By Edward Speed

Headlines recently rocked the credit union world: President Trump dismissed the two remaining Democratic members of the NCUA Board, Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka. Outrage followed. Trade associations scrambled. True believers are indignant. Some wonder aloud—where are our champions in Congress? Where is the cavalry?

Let me save you the suspense: they’re gone. And they’re not coming back.

But this isn’t a political ambush. It’s not a freak event. This is judgment. The credit union movement is now reaping what it has sown over the last 25 years. And for those of us who warned this day would come, the only real surprise is that it took so long.  Elections have consequences, right?

The Bite of the Forbidden Fruit

In the first of my three-part series, The Original Sin of HR 1151, I argued that the 1998 Credit Union Membership Access Act wasn’t  a win—it was a fall. Credit unions secured legal protection for expanded membership, but they paid for it with their soul.

The common bond, once the sacred organizing principle of the movement, was quietly dismantled. What began as firefighters and factory workers pooling resources became an industry of legal fiction— “select employee groups,” “associational fields of membership,” and other synthetic constructs that meant everything and nothing.

We didn’t just evolve. We mutated. And we cheered ourselves on as we erased the very identity that made us different.

The Rise of the Cartel

In Part Two, I warned that HR 1151 marked not just expansion but transformation—from mission to empire. Once the banks were neutralized, credit union leaders turned on each other. Trade associations, no longer fighting external threats, pivoted to protecting their own power—and paychecks.

Instead of championing members crushed by medical debt and job loss, they vilified them as freeloaders. The bankruptcy reform push wasn’t member protection; it was political theater, meant to justify their existence.

Small credit unions—once the moral and structural core of the movement—were left to die or be devoured. Their warnings went unheard. Trade groups, whose coffers depended on billion-dollar institutions, turned their backs. The cooperative mantra “people helping people” gave way to something colder: big helping bigger.

This wasn’t evolution. It was a hostile takeover. And it left the movement in the hands of a self-serving cartel.

Becoming What We Once Opposed

In Part Three I laid bare the final transformation. Credit unions no longer resembled cooperatives. They had become banks in all but name—and worse, ones still clinging to a tax exemption they no longer earned.

Associational FOMs became a running joke. Join the “Texas Consumer Council” because you bought a toaster last year? Check a box online and skip the formality entirely? This is not inclusion. It’s institutional deceit.

And CUSOs—originally created to share costs—have become Trojan horses. They let credit unions take risks, hide liabilities, and even pay executives on the side. When regulators tried to pull back the curtain, the industry screamed. The NCUA, dependent on big credit union fees, folded. It stopped regulating and started rationalizing.

Today, the NCUA has no incentive to protect the movement’s soul. Fewer credit unions mean fewer headaches. More assets mean more fees. “Growth at all costs” has become the unspoken strategy.

So, no—the firings at NCUA didn’t come out of nowhere. They followed years of decay. When you sell your birthright, don’t be surprised when no one defends your name.

A Vacuum of Moral Authority

The industry now seems stunned that lawmakers aren’t racing to the barricades. But what did we expect?

We used to tell a compelling moral story. Now we have only sentimental origin stories. We were the alternative to banks. We helped the underserved. We lived in the communities we served. That story earned respect across the political spectrum. It was authentic. It was rooted in practice, not PR.

But try telling that story now. Try convincing a Senate staffer that a billion-dollar credit union, buying banks and operating under hollow FOM rules, is still “member-owned” in any meaningful sense. You’ll get a polite smile—and a quick change of subject.

The political class knows the truth. They can smell the rot. And they’ve moved on. This isn’t betrayal. It’s abandonment. And abandonment is what happens when you no longer inspire loyalty.

What Happens Next

This moment should be a wake-up call—but only if we’re willing to be honest. If the firings at NCUA caught you off guard, ask yourself why. If the silence from Capitol Hill feels like a slap, ask what we’ve done—or failed to do—that left us so vulnerable.

We have two choices: double down on our illusions, or come clean.

We can keep lobbying, keep gaming the system, and keep pretending we’re cooperatives while behaving like commercial banks. Or we can tell the truth, admit how far we’ve strayed, and begin to rebuild.

Pain is Required

That will require painful changes:

• Recommit to the common bond. Stop the charade of meaningless associations. Return to the idea of shared identity and mutual trust.
• Rein in CUSO abuse. Give NCUA real authority to examine them—or move the whole regulatory structure under FDIC/OCC as proposed in Project 2025.
• Stop rewarding asset-chasing. Tie executive compensation to member outcomes, not empire-building.
• End the tax exemption hypocrisy. If we insist on behaving like banks, then accept the full tax and regulatory obligations of that identity.

We must decide whether we are still a movement—or just another financial sector that sold a story it no longer believes.

A Final Word

At their best, credit unions stood for something rare: cooperation, service, and economic justice. But we’ve allowed mission to give way to maneuvering. In doing so, we’ve lost not only our way but our credibility.

The firings at NCUA are not a random attack. They are a verdict. And unless we course-correct, they won’t be the last.

We used to say we weren’t like the banks. But if nothing changes, we won’t just resemble them—we’ll be them. And no one, least of all Congress, will care to pretend otherwise.

The prophets warned us. The signs were clear. Now the reckoning has come.

The Only Question Left

The only question left is whether we still have the courage to repent.

Yes, I said repent. Because this is not just a strategic failure, it is a moral failure. We have turned our backs on the cooperative values that once made us distinct. 

Walt Lasko’s Good Friday op-ed is a must read and a prescription.  As Easter Approaches, Some Thoughts on Credit Unions & Repentance

The answer isn’t better PR. It’s better priorities.

Edward Speed is the retired CEO of a multi-billion-dollar Texas credit union, who holds a master’s degree in theology.   These days he spends his time serving food, washing dishes and sweeping floors at the San Antonio Catholic Worker House helping homeless senior citizens. Email: [email protected]