By Lisa Hochgraf
"Think like a collector and give me your first response to this statement," Brett Christensen told attendees of the CUES School of Consumer Lending Monday in Boston: "Everybody pays somebody."
"True," they responded to Christensen, owner of CU Lending Advice.
Indeed, Christensen continued, members of varying credit situations pay their cell phone bills if they want to stay connected, their electricity bills if they want the lights to stay on and their cable bill if they want to watch the news. But the trick to good lending, Christensen emphasized, is not to worry about whether your members are paying other creditors, but to make sure your credit union will be paid.
"When making a loan decision, I'm not trying to figure out if every lender can get paid," he said. "I'm just trying to figure out if the lender whose logo is on the bottom of my paycheck will get paid."
Remember, he added, that every member's account relationship, credit report, and job/income is unique. While a loan decision is complicated, knowing who you're talking to and focusing the conversation accordingly can help.
"Let's learn to talk rate to the good credit folks; let's learn to talk payment to the lesser credit folks," he said. "I used to tell borrowers, 'You don't need to pay anyone else on time; you just need to stay good with us.' They loved that."
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
Read another CUES Skybox post from the 2013 CUES School of Consumer Lending.
