Grant Sheehan CCUE | CCUP | CEO, NCOFCU
The Breach Between Purpose and Experience
Just recently, I came across a story that has stayed with me.
It wasn’t dramatic in the traditional sense. There was no scandal, no
crisis, no headline-grabbing failure. In fact, it was something much quieter
than that.
It was simply the story of an eighteen-year-old leaving his credit union.
On the surface, that might not sound remarkable. Young people move their
money frequently. They open new accounts, experiment with apps, follow
trends, and often make financial decisions influenced by the digital tools at
their disposal.
But this story was different.
This young man had been a credit union member since he was a few weeks
old, as many credit unions do.
His mother has spent her career working inside the credit union movement
as an executive.
For eighteen years, his financial life was connected to a credit union.
If anyone might be expected to remain a lifelong member, it would be someone
like him.
Yet one day, he decided to move his money.
Not to a traditional bank.
To a fintech company: SoFi.
A Familiar Beginning
The story began the way many young financial journeys do today.
The young man was preparing to leave for college. Like many students
standing at the edge of adulthood, he had begun thinking more seriously about
money. He had been working long hours and saving what he could.
More importantly, he had begun researching how to make that money work
for him.
His classroom, however, was not a lecture hall or a financial planning
seminar.
It was TikTok.
Whether older generations approve of it or not, social media platforms
have quietly become a source of financial education for many young people.
Short videos about investing, saving strategies, retirement accounts, and
digital assets circulate widely among younger audiences.
After several weeks of research, he arrived at a simple plan. He wanted
to begin building his financial foundation using four tools:
- A high-yield savings account
- A Roth IRA
- A brokerage account
- And a small cryptocurrency
investment
For someone just entering adulthood, it was a thoughtful and surprisingly
disciplined approach.
He told his mother that he was considering moving his savings from the
credit union to SoFi or American Express to obtain a higher savings
rate. For investing, he was considering opening a brokerage account with
Fidelity.
His mother suggested something many parents in the industry might
recommend.
Before making the move, she encouraged him to meet with the credit
union’s financial advisor.
He agreed.
A Reasonable Conversation
The meeting went well.
The advisor explained investment strategies and helped him better
understand how brokerage accounts and retirement investing worked. It was a
useful conversation and a reminder of the human guidance that credit unions
often pride themselves on providing.
Afterward, he returned home with his mother and did something simple but
revealing.
They compared the options.
Side by side.
- Products
- Rates
- Access
- Control
- And the overall experience of managing the accounts.
When they finished, the outcome was clear.
The credit union had lost.
And not by a small margin.
The Numbers
The first comparison was the high-yield savings account.
- The credit union offered a rate of 1.25 percent.
- SoFi offered 3.3 percent, with the possibility of 4 percent
when paired with direct deposit.
For someone trying to grow savings over time, the difference was
difficult to ignore.
Next came the Roth IRA.
At the credit union, the available options leaned toward traditional savings products and certificates of deposit. But he wanted the ability to invest the funds.
That meant using a separate investment platform.
- A different login.
- A different application.
- And deposits that required coordination with the financial advisor.
For a college student balancing practices, travel schedules, classes, and
part-time work, the process felt restrictive. He wanted the ability to invest
when he had money available—not only during business hours or through
intermediary steps.
The brokerage account presented similar complications.
Again, it existed on a separate platform. There was no integrated view connecting it to his primary accounts. Transfers were not seamless, and visibility across accounts was limited.
Finally, there was cryptocurrency.
- The credit union did not offer any option at all.
Whether one views cryptocurrency as a legitimate investment or a
speculative trend is beside the point. For younger generations, it has become
part of the broader financial conversation.
From his perspective, the absence of any option felt like a missing
piece.
The Experience
If the comparison had ended with products and rates alone, the decision
might still have been difficult.
But the largest difference appeared when they examined the experience.
SoFi offered something the credit union did not: a single digital
environment where everything could be seen and managed in one place.
From one mobile application, he could view:
- His spending activity
- His savings progress
- His investments
- His net worth
- His credit score
Even more surprising, the application allowed him to link and monitor his
credit union accounts within the SoFi dashboard.
In effect, a fintech platform provided him with better visibility into his credit union's finances than the credit union itself.
The onboarding process only reinforced the difference.
Within roughly twenty minutes, he was able to:
- Open a new account
- Link his existing credit union
accounts
- Receive a digital card
- Transfer funds
- Open a Roth IRA
- Set up a brokerage account
- Purchase a small amount of
cryptocurrency
All of it occurred through a single interface.
- · No branch visit.
- · No paperwork.
- · No waiting.
SoFi had surpassed the credit union in two critical areas at once.
It offered higher rates and a superior digital experience.
It was the "death blow.”
The credit union had simply failed to meet his expectations.
A Larger Lesson
The significance of this story extends far beyond a single young member
changing institutions.
For decades, credit unions have often compared themselves primarily to
nearby banks. Success was measured by service quality, community relationships,
and member trust.
But the competitive landscape has shifted.
Younger consumers are not comparing their credit union to the bank across
town.
They are comparing it to the best digital experiences they encounter
every day.
- Amazon.
- Apple.
- Cash App.
- Robinhood.
- SoFi.
Those companies define the standard for convenience, transparency, and
immediacy.
And it brings to mind a well-known observation from business leader Jack
Welch:
“When the rate of change outside an organization exceeds the rate of
change inside, the end is near.”
Credit unions continue to possess qualities that fintech companies
struggle to replicate.
They have trust, community ties, and a mission grounded
in service rather than profit.
Yet purpose alone cannot compensate for an experience that feels
fragmented or outdated.
Members, especially younger ones, rarely remain loyal to inconvenience.
Closing the Breach
The encouraging reality is that the challenge revealed by this story is
not insurmountable.
Credit unions do not need to abandon their mission.
If anything, that mission is more valuable than ever.
But the experience surrounding that mission must evolve.
The financial lives of modern members are complex and interconnected.
They expect to see their money, investments, and financial progress in one
place. They expect tools that allow them to move quickly, learn continuously,
and act whenever opportunity arises.
The world outside the movement is moving rapidly in that direction.
And if an eighteen-year-old who grew up inside the credit union system
can leave in the span of twenty minutes…
It is worth asking how difficult it may be to attract someone who has
never experienced the movement at all.
Closing that breach—between purpose and experience—may be one of the most
important challenges credit unions face in the years ahead.
Author's note: This could have been my story! I have been involved in credit unions for over 40 years as a director, CEO, and founder of NCOFCU, and my 45-year-old son banks with American Express for all the same reasons!
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