Last week I asked what you'd automate first. Most of you said loan document review. Makes sense, it's where the hours go.
Meanwhile, a new study out this week found that members who recently left a credit union were 122% more likely to want chat support than the average consumer. That number has been sitting with me since I read it.
That's what this issue is about.
TRENDING AI NEWS FOR CU
Your members didn't leave over rates.
A new PYMNTS Intelligence report surveyed 500 CU executives and nearly 14,000 consumers. The institutions gaining ground aren't the largest ones. They're the ones moving fastest on member-facing technology. Members who recently left show 122% higher demand for chat support than those who stayed.
Why it matters for your CU: The conversation most CUs never have with departing members would reveal a technology gap, not a rates gap.
Your contact center staff aren't burned out. They're bored.
Industry turnover runs 30 to 45% annually. Average tenure has dropped to 13 to 15 months. Replacing one agent costs between $10,000 and $20,000. Greater Texas Federal Credit Union's HR team shared this week how moving repetitive work off staff plates is changing that.
Why it matters for your CU: Staff stay longer when the job gets better.
June 22 is coming. Is your ACH program ready?
NACHA's Phase 2 fraud monitoring rules take effect June 22. Phase 2 removes the volume threshold, meaning every RDFI and non-consumer originator regardless of size needs documented fraud monitoring in place. A new category called False Pretenses now explicitly covers business email compromise and payroll redirection.
Why it matters for your CU: Phase 1 only applied to high-volume originators. Phase 2 applies to everyone. If you assumed this didn't affect your CU, it does now.
DEEP DIVE
The retention problem hiding in your data gap
Only 11% of credit unions rate their own data strategy as very effective. That gap is what makes the 122% number real. Your members wanted something you weren't set up to deliver, yet.
The CUs moving forward on this didn't wait for a perfect technology roadmap. Someone in leadership got curious about what a member actually goes through when they call in mid-afternoon, and that conversation led somewhere. Usually, to a pretty humbling realization, and then to a pilot.
Your trust numbers are something most financial institutions would trade a lot for. 85% of consumers see credit unions as a good source of financial advice. 63% of your own members would show up to an education class on this if you offered one. That's a membership that wants to come with you on this; they just need to see you moving.
The institutions gaining ground right now aren't the ones with the biggest technology budgets. They're the ones where someone decided that the gap between what members expect and what they actually experience was worth closing this year.
Three things to do this week:
Have someone call your contact center on a regular Tuesday afternoon. Time it. That experience is your baseline.
Rate your data strategy honestly with your team and where it actually is.
Pick the one member moment you've been meaning to improve. Start there.
FROM MULTIMODAL
Multimodal and Filene are building the evidence base for agentic AI in credit unions.
The Filene FiLab Agentic AI Discovery Test is running through July 2026. A cohort of credit unions is co-designing proof-of-concept workflows with Multimodal across lending, onboarding, and servicing. Findings go to the whole industry, not just participants.
If your board is asking questions you don't have answers to yet, this is worth a conversation.
Data point this week
$40 Billion
Projected US fraud losses by 2027, up from $12.3 billion in 2023. Fraudsters are now using deepfakes and voice cloning to impersonate members and loan officers, and most CU fraud stacks weren't built for that.
Source: Deloitte Center for Financial Services via America's Credit Unions
ONE QUESTION FOR YOU
What's the one thing your members ask for that you can't deliver yet?
Hit reply. The best answer will show up in next week’s issue.
