May 7, 2025 • 26 mins
What happens when credit union mortgage leaders gather in beautiful Savannah, Georgia? Rich conversation, valuable insights, and a reminder of why collaboration matters now more than ever.
The latest episode of the ONpoint podcast takes you behind the scenes at ACUMA's 2025 FOCALpoint Workshop. Host Peter Benjamin sits down with Natalie Bozeka, Director of Retail Mortgage Operations with Wright-Patt Credit Union, and Chuck Stiles, VP of Mortgage with Palmetto Citizens Federal Credit Union, to capture their workshop experience.
Between bites of the city's famous she-crab soup (which both guests agreed was extraordinary), these mortgage professionals reveal what makes credit union-focused events valuable. The conversation highlights how volume-based roundtable discussions—rather than traditional asset-size groupings—create meaningful connections between credit unions facing similar operational challenges. "You get that automatic feedback from other people," Natalie explains, describing how these specialized discussions help credit unions navigate everything from LOS affordability to staffing constraints.
As regulatory pressures mount, education becomes increasingly crucial. Chuck expresses concern about the rapidly changing compliance landscape: "I'm glad ACUMA is trying to help us stay on top of it...because it's frightening." The guests share how they're adopting AI tools like ChatGPT and Grammarly to navigate complex guidelines and streamline operations, presenting a forward-looking approach to mortgage management.
Perhaps most compelling is their passionate call for advocacy. "If we don't all come together to advocate for ourselves, we will not survive," Chuck emphasizes. The conversation underscores how credit unions must educate lawmakers about their unique community focus before making regulatory decisions.
Ready to join this collaborative community? Listen now to understand why these mortgage leaders believe investing in education and building professional relationships remain essential for credit union success in today's challenging environment. Tune in now!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The views and opinions expressed in this
podcast do not necessarilyreflect the views or positions
of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff or its
members.
The podcast discussionpresented is conversational in
nature and for generalinformation only.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Hello, welcome to Actors On Point Podcast, a
series focused on sharing thestories of people who are making
a positive impact in the creditunion mortgage industry.
I'm your host, Peter Benjamin,Live from our 2025 Focal Point
Workshop in beautiful Savannah,Georgia.
I am joined by Natalie Bozica,Director of Retail Mortgage
Operations with RightPak CreditUnion, and Chuck Stiles, VP of
(00:52):
Mortgage with Palmetto CitizensFederal Credit Union.
Natalie, Chuck, how are y'alldoing today?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Doing.
Great Thanks for having us.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, doing wonderful .
Oh, my pleasure, my pleasure.
So you know, like we have donein years past, you know, we're
on site, on location, justhaving a friendly little
conversation about yourexperience at the workshop.
Now you know, chuck, this isyour first time, you know,
jumping you into the workshop.
(01:19):
It was quite a hazing yesterday.
I think it was a really goodtime.
We started off with a prettyawesome networking event at
least I thought so.
So first question out of thebat, and it's really the first
series of questions I ask at allof these live in-person
podcasts but experience so far,whether it's at the workshop or
(01:43):
even in savannah, georgia, youknow, since, chuck, you're the
newbie, what are your thoughtsso far about the workshop and
savannah?
Speaker 5 (01:53):
um, the workshop's been great.
Um, this is our firstexperience, uh, with acuma.
Um, and I'm I come to savannaha good bit, so very familiar
with with Savannah.
I live three hours up the road,columbia, south Carolina, here.
A lot Been to several otherconferences here.
It's a great city, loveSavannah, but so far the
(02:15):
conference has been awesome.
Yeah, I brought two otherpeople to participate.
Another person came down tokind of hang out with us and see
what Acuma was all about and sofar it's been great.
It's been a great experiencefor everybody.
Natalie.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
So this is my first time in Savannah and so it's
been a great first experience.
You guys chose an amazing venue.
This is my fourth conferencewith Acuma and I've really
enjoyed it so far, been a lot ofgreat content, getting to
connect with new people thathaven't necessarily been at the
(02:53):
other workshops I've been to, soI've enjoyed it so far.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, I mean I've never been to Savannah, it's been on
my bucket list to visit.
And one it's a beautiful city,it's absolutely charming.
And one I think you get lost init quite easily.
But two you really can justimmerse yourself in the culture,
(03:20):
but also the food scene.
I mean you could trip and fallinto a good restaurant quite
easily, but then when you lookat the hotel that we're staying,
in this hotel is awesome.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
And several of us were discussing that the food
here is so good that lunch wasdelicious.
It felt like a restaurant lunch.
It was so good.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
Yeah, the she-crab soup.
I highly recommend that.
Yeah that, have that again.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I've had probably she-crab soup pretty much at
every meal that I've had whilein.
Savannah and that was probablythe best she-crab soup I've had
while in town so far.
Big hunks of crab.
Speaker 5 (04:03):
Oh yeah, it was delicious.
It's hard to talk about that at8 15 in the morning nobody can
tell their their mouths arewatered.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
I have that for breakfast I would have eaten it
for breakfast, if it had beenavailable absolutely hands down,
hands down, all right.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Next question up, next question up.
So sights to the actual youknow workshop itself.
I mean, obviously we justknocked through you know day one
and you know I you know.
Obviously you know the team andI put together the agenda, so,
but from an outsider looking inand really the one who's
(04:40):
moderating it.
I love the energy from what Isaw yesterday, but I'd love to
get your perspectives from dayone, the agenda, your thoughts,
your favorite sessions, yourbiggest takeaways from yesterday
.
We had a huge variety ofspeakers yesterday, but it was
(05:04):
also a lot of interaction, so Iwelcome your thoughts.
Natalie, we'll start with you.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Yeah, you kind of took the words right out of my
mouth saying there's a good mixof, you know, having speakers
come in that have expertise in alot of different areas and then
getting to do that likenetworking roundtable type of
situation.
So I would say my favorite wasthe breakout group to discuss
benchmarking with other creditunions in your similar volume
(05:33):
level.
You just kind of get thatautomatic feedback from other
people and, honestly, ira did areally great job of moderating
for us.
He really kept the conversationmoving.
He asked questions that pulledout information from the team
members that were there.
So that was probably myfavorite part just getting to
(05:56):
connect with the other creditunions that were in that volume
level same as us.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think it was a member that asked for it about
three years ago and we thoughtit was such a brilliant idea
that we take the roundtable ideaand then we take it to the
micro level and we group all ofour members into that volume
level and we'll see what happens, right, and it ends up being
(06:27):
something really special whereyou can connect more intimately
and I think that's anappropriate word because you
relate quite well.
Credit unions across the nationcan relate to a lot of the same
issues.
So credit unions across thenation can relate to a lot of
the same issues.
It doesn't matter if you are a$500 million credit union or
(06:51):
Navy Federal we all know how bigNavy Federal is but you all go
through the same issues, right.
But when it comes to the samevolume class, that's where it
really becomes okay.
Well, how do we really originatemortgages?
How do we really make a namefor ourselves in our market?
Not only that, how do we afforda certain los?
(07:13):
How do we, you know, balancethe need to grow our mortgage
division with an x number of losthat we can afford, etc.
So you, so that's where I thinkthese volume-based groups are
so special, and I'm glad thatyou walked away and it found
that very valuable, chuck.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Yeah, so let me start by saying there was not a bad
session.
So everything, and I've been tohundreds of conferences in my
short young career.
That's right In yourfive-year-old career.
right, that's right I startedmortgage banking when I was 12.
But I do agree the breakoutsession, organizing it by volume
(08:02):
mortgage volume specific isgood.
I've been to some where theyorganize it by asset size and
that doesn't always work as well, so I thought that was great.
I also I'm a geek aboutpolitics, so I loved both the
Economist and the politicalupdate and the panel.
(08:23):
To your point, Peter, we canlearn from all our people but
PenFed being up on stage andlearning from where they are now
and what they do and how theywe were really happy to hear
that our process is pretty muchthe same as theirs on a loan,
right, we went through loanprocessing and it's similar.
(08:46):
So if it works for Penn Fed,it's probably going to still
work for Palmetto Citizens,right?
So I thought that was great andmy mortgage operations manager
is here with us and she made somany contacts.
Yesterday she got a stack ofbusiness cards and talked to so
many people.
So that is a big part of whatthis is about.
(09:07):
It's always been what thecredit union is about.
The phone a friend comment wasmade yesterday in the panel
discussion that really holdstrue and we're continuing to
learn that and continue to buildon that for us.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Yeah, I mean I've known Mary Rizzitlo from PenFed
probably at this point in timefor 12 years and she has always
been someone who I could relyupon as that even keel person or
that guiding light inoperations to really kind of
(09:41):
help you point the way.
And when I saw that sheregistered for this event I was
like I got to put her on stagelike hands down.
Not only does she work forPenFed and you know, penfed, you
know, is obviously that youknow one of the biggest of the
big but two people want to knowwhat they're doing because
(10:07):
they're kind of that anomalyright.
And when she agreed I was likethis is going to be awesome.
So I'm glad that you walkedaway with that.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That's awesome.
Can I add a plug, please?
Yeah, that that's awesome, so,can I?
Can I add a plug?
Yeah, so we brought up thevolume based meetings and I I
thought those were awesomebecause those things, um, those
meetings, came from annual, asPeter mentioned.
As Peter mentioned, thosethings came from annual.
So it was like one of thosethings where we took that idea
and then brought it full circle.
Now they're at the workshopsand the in-person ones are just
(10:36):
super special.
But it's also we have ourvolume-based meetings that are
now happening virtually.
So just for those that weren'table to make it to the workshops
and don't get to make it toannual.
Those things are happening on aquarterly basis and our next
one's coming up in a couple ofweeks, may 14th, may 14th, may
14th oh, that's one week, nottwo.
One week, exactly seven days.
(10:58):
Exactly seven days.
I had to look down my watch.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Where is time going?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I know that's why I'm like it's been two Christmas,
by the way.
Oh my gosh, I'll wait for all.
Seriously, thank you for thatplug.
I actually did that same plugyesterday because it's like know
they're slow, they're.
Those roundtables are slowlystarting to get momentum
virtually.
They have a great reception inperson, but they're slowly
(11:23):
starting to get momentumvirtually and we see how special
they are in person.
We know they're going to besomething amazing virtually.
We just gotta get more peopleto come to them.
So, yeah, the part is, we get alot of people register for them
attending is the tough part.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I mean it just shows that all of our credit union
folks and qso folks are justbusy yeah, nothing wrong being
busy, all right.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So next question setting our sights to today.
Obviously, another jam-packedschedule, but also an agenda
that is one that I'm reallyexcited for.
So, as we look at the agenda,what's something that you're
looking forward to today outsideof being done?
Speaker 5 (12:10):
I'm not looking forward to being done.
I have a three-hour drive.
Again the collaboration.
I'm looking forward to the bigpicture, big group.
I don't think we're going toget into small groups as much
today, if that's correct.
If I heard you correctlyyesterday, I think we're gonna
have a big group at the end,right is it?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
today we'll take the information that we kind of
dissected from the collaborationand kind of come together as
the big group but then in thevery last session, in which is
the round table, we will focuson our individual tables.
So, yeah, smaller, just smallergroup discussions.
(12:48):
So if you're sitting at thetable with your team, I'd
recommend.
Thanks, sorry, yeah, we didthat yesterday.
We all split up, good, good,I'm sorry.
I hate to cut off track.
I know people can't see thisbecause this is all audio, but
that picture totally justtripped me out.
That is not a picture, no, it'smoving.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
I'm sorry, it's all good.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
I see it now.
It is moving.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's strange.
We know this place is haunted,that's all good, I see it, now
it is moving.
I was like that's strange weknow this place is haunted.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Yeah, no, that's not a joke.
Is it a frame TV?
Is it one of those?
It is.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
I think it's raining.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
It is, it's got a it is.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I think it's one of those frame.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
TVs.
It is one of those frame TVs.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
It is one of those frame TVs.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
I was like whoa, whoa , whoa.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I was like, is that one of those haunted pictures?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I'm just saying if water starts leaking from it on
the wall.
Speaker 5 (13:42):
We have a problem.
To the serious topic of water.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Back to what we're talking about.
Back to what we're talkingabout.
All right, what's our favoritepart of today?
What are you?
Speaker 5 (13:50):
looking forward to.
One of the main things we werelooking for how how we got to
acuma was um kind of complianceand supervisory stuff and all
that and and, as was brought upyesterday, um, there could be 10
new, uh, executive ordersbefore we start the thing in in
25 minutes, so listen to thewatch the tweets three
(14:12):
priorities in this environment.
Um, it's hard and I'm glad we'regonna be talking about it.
I'm glad acumen is trying tohelp us stay on top of it.
Uh, because it's it'sfrightening.
It is, um, I am worried, asthey talked yesterday, about the
pendulum swinging.
It's already swung too far oneway and five years from now,
(14:34):
when we have other people incharge, it's going to swing back
too far the other way and it'snot a way to help us run
businesses.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
So I'm glad we're talking about it.
I actually have in my email,which I'm very far behind.
I actually have an update toour executive order tracker.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
I'm sure you do.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
I'll get it in the morning and read it or I love
that, I'm sure you do.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I'll get it in the morning and read it.
I need to.
I need to view it and post itto our community because I it's
there is an update.
There is nothing actually.
I had an update last week butthere was actually no update.
It was just a refresh.
I was like I'm not gonna postno update, but there is an
update this week, so we'll seewhat happens.
I haven't.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Yeah, it's all great, all fun stuff, all right,
natalie I mean I have to, um,agree with chuck on the
supervisory, like education,because it's just kind of what
they talked about yesterday.
Everything is just changing soquickly, um, and trying to get
in front of that it it's a bigdeal.
The other kind of specificthing to write, pat, is we are
(15:39):
approaching 10 billion in assets, so CFPB may or may not be
coming in and how they're comingin.
So there's a lot, you know,going on in that space too for
us.
So I really, as maybe boring assome people think compliance is
, it's just so important for usto know what's going on and I
really appreciate that Acumakind of prioritizes that and
(16:03):
make sure that that's part oftheir agenda at every workshop
I've been to.
And I will say, specifically onthe AI, I'm someone that really
hasn't gone down that path, soI'm kind of hoping like this is
like this is going to be ajumping off for me where I need
to get with it.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
Chat.
Gpt is awesome.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
I literally never used it.
I'm embarrassed to say that.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
And I will say, like compliance stuff, the um, I
don't want to the Google one Idon't remember what it's called,
but the one that's now onGoogle Gemini.
Thank you, gemini.
If you're specific, it willgive you the right answer.
What are the Fannie Maeguidelines on X?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I just typed that into the search bar.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
I know, but the AI thing gives it to you in normal
language pretty quickly, and thefirst thing is or you can can
say will Fannie Mae allow you toX?
And the answer will be yes, andthen it'll have the guidelines
below it is.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
it's so cool you're convincing me, chuck.
I'm gonna give it a go.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
We use AI pretty much every single day.
We have chat.
We also have a system calledGrammarly which it literally
edits all of our documents forus, which is vital because we
write a lot.
Just a little bit just a littlebit.
So it's it's.
And the one thing I like aboutGrammarly is that it edits for
(17:31):
your individual tone.
That's awesome so it learns howI write and how I talk and the
way I prefer to write um, whichis amazing.
But then we're also trying toget something called ask bob for
all of our members, and it'sbasically what you just talked
about.
It's it will be.
You could ask Bob anything likewhat is Freddie Mac's guideline
(17:57):
or Fannie Mae's guideline onthis?
And Bob is going to tell youand it's going to be on Acuma's
website.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
So it's going to be awesome, there you go, if Acuma
approves of it, natalie.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
I know I know it's going to be free fall for
numbers.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
That's right.
So it's soon to come.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's a tool.
Now, honestly, the number ofpeople that have said that they
don't use any kind of AI, butthen they go.
Well, I did make an AI headshot, or I made myself into an AI
action figure.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
I actually haven't even done that.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
You never said hey, Siri.
The team made ourselves into AIsuperheroes.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Love that.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah, it's awesome.
All right guys.
Just to kind of wrap up lastquestion, and I'm going to start
with Natalie You've been comingto these events and you kind of
hinted at it, but I'm going toask the question anyways.
I think it's still important toask you keep coming back.
(18:59):
The real question is, why doyou keep coming back and why
should people come to Acma whoare still on that fence?
But more importantly, I saidyesterday in my opening remarks,
when tough times hit us, creditunions and and really any
everyone, every organization,tends to cut back on education.
(19:22):
But why is it now, more thanever, so important for people to
really invest in in thateducation double down and it's
still come to like these typesof events.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely just um, just number
one.
I think it helps leaders ontheir personal journey, but you
can just bring so muchinformation back to your credit
union, kind of like you'retalking about.
Yeah, you can, you can go tothe online offerings and I and I
do, and I think they're greatbut there's just something
different about being in person,you know, with different credit
(19:54):
unions, again from across thecountry, like I'm from Ohio.
So when else am I maybe goingto have the opportunity to meet
people from South Carolina,alabama, like all the different
areas that come here?
And I also just think Acuma doesa great job of mixing, like
true education with thecollaboration and you know we've
we've touched on it alreadyseveral times, but credit unions
(20:18):
are just so collaborative andto be able to have that real
time feedback from other peopleand then take that back with you
.
One thing that I have kind ofchallenged myself to do is,
every time I leave an Acumaworkshop with some business
cards, I make sure I reach outto at least one or two of those
(20:38):
people and we set up time totalk about things that maybe we
didn't get to dive as deep intoas we wanted to at the workshop.
So I'm like developing thoserelationships and maintaining
them so that you have that calla friend, and I just think Acuma
gives a great opportunity to dothat at their events.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Ditto what she said.
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I mean.
So you are.
You're coming into this withyou know, fresh eyes, fresh
perspective.
It's your first time.
It's your first time as the newperson.
Why would you say, hey, this isthe reason why you need to join
Acme.
This is the reason why youreally need to come to these
types of events.
They're different than everyoneelse's thoughts.
Speaker 5 (21:29):
Yeah, they are.
So my background mortgagebusiness, a little over 25 years
, just came over in August oflast year from the dark side and
we've all been there.
But I've also been veryinvolved with MBA, which is not
(21:55):
necessarily the dark side,although they can tend to lean
that way.
Advocacy is huge and if wedon't all come together to
advocate for ourselves, we willnot survive or we'll have to
change in a way we don't want tochange.
We talked about the I'm noteven going to call it the big
beautiful, whatever they call it, but the budget that may or may
(22:18):
not come out this week.
The big beautiful bill.
It's not going to be that.
The big beautiful, whateverthey call it, but the uh budget
that may or may not come outthis week.
It's not going to be that, butanyway, um uh it it.
You know there there's been alot of talk.
It's being done in in the darkthis time for the first time
that I can remember and I'm old,so um it, if there's there
could be stuff that could comeout of this that we don't like.
(22:39):
Regardless of politics, ourbusiness is something we have to
always stay on top of and wehave to always advocate for
ourselves.
I promise you, the bankers areadvocating for themselves.
I'm promising you, the IMBs areadvocating for themselves.
So if we're not, we're going toget left behind, and that's why
(23:00):
you have to be involved inthese groups.
You have to stay involved inAcume, you have to participate,
you have to come to the eventsto advocate as a group for who
we are and what we do and how wehelp the communities.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
That we serve.
Well said, well said.
I was on this.
I know this has nothing to dowith our podcast, but I was on
the Hill, you know, three weeksago, you know, meeting with you
know lawmakers, and theconversation was really
surrounding the idea of, beforeyou make a decision, call us.
Yeah, let me refer you over toone of our members.
(23:37):
Get their insights, hear fromthem.
Don't call a bank, don't callan IMB.
Talk to a credit union.
That is the most importantthing that they can do before
they can make any decision,because credit unions, in my
opinion, are the last truecommunity focus organization and
(23:57):
we really are truly dedicatedto mortgage lending within our
communities, and I honestly hopethat some of these lawmakers
take us up on my offer.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Use us as a resource before I make any decisions, and
that's all I want to do yeah,use us as a resource, and that
that's the big lesson.
I've been a past president ofthe state association of the nba
um for north and south carolinaand and I've gone to the hill.
The vast majority of theproblems are they don't know who
we are and what we do right,and so us getting in front of
(24:32):
legislators whether it's atstate level or whether it's, uh,
in washington, um, it's inWashington and educating them on
who we are and what we do andhow we serve is huge, because
there's too many people makingdecisions that don't know what
we are about.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
That's very true.
Amen, all right guys.
Well, natalie, chuck, thank youvery much for your time.
I know that we're probably alittle late for breakfast, but
there's still plenty of time foryou to eat.
Don't worry, there better bebacon left.
I assure you there's some typeof meat down there, I don't know
what it is.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I'm just kidding my wife is not listening I said I
was going to get bacon there.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
There's some type of meat down there, a meat type
product.
But yes, I'll let you guys goand enjoy your breakfast before
we start day two of the amazingworkshop.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, thanks for having me, of course, and everyone else.
Thank you for listening to thelatest episode of Actions On
Point podcast.
We know your time is valuable.
(25:37):
We hope you enjoyed it Untilnext time.
Be well, my friends.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time at theAcuma On Point podcast.
If not already, be sure tosubscribe and give us a
five-star rating For more greatepisodes and information.
Be sure to visit us online atacumaorg and to get the latest
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The views and opinions expressed in this
podcast do not necessarilyreflect the views or positions
of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff or its
members.
The podcast discussionpresented is conversational in
nature and for generalinformation only.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Hello, welcome to Actors On Point Podcast, a
series focused on sharing thestories of people who are making
a positive impact in the creditunion mortgage industry.
I'm your host, Peter Benjamin,Live from our 2025 Focal Point
Workshop in beautiful Savannah,Georgia.
I am joined by Natalie Bozica,Director of Retail Mortgage
Operations with RightPak CreditUnion, and Chuck Stiles, VP of
(00:52):
Mortgage with Palmetto CitizensFederal Credit Union.
Natalie, Chuck, how are y'alldoing today?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Doing.
Great Thanks for having us.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, doing wonderful .
Oh, my pleasure, my pleasure.
So you know, like we have donein years past, you know, we're
on site, on location, justhaving a friendly little
conversation about yourexperience at the workshop.
Now you know, chuck, this isyour first time, you know,
jumping you into the workshop.
(01:19):
It was quite a hazing yesterday.
I think it was a really goodtime.
We started off with a prettyawesome networking event at
least I thought so.
So first question out of thebat, and it's really the first
series of questions I ask at allof these live in-person
podcasts but experience so far,whether it's at the workshop or
(01:43):
even in savannah, georgia, youknow, since, chuck, you're the
newbie, what are your thoughtsso far about the workshop and
savannah?
Speaker 5 (01:53):
um, the workshop's been great.
Um, this is our firstexperience, uh, with acuma.
Um, and I'm I come to savannaha good bit, so very familiar
with with Savannah.
I live three hours up the road,columbia, south Carolina, here.
A lot Been to several otherconferences here.
It's a great city, loveSavannah, but so far the
(02:15):
conference has been awesome.
Yeah, I brought two otherpeople to participate.
Another person came down tokind of hang out with us and see
what Acuma was all about and sofar it's been great.
It's been a great experiencefor everybody.
Natalie.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
So this is my first time in Savannah and so it's
been a great first experience.
You guys chose an amazing venue.
This is my fourth conferencewith Acuma and I've really
enjoyed it so far, been a lot ofgreat content, getting to
connect with new people thathaven't necessarily been at the
(02:53):
other workshops I've been to, soI've enjoyed it so far.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, I mean I've never been to Savannah, it's been on
my bucket list to visit.
And one it's a beautiful city,it's absolutely charming.
And one I think you get lost init quite easily.
But two you really can justimmerse yourself in the culture,
(03:20):
but also the food scene.
I mean you could trip and fallinto a good restaurant quite
easily, but then when you lookat the hotel that we're staying,
in this hotel is awesome.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
And several of us were discussing that the food
here is so good that lunch wasdelicious.
It felt like a restaurant lunch.
It was so good.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
Yeah, the she-crab soup.
I highly recommend that.
Yeah that, have that again.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I've had probably she-crab soup pretty much at
every meal that I've had whilein.
Savannah and that was probablythe best she-crab soup I've had
while in town so far.
Big hunks of crab.
Speaker 5 (04:03):
Oh yeah, it was delicious.
It's hard to talk about that at8 15 in the morning nobody can
tell their their mouths arewatered.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
I have that for breakfast I would have eaten it
for breakfast, if it had beenavailable absolutely hands down,
hands down, all right.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Next question up, next question up.
So sights to the actual youknow workshop itself.
I mean, obviously we justknocked through you know day one
and you know I you know.
Obviously you know the team andI put together the agenda, so,
but from an outsider looking inand really the one who's
(04:40):
moderating it.
I love the energy from what Isaw yesterday, but I'd love to
get your perspectives from dayone, the agenda, your thoughts,
your favorite sessions, yourbiggest takeaways from yesterday
.
We had a huge variety ofspeakers yesterday, but it was
(05:04):
also a lot of interaction, so Iwelcome your thoughts.
Natalie, we'll start with you.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Yeah, you kind of took the words right out of my
mouth saying there's a good mixof, you know, having speakers
come in that have expertise in alot of different areas and then
getting to do that likenetworking roundtable type of
situation.
So I would say my favorite wasthe breakout group to discuss
benchmarking with other creditunions in your similar volume
(05:33):
level.
You just kind of get thatautomatic feedback from other
people and, honestly, ira did areally great job of moderating
for us.
He really kept the conversationmoving.
He asked questions that pulledout information from the team
members that were there.
So that was probably myfavorite part just getting to
(05:56):
connect with the other creditunions that were in that volume
level same as us.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think it was a member that asked for it about
three years ago and we thoughtit was such a brilliant idea
that we take the roundtable ideaand then we take it to the
micro level and we group all ofour members into that volume
level and we'll see what happens, right, and it ends up being
(06:27):
something really special whereyou can connect more intimately
and I think that's anappropriate word because you
relate quite well.
Credit unions across the nationcan relate to a lot of the same
issues.
So credit unions across thenation can relate to a lot of
the same issues.
It doesn't matter if you are a$500 million credit union or
(06:51):
Navy Federal we all know how bigNavy Federal is but you all go
through the same issues, right.
But when it comes to the samevolume class, that's where it
really becomes okay.
Well, how do we really originatemortgages?
How do we really make a namefor ourselves in our market?
Not only that, how do we afforda certain los?
(07:13):
How do we, you know, balancethe need to grow our mortgage
division with an x number of losthat we can afford, etc.
So you, so that's where I thinkthese volume-based groups are
so special, and I'm glad thatyou walked away and it found
that very valuable, chuck.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Yeah, so let me start by saying there was not a bad
session.
So everything, and I've been tohundreds of conferences in my
short young career.
That's right In yourfive-year-old career.
right, that's right I startedmortgage banking when I was 12.
But I do agree the breakoutsession, organizing it by volume
(08:02):
mortgage volume specific isgood.
I've been to some where theyorganize it by asset size and
that doesn't always work as well, so I thought that was great.
I also I'm a geek aboutpolitics, so I loved both the
Economist and the politicalupdate and the panel.
(08:23):
To your point, Peter, we canlearn from all our people but
PenFed being up on stage andlearning from where they are now
and what they do and how theywe were really happy to hear
that our process is pretty muchthe same as theirs on a loan,
right, we went through loanprocessing and it's similar.
(08:46):
So if it works for Penn Fed,it's probably going to still
work for Palmetto Citizens,right?
So I thought that was great andmy mortgage operations manager
is here with us and she made somany contacts.
Yesterday she got a stack ofbusiness cards and talked to so
many people.
So that is a big part of whatthis is about.
(09:07):
It's always been what thecredit union is about.
The phone a friend comment wasmade yesterday in the panel
discussion that really holdstrue and we're continuing to
learn that and continue to buildon that for us.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Yeah, I mean I've known Mary Rizzitlo from PenFed
probably at this point in timefor 12 years and she has always
been someone who I could relyupon as that even keel person or
that guiding light inoperations to really kind of
(09:41):
help you point the way.
And when I saw that sheregistered for this event I was
like I got to put her on stagelike hands down.
Not only does she work forPenFed and you know, penfed, you
know, is obviously that youknow one of the biggest of the
big but two people want to knowwhat they're doing because
(10:07):
they're kind of that anomalyright.
And when she agreed I was likethis is going to be awesome.
So I'm glad that you walkedaway with that.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That's awesome.
Can I add a plug, please?
Yeah, that that's awesome, so,can I?
Can I add a plug?
Yeah, so we brought up thevolume based meetings and I I
thought those were awesomebecause those things, um, those
meetings, came from annual, asPeter mentioned.
As Peter mentioned, thosethings came from annual.
So it was like one of thosethings where we took that idea
and then brought it full circle.
Now they're at the workshopsand the in-person ones are just
(10:36):
super special.
But it's also we have ourvolume-based meetings that are
now happening virtually.
So just for those that weren'table to make it to the workshops
and don't get to make it toannual.
Those things are happening on aquarterly basis and our next
one's coming up in a couple ofweeks, may 14th, may 14th, may
14th oh, that's one week, nottwo.
One week, exactly seven days.
(10:58):
Exactly seven days.
I had to look down my watch.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Where is time going?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I know that's why I'm like it's been two Christmas,
by the way.
Oh my gosh, I'll wait for all.
Seriously, thank you for thatplug.
I actually did that same plugyesterday because it's like know
they're slow, they're.
Those roundtables are slowlystarting to get momentum
virtually.
They have a great reception inperson, but they're slowly
(11:23):
starting to get momentumvirtually and we see how special
they are in person.
We know they're going to besomething amazing virtually.
We just gotta get more peopleto come to them.
So, yeah, the part is, we get alot of people register for them
attending is the tough part.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I mean it just shows that all of our credit union
folks and qso folks are justbusy yeah, nothing wrong being
busy, all right.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So next question setting our sights to today.
Obviously, another jam-packedschedule, but also an agenda
that is one that I'm reallyexcited for.
So, as we look at the agenda,what's something that you're
looking forward to today outsideof being done?
Speaker 5 (12:10):
I'm not looking forward to being done.
I have a three-hour drive.
Again the collaboration.
I'm looking forward to the bigpicture, big group.
I don't think we're going toget into small groups as much
today, if that's correct.
If I heard you correctlyyesterday, I think we're gonna
have a big group at the end,right is it?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
today we'll take the information that we kind of
dissected from the collaborationand kind of come together as
the big group but then in thevery last session, in which is
the round table, we will focuson our individual tables.
So, yeah, smaller, just smallergroup discussions.
(12:48):
So if you're sitting at thetable with your team, I'd
recommend.
Thanks, sorry, yeah, we didthat yesterday.
We all split up, good, good,I'm sorry.
I hate to cut off track.
I know people can't see thisbecause this is all audio, but
that picture totally justtripped me out.
That is not a picture, no, it'smoving.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
I'm sorry, it's all good.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
I see it now.
It is moving.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's strange.
We know this place is haunted,that's all good, I see it, now
it is moving.
I was like that's strange weknow this place is haunted.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Yeah, no, that's not a joke.
Is it a frame TV?
Is it one of those?
It is.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
I think it's raining.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
It is, it's got a it is.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I think it's one of those frame.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
TVs.
It is one of those frame TVs.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
It is one of those frame TVs.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
I was like whoa, whoa , whoa.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I was like, is that one of those haunted pictures?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I'm just saying if water starts leaking from it on
the wall.
Speaker 5 (13:42):
We have a problem.
To the serious topic of water.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Back to what we're talking about.
Back to what we're talkingabout.
All right, what's our favoritepart of today?
What are you?
Speaker 5 (13:50):
looking forward to.
One of the main things we werelooking for how how we got to
acuma was um kind of complianceand supervisory stuff and all
that and and, as was brought upyesterday, um, there could be 10
new, uh, executive ordersbefore we start the thing in in
25 minutes, so listen to thewatch the tweets three
(14:12):
priorities in this environment.
Um, it's hard and I'm glad we'regonna be talking about it.
I'm glad acumen is trying tohelp us stay on top of it.
Uh, because it's it'sfrightening.
It is, um, I am worried, asthey talked yesterday, about the
pendulum swinging.
It's already swung too far oneway and five years from now,
(14:34):
when we have other people incharge, it's going to swing back
too far the other way and it'snot a way to help us run
businesses.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
So I'm glad we're talking about it.
I actually have in my email,which I'm very far behind.
I actually have an update toour executive order tracker.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
I'm sure you do.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
I'll get it in the morning and read it or I love
that, I'm sure you do.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I'll get it in the morning and read it.
I need to.
I need to view it and post itto our community because I it's
there is an update.
There is nothing actually.
I had an update last week butthere was actually no update.
It was just a refresh.
I was like I'm not gonna postno update, but there is an
update this week, so we'll seewhat happens.
I haven't.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Yeah, it's all great, all fun stuff, all right,
natalie I mean I have to, um,agree with chuck on the
supervisory, like education,because it's just kind of what
they talked about yesterday.
Everything is just changing soquickly, um, and trying to get
in front of that it it's a bigdeal.
The other kind of specificthing to write, pat, is we are
(15:39):
approaching 10 billion in assets, so CFPB may or may not be
coming in and how they're comingin.
So there's a lot, you know,going on in that space too for
us.
So I really, as maybe boring assome people think compliance is
, it's just so important for usto know what's going on and I
really appreciate that Acumakind of prioritizes that and
(16:03):
make sure that that's part oftheir agenda at every workshop
I've been to.
And I will say, specifically onthe AI, I'm someone that really
hasn't gone down that path, soI'm kind of hoping like this is
like this is going to be ajumping off for me where I need
to get with it.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
Chat.
Gpt is awesome.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
I literally never used it.
I'm embarrassed to say that.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
And I will say, like compliance stuff, the um, I
don't want to the Google one Idon't remember what it's called,
but the one that's now onGoogle Gemini.
Thank you, gemini.
If you're specific, it willgive you the right answer.
What are the Fannie Maeguidelines on X?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I just typed that into the search bar.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
I know, but the AI thing gives it to you in normal
language pretty quickly, and thefirst thing is or you can can
say will Fannie Mae allow you toX?
And the answer will be yes, andthen it'll have the guidelines
below it is.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
it's so cool you're convincing me, chuck.
I'm gonna give it a go.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
We use AI pretty much every single day.
We have chat.
We also have a system calledGrammarly which it literally
edits all of our documents forus, which is vital because we
write a lot.
Just a little bit just a littlebit.
So it's it's.
And the one thing I like aboutGrammarly is that it edits for
(17:31):
your individual tone.
That's awesome so it learns howI write and how I talk and the
way I prefer to write um, whichis amazing.
But then we're also trying toget something called ask bob for
all of our members, and it'sbasically what you just talked
about.
It's it will be.
You could ask Bob anything likewhat is Freddie Mac's guideline
(17:57):
or Fannie Mae's guideline onthis?
And Bob is going to tell youand it's going to be on Acuma's
website.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
So it's going to be awesome, there you go, if Acuma
approves of it, natalie.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
I know I know it's going to be free fall for
numbers.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
That's right.
So it's soon to come.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's a tool.
Now, honestly, the number ofpeople that have said that they
don't use any kind of AI, butthen they go.
Well, I did make an AI headshot, or I made myself into an AI
action figure.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
I actually haven't even done that.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
You never said hey, Siri.
The team made ourselves into AIsuperheroes.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Love that.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah, it's awesome.
All right guys.
Just to kind of wrap up lastquestion, and I'm going to start
with Natalie You've been comingto these events and you kind of
hinted at it, but I'm going toask the question anyways.
I think it's still important toask you keep coming back.
(18:59):
The real question is, why doyou keep coming back and why
should people come to Acma whoare still on that fence?
But more importantly, I saidyesterday in my opening remarks,
when tough times hit us, creditunions and and really any
everyone, every organization,tends to cut back on education.
(19:22):
But why is it now, more thanever, so important for people to
really invest in in thateducation double down and it's
still come to like these typesof events.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely just um, just number
one.
I think it helps leaders ontheir personal journey, but you
can just bring so muchinformation back to your credit
union, kind of like you'retalking about.
Yeah, you can, you can go tothe online offerings and I and I
do, and I think they're greatbut there's just something
different about being in person,you know, with different credit
(19:54):
unions, again from across thecountry, like I'm from Ohio.
So when else am I maybe goingto have the opportunity to meet
people from South Carolina,alabama, like all the different
areas that come here?
And I also just think Acuma doesa great job of mixing, like
true education with thecollaboration and you know we've
we've touched on it alreadyseveral times, but credit unions
(20:18):
are just so collaborative andto be able to have that real
time feedback from other peopleand then take that back with you
.
One thing that I have kind ofchallenged myself to do is,
every time I leave an Acumaworkshop with some business
cards, I make sure I reach outto at least one or two of those
(20:38):
people and we set up time totalk about things that maybe we
didn't get to dive as deep intoas we wanted to at the workshop.
So I'm like developing thoserelationships and maintaining
them so that you have that calla friend, and I just think Acuma
gives a great opportunity to dothat at their events.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Ditto what she said.
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I mean.
So you are.
You're coming into this withyou know, fresh eyes, fresh
perspective.
It's your first time.
It's your first time as the newperson.
Why would you say, hey, this isthe reason why you need to join
Acme.
This is the reason why youreally need to come to these
types of events.
They're different than everyoneelse's thoughts.
Speaker 5 (21:29):
Yeah, they are.
So my background mortgagebusiness, a little over 25 years
, just came over in August oflast year from the dark side and
we've all been there.
But I've also been veryinvolved with MBA, which is not
(21:55):
necessarily the dark side,although they can tend to lean
that way.
Advocacy is huge and if wedon't all come together to
advocate for ourselves, we willnot survive or we'll have to
change in a way we don't want tochange.
We talked about the I'm noteven going to call it the big
beautiful, whatever they call it, but the budget that may or may
(22:18):
not come out this week.
The big beautiful bill.
It's not going to be that.
The big beautiful, whateverthey call it, but the uh budget
that may or may not come outthis week.
It's not going to be that, butanyway, um uh it it.
You know there there's been alot of talk.
It's being done in in the darkthis time for the first time
that I can remember and I'm old,so um it, if there's there
could be stuff that could comeout of this that we don't like.
(22:39):
Regardless of politics, ourbusiness is something we have to
always stay on top of and wehave to always advocate for
ourselves.
I promise you, the bankers areadvocating for themselves.
I'm promising you, the IMBs areadvocating for themselves.
So if we're not, we're going toget left behind, and that's why
(23:00):
you have to be involved inthese groups.
You have to stay involved inAcume, you have to participate,
you have to come to the eventsto advocate as a group for who
we are and what we do and how wehelp the communities.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
That we serve.
Well said, well said.
I was on this.
I know this has nothing to dowith our podcast, but I was on
the Hill, you know, three weeksago, you know, meeting with you
know lawmakers, and theconversation was really
surrounding the idea of, beforeyou make a decision, call us.
Yeah, let me refer you over toone of our members.
(23:37):
Get their insights, hear fromthem.
Don't call a bank, don't callan IMB.
Talk to a credit union.
That is the most importantthing that they can do before
they can make any decision,because credit unions, in my
opinion, are the last truecommunity focus organization and
(23:57):
we really are truly dedicatedto mortgage lending within our
communities, and I honestly hopethat some of these lawmakers
take us up on my offer.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Use us as a resource before I make any decisions, and
that's all I want to do yeah,use us as a resource, and that
that's the big lesson.
I've been a past president ofthe state association of the nba
um for north and south carolinaand and I've gone to the hill.
The vast majority of theproblems are they don't know who
we are and what we do right,and so us getting in front of
(24:32):
legislators whether it's atstate level or whether it's, uh,
in washington, um, it's inWashington and educating them on
who we are and what we do andhow we serve is huge, because
there's too many people makingdecisions that don't know what
we are about.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
That's very true.
Amen, all right guys.
Well, natalie, chuck, thank youvery much for your time.
I know that we're probably alittle late for breakfast, but
there's still plenty of time foryou to eat.
Don't worry, there better bebacon left.
I assure you there's some typeof meat down there, I don't know
what it is.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I'm just kidding my wife is not listening I said I
was going to get bacon there.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
There's some type of meat down there, a meat type
product.
But yes, I'll let you guys goand enjoy your breakfast before
we start day two of the amazingworkshop.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, thanks for having me, of course, and everyone else.
Thank you for listening to thelatest episode of Actions On
Point podcast.
We know your time is valuable.
(25:37):
We hope you enjoyed it Untilnext time.
Be well, my friends.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time at theAcuma On Point podcast.
If not already, be sure tosubscribe and give us a
five-star rating For more greatepisodes and information.
Be sure to visit us online atacumaorg and to get the latest
updates.
Head over to our LinkedIn page.
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