Can small credit unions survive—and thrive—in today's era of massive consolidation? It is one of the most pressing questions in our movement right now. To find the answer, I sat down with Doug Wadsworth, President and CEO of Tri-CU Credit Union and the founder of the Endangered Small Credit Union Defense (ESCUD) initiative. Doug is also the author of Keep It Simple, CEO, a guidebook born out of 20 years of experience turning a struggling $15 million institution into a highly profitable $75 million powerhouse.
In this episode, Doug pulls no punches. We discussed his "spicy" take on regulatory burden, why he believes "DIY" is the only path to profitability for small institutions, and the specific niche lending strategies he used to corner the market in his community. This article includes a breakdown of our main talking points, a link to the video, and the complete transcript of our conversation.
Key Themes and Strategies
Doug's approach is a masterclass in operational efficiency and common-sense leadership. We spent a lot of time on the "how-to" of survival for community-based institutions.
Niche Lending & The "Heat Pump" Strategy: How Doug established Tri-CU as the dominant lender for HVAC contractors by creating a proprietary, fast, and cheap financing module.
The Problem with Third-Party Vendors: Why Doug advocates for "DIY" management to avoid the "bells and whistles" that drain small credit union budgets.
Regulatory Advocacy (ESCUD): The story behind why Doug started an advocacy group to fight for regulatory relief for institutions that aren't large enough to warrant "big bank" oversight.
Succession and Board Governance: Lessons on identifying common mistakes that lead to credit union failure, from sudden leadership loss to board apathy.
Greg Cook: All righty. Welcome back to the Credit Unions Forum podcast. I'm Greg Cook and today we're diving into one of the most important conversations happening in our movement right now: Can small credit unions survive and thrive in today's environment? Joining me is Doug Wadsworth, President and CEO of Tri-CU Credit Union in Washington State, founder of the Endangered Small Credit Union Defense initiative, and author of Keep It Simple, CEO: A DIY Profitability Guidebook for Small Credit Unions. Doug's become a strong voice for small institutions, advocating for practical leadership, operational simplicity, and regulatory relief. Doug, welcome to the show.
Doug Wadsworth: Thank you, Greg. Good to be here!
Greg Cook: Well, we're going to kind of bounce around—we were talking beforehand on a number of different topics. But first off, Doug, what inspired you to write Keep It Simple, CEO?
Doug Wadsworth: Thank you. Probably I realized about a year ago, I realized that at some point I'd be retiring. And I got to thinking, man, I've been here for almost 20 years. When I started as the CEO, it was just about to go underwater—it was about 15 million in assets. Everything was on fire and I had all kinds of interesting experiences. Over the years I've learned all kinds of lessons and seen all kinds of things happen. Overall, we've been a very profitable small credit union. We finally reached a point where we're so profitable we're trying to give money away back to our members.
Greg Cook: Looks like I might have to join you guys!
Doug Wadsworth: So anyway, I was like, man, I'm going to start writing all this down for whoever takes over for me when I'm gone. And then I thought, maybe—it's pretty easy to publish a book now. And oh man, it was so easy. I just typed it all up, rewrote it several times, and finally I was like, okay, I will never end. I'm just going to publish it. You can publish on Amazon for basically nothing. I'm a little unorthodox; I'm really all about DIY and doing things yourself and saving money. I say what I'm thinking, so sometimes it's a little spicy. It turns out there are no other books for small credit union CEOs by a small credit union CEO. So it's been fun.
Greg Cook: I was reading your book, actually, and after the first or second chapter, it talks about a further back chapter—Chapter 6—taking you back into a ton of lending. I know this conversation is going to bounce all over the place, but lending is the core part of our business.
Doug Wadsworth: It's our bread and butter.
Greg Cook: Why don't we spend just a few minutes going through some of the quick wins that other small credit union CEOs could potentially think about?
Doug Wadsworth: Yes, you bet. One of the best things you can do is find a really good person. First of all, I took over and lending was in the toilet. I was like, man, I've got to get loans up. This was right in 2008. Rates went all the way down, and I thought, you know what, I'm going to do like a 10-year mortgage refinance for people with great credit and lots of equity. No appraisal needed, no origination fee. We did tons of them. But that was still barely a drop in the bucket. So then I went to this conference in Las Vegas—the CU Directors conference. This guy spoke, Brett Christensen with CU Lending Advice. And he's like, if you want to get loans, the only way you're going to get loans is if you hire somebody and pay them a commission.
Greg Cook: That doesn't sound very traditional for a credit union.
Doug Wadsworth: It felt so wrong! But he said that's the only way you're going to grow loans. If you get a person who is a true salesman and understands the credit union mission, it works. Anyway, I found a guy and he was great. He started making connections with car dealerships and then HVAC contractors for heat pump loans. Most of our loans now come from business partners—business relationships he's established. We came up with products that were really competitive, fast, and easy. We've been over 90% loaned out ever since. That was like 15 years ago.
Greg Cook: That is such a success story. Now, you mentioned heat pump lending. I know you started with Deeds of Trust but then changed to UCC filings?
Doug Wadsworth: Initially, we were doing it with a wild Deed of Trust. That way we didn't have to do title insurance, because that takes a long time and it's more fees. Our whole goal was fast, easy, and cheap. But eventually, it was just a pain in the neck with the examiners. Every time an examiner came, they're like, "Well, did you do this?" Then the regulations changed to the Truth in Lending model, which made it more complicated. We were signing documents the next day—how are we supposed to do it three days before they sign? It was ridiculous. So finally we were like, we're tired of dealing with examiners. We changed to a UCC filing. Our losses on these HVAC loans are almost zero. In 10 years, I think we lost one loan for a few thousand dollars.
Greg Cook: Since you're not putting a lien on the property, what are you using as a guide for pricing those loans?
Doug Wadsworth: We just keep them the same as if there is a lien on the property. It's just like a home equity loan, basically. And the UCC kind of is a lien; it actually shows up on the title insurance. We even worked with our core processor, CMC Flex, to build software to get them automatically approved and signed in the middle of the night while we're closed.
Greg Cook: You paid your core to develop that?
Doug Wadsworth: Yes, for us. So now, when a person goes to the heat pump store, the application comes right into our system and it will auto-approve and send them the documents to sign. When we come in the next morning, we just open the account and fund the loan. Oh man, they're fast and they're easy.
Greg Cook: That's incredible. Now, moving to another passion project: the Endangered Small Credit Union Defense (ESCUD) initiative. What gap did you feel wasn't being addressed?
Doug Wadsworth: This was in January of 2025. There was this perfect storm of annoying things. My NCUA examiners—who are normally great—said they were coming on like January 6th. That is the busiest month of the year! And the stuff they were bothering me with had no impact on safety or soundness. They told me I wasn't filing enough Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). We're a small credit union! We don't have a lot of suspicious things because we notice it before it gets to that level. It was insanity. Then I went to a conference and a panel of big credit union CEOs said, "In 10 years, there will be half as many credit unions." And they all nodded their heads. I was like, whoa, if there's half as many, the small ones are going to be extinct.
Greg Cook: And you felt the leagues weren't helping?
Doug Wadsworth: I'd reach out to my league and say, "Why am I having to do CECL? Why NMLS? Why HMDA?" And they're like, "Well, those are really hard things, we have to do things that matter for all credit unions." Basically, they'd done almost nothing for small credit unions for decades. So I realized it was partially my fault because I wasn't at the table. I was too busy wearing 10 different hats as a CEO. I realized you have to be a squeaky wheel. So I started ESCUD. It's a non-profit. My two purposes are: 1) Advocate for regulatory relief for small CUs. If it doesn't impact safety and soundness, we shouldn't be required to do it. 2) Encourage small credit unions to really give back to their communities.
Greg Cook: What are the biggest operational mistakes hurting small credit unions financially?
Doug Wadsworth: I actually did a bunch of research on this for the book. NCUA examiners and big CEOs all say the same things. Number one: small credit unions sign up for some expensive third-party vendor contract when times are good, and when times get tough, they can't get out of the contract. It kills them. They get too tied up with bells and whistles. Everything possible, you have to do it yourself—DIY. That's how you save money. I avoided online new account opening for years because I didn't want to deal with the fraud. Finally, last year, I looked into an FIS system integration. It was $2,000 a month. I'm a small credit union! I DIY'd it. We use the free module from our core and we internally verify identities ourselves. We get maybe a dozen applications a month. If I paid for the big system, I'd be paying $2,000 for one legitimate new member a month. Total waste of money.
Greg Cook: Doug, this has been an outstanding conversation. I appreciate your honesty and your willingness to advocate for the future of small credit unions.
Doug Wadsworth: My pleasure to be here. I just want to have small credit union voices combined. Then all of a sudden, the NCUA and the associations pay attention. We're a passionate, unique group. We love the credit union movement, and we love giving back.
Greg Cook: One last question. One thing every new CEO should stop doing immediately?
Doug Wadsworth: Stop hiring expensive third parties. And stop taking all the advice from your examiners. Only do what you have to do by regulation. They'll put you right out of business with their "great ideas" that just swamp you with paperwork. I once had an examiner give me a 10-page "best practice" policy. I whittled it down to 38 words. It saved me 10 pages of complicated triggers.
Greg Cook: Doug, thank you again for joining us on the Credit Unions Forum podcast. To everyone listening, if this brought you value, share and like this episode. Until next time, keep leading forward.
