Checking In With Bryan Eichenbaum of American Heritage

Credit Union Conversations

Bryan and Mark go round-robin on the state of the lending world and working with partners to build your lending program. What's the state of the world like in 2024? Bryan looks into his crystal ball to discuss what volumes will be like in 2024 and 2025. What's it like to get pitched by every potential lending partner in America every week? How do you separate the good partners from the pretenders?

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [1:43] Brian shares his background story and that of American Heritage
• [5:34] Brian reflects on how he ended up in the credit union space
• [9:29] Brian discusses the last four volatile years in the credit union field
• [13:45] Discussion of the anticipated events for 2024, what actually transpired, and predictions for the future.
• [21:22] Discussion of FinTechs and Bryan’s appreciation of them if they have shared values and common ideals
• [27:04] Discussion of NCUA, being transparent and doing due diligence to develop a clear plan
• [29:54] Brian discusses AI and the displacement of financial institutions, and he uses UBER as an example
• [33:07] Brian reflects on mistakes and lessons learned

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Today, we need to price the secondary market, meaning not just the rate but making sure we're originating based on our guidelines and practices. Then, we should consider making every loan on our balance sheet sellable
• From a member impact, this higher inflationary period meant higher loan payments and home purchase costs. Everything was higher, and you were getting less for your money. The credit impact was higher delinquency
• More importantly than having a plan to use FinTech, you must have a good problem to solve. If you don't have a significant problem, don't work with FinTech to implement a solution. Implement and work with a FinTech to solve a problem you're dealing with today

RESOURCE LINKS

Mark Ritter Website

Mark Ritter LinkedIn

Bryan Eichenbaum - LinkedIn

BIOGRAPHY:

Bryan Eichenbaum is the current SVP of Consumer Lending for American Heritage Credit Union, a $5B Credit Union headquartered in Philadelphia. He has over 20 years of experience in lending at various credit unions in New York and New Jersey. Bryan is considered an expert in cultivating strategic opportunities, building niche products and services that align with credit union demographics, mission and values, delivering strong business outcomes that build capital and sustained growth and positions credit unions to remain viable and relevant in a changing financial and economic landscape.