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If I told you I have a podcast where a credit union executive tells you about high rates on CDs, free checking, and super cheap new car loans, how quickly would you turn the dial and give a listen to Joe Rogan?

Right, you know the answer.

So I will tell you what I really have is a fascinating podcast with Josh Rodriguez at West Community Credit Union in Missouri, an institution approaching a half billion in assets.

That’s because Rodriguez is doing things I’ve never heard about at credit unions.

But keep in mind on LinkedIn he identifies himself as Innovator/CU Professional/Storyteller.

I met Rodriguez at the CU 2.0 Live event in Arizona in June and when he told me he is a storyteller I knew I had to get him on this show. I had never before encountered a credit union executive who said he/she is a storyteller.

And you know…stories are the most powerful form of communication.

In this show, Rodriguez talks about why stories are so potent, he also talks about a creative content package he has developed to help West Community’s employees better know the execs in the c-suite…and maybe also do some thinking about their own career development.

And then he drops the bomb that West Community has planned a series of podcasts where members will tell their stories about their relationship with the credit union. You have to hear how Rodriguez describes this project - and hear, too, the passionate excitement in his voice as he opens his playbook.

Here's the website for these shows http://bankingonyoupodcast.com/

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Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Keith Leggett is a name that used to provoke cursing by usually mild mannered credit union executives - and so here he is again in a CU 2.0 Golden Oldies podcast.

Leggett has retired from the American Bankers Association, where he was chief economist, and he also has put -30- on his Credit Union Watch blog but this show from the archives is well worth a listen in 2025 because it focuses on credit union - bank mergers and also on credit union tax exemption. Two issues that are even bigger headlines now.

In the show we discuss Maine Harvest, an innovative credit union idea that alas merged with Five County Credit Union in 2022.

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Could this really be the end?

For going on 20 years I have heard screams - usually emanating from one trade group - that the credit union tax exemption was in peril. I thought that was a terrific membership renewal hook but didn’t seen any likelihood of passage.

This year is different. This year the threat is real. On the show is Jason Stverak,, chief advocacy officer at DCUC, the Defense Credit Union Council, whose membership includes the nation’s biggest credit unions but also smaller ones too. All primarily serve military, active duty and retirees.

DCUC has not been the association with a long history of yelling about tax exemption.

But Stverak says that indeed the threat is real.

He also explains what the impacts on DCUC credit unions would be were the tax exemption to go away. And the impacts would be sizable and harmful, both to credit union members and the communities in which DCUC members operate.

In a recent show, onetime Bethpage CEO Kirk Kodeeski warned that if credit unions lost the ax exemption their business model would be shattered.

On this show we hear exactly what that would mean for defense related credit unions.

It’s ugly.

By the way, how much money do you think would be saved were the tax exemption to go away?

Three billion dollars.

That is chump change in today’s Washington DC.

Hear how DCUC is fighting back in this show.

By the way, four years ago DCUC CEO Tony Hernandez (US Air Force retired) was on the show. Hear his episode here.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto