogamous relationship with their credit union. Well, and that’s a part of, gonna take that analogy.

Doug English: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, well, it seems like the key is. That they, they merge these things together.

AI Plus Human Connection

You know, I, I I, I, I think that the, the opportunity for the credit union movement, uh, with ai, uh, is to hu take, take the human element that the critical human element that you’re, that you wrote a book about and inter uh, lace that with tremendous knowledge of you, tremendous technical knowledge of what Lee Silver.

Wanted in the past, who his family members are, how long he took a loan out for, how often he keeps an auto loan for where his paycheck comes from, what’s going on with that employer. Uh, every possible data point that is in your database needs to be. Uh, in a, uh, a data warehouse organized by Lee’s name, accessible by the AI that when he interacts with the technology of the credit union, that, uh, AI is mining it to figure out how to deliver him the best possible member experience.

And ideally, it’s done by someone that has been in the branch that you know and trust that that’s the experience. I’m hoping that the credit union movement is going to be able to deliver.

Lee Silber: what you said. Yes, yes. I couldn’t say it any better. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. And you just made it more succinct and understandable as I rambled on.

Doug English: So, do you have a story? That’s what I was trying to get to. Tell me a story about that, Lee, have you got a story about that happening?

A Member’s Story of Loyalty and Trust

Lee Silber: Yeah, so the, the, um. A woman came in and she wanted to get, uh, open an account for her dogs. I mean, she loved her dogs. Loved her dogs. It sounds interesting. Yes. And the, the branch manager, you know, oh well, the teller said, well, we, we tactically a dog is a property and that just, the lady lost it.

And so the branch manager came out and said, who? They know each other. Like this lady had been at the credit union for so long and the branch manager had worked her way up. They knew each other. So she said, come on, come into my office and we’ll, we’ll talk this through. It turns out that the, uh, owner of the dogs and the longtime member was, was dying and so she wanted to make sure her dogs were taken care of, and so the branch manager knew the dogs and she said.

I’ll be your executor of, you know, I’ll, if something happens. This what kind of a close relationship some people have with their credit unions. So she agreed to open an an account that would pay for, you know, any long-term care for the dogs after she passes and she would. Monitor it. I, I’m not exactly sure the, the, the technical terms of it.

Yeah. But she, she, she knew, she knew what this person needed to hear, wanted to hear, and she met her where she was and understood, you know, listened and understood and made her, when she walked out of the C Credit Union, feel a lot better about. Everything. In fact, one of the things that the credit union started doing after this woman said, dogs are property is they some of the tellers volunteer to train young dogs to become service dogs.

And that’s part of something that they, they do as a, as a, a service to the community. I mean, who does that? A credit union does that, right? I, I can’t imagine another company that has this situation and, you know, opens an account, takes care of the dogs. I mean, it’s just, it’s heartwarming. And, uh, I, I feel that, like I said, if you get people with their hearts, you don’t have to worry so much about, you know, the numbers.

Doug English: Yeah, I, I, I would posit that you need both. You, you, you must be 24 7. You must be accurate. You must be fast and have the heart, and that’s how you win. Yeah. Because you, you, you know, you you’re gonna struggle to keep up with the fintechs. Uh, you struggle to keep up with the scale players in the financial institutions, but you can.

Win the hearts. You must win. You have to at least keep pace with the technology and maybe you, you differentiate and, and win on the hearts and not on rate every time. Right? Yeah.

Lee Silber: And usually the rates are close, I mean, right? Or Yeah. It’s not like there’s a big difference and it, if you have two choices and one, my parents were members and I’m a member and I, uh, they treat me well and I know I can trust them versus, you know, for a half a percent.

It’s not, it’s a no brainer. You’re gonna stick with the credit union. Yeah.

Doug English: And they know me. They know me. Yes. I think that’s the key is that they, you feel known and I I I, I think that today and especially maybe tomorrow, the expectation for how well they know you is gonna just be much, much higher. They, they, you know, all those things that I described a minute ago about what is already in their database, that should be.

Known when you walk, uh, in the branch and are, are, are, are waiting for a member service rep that I think that’s table stakes very soon. Uh, and, and, uh, I hope that the emotional connection that you are calling out, uh, in your book, uh, can be superpowered with the technological must win. Uh, that. Uh, again, table stakes in the financial institutions, um, space, uh, in, in my opinion.

Doug English: So, uh, Lee, one last story of, of, uh, credit Union win. Uh, and then tell us, uh, where, uh, our listeners can find your book.

A Historical Story from Pearl Harbor

Lee Silber: Sure. So the book has all kinds of great stories, and I, and they’re like my children. I don’t wanna pick one and say that’s my favorite story. But, um, there is one story that I think, uh, kind of exemplifies everything we all know on December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed and, uh.

There was a credit union there. Uh, it still exists today, but in, in, in the hangar in at, uh, Hickum Field and all the service members would go in and you’d have a, a pass book i I or bank book, so that you’d put your bank book in on a Friday and on Tuesday your all, it would all be updated with how much you, you would earn your deposits.

So anyway, so on December 7th, the, the branch manager heard the attacks and he lived a couple blocks away, so he ran. To the fire, ran to the, uh, planes coming in and wanted to save the deposits, the money and save all the bank books. And as he ran towards the credit union, he was killed. He was gunned down by, uh, an enemy fighter plane and I thought.

Wow. You know, who, who else would go to that? Would, would take that kind, would take that kind of a risk, would be that passionate about credit unions. Uh, PW Eldridge was his name and it’s, um, uh, the credit union is Hick Hickum Federal Credit Union. So it still exists today. But the point is that kind of a person, I find the people that are that bank, bank with the credit union and the people that work there.

There’s something about them. They’re just good people, right? They’re just good people and they’re willing to, to stick up for people in their community. They, they go the extra mile. And so that story, um, is one of my favorites. One of my favorites. There’s a whole bunch of ’em. The book is available on Amazon.

It’s called The Credit Union Way. It was a labor of. Uh, after I would give a speech, people would come and tell me their stories about their credit unions and how when they were, uh, financially in trouble or a catastrophe happened or something that the cran unions stuck by ’em and they’ll never forget that.

And that’s the heart that I’ve been trying to talk about. Sometimes it’s not a financial decision, it’s a emotional one. And credit union’s always gonna win that one.

Closing Thoughts and Farewell

Doug English: And, and it is interesting that you make the case for smaller is better ’cause so much of. So much of technology is a scale game. You need these massive resources to pull off, uh, you know, the complex technology that is required today.

But, uh, you make the case that that personal interaction has no substitute. Uh, and the small credit union has an advantage. It’s just. The advantage is in that personal connection, and that’s what you can read about in the Credit Union Way available on Amazon right now. So Lee, uh, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you for being a part of the credit union movement and supporting, uh, the beautiful things that this movement does. I will, uh, wish you, wish you much, uh, success and hope to see you on the main stage at GAC uh, 2026.

Lee Silber: Okay, thank you.