5 Key Lessons for Credit Unions from 2025

This year is coming to an end—another year rife with threats, challenges, and uncertainties. But as the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” Credit unions are heading into 2026 with strong financials, a proactive mindset, and a unified front.

Over the last year, we’ve had the opportunity to speak to a wide range of leaders in the credit union movement, delve deep into trending topics, and stay close to industry news. As we look ahead, five clear lessons emerge from 2025:

1. Leverage technology to amplify, not replace, your human touch

Digital transformation has been a buzzword in the credit union movement for quite a while now, but there’s no doubt that this transformation has accelerated over the past year. We’ve seen smaller and mid-sized credit unions rolling out better mobile experiences, real-time payments, and fintech-style features.

Consumer expectations today are being established by the likes of Apple, Chime, and PayPal. As the table stakes shift toward digital convenience, credit unions risk losing ground unless they adapt. This wave of digital innovation suggests that many are not only keeping pace but actually trying to leverage their cooperative ethos with modern convenience. For members, it means better access; for credit unions, it’s a potential lifeline to stay relevant.

All that said, technology comes with sizable risks. Many guests who we interviewed on our Remarkable Credit Union podcast—whether they were talking about leveraging AI in lending, engaging with Gen Z, or honing in on digital micro-interactions—echoed similar sentiments: technology works best when it amplifies the human touch instead of replacing it. For example, Ken Brossman at Marine Credit Union, who joined our November podcast, talked about using AI to assist with straightforward lending decisions so his team has more time for complex, nuanced applications that would benefit from human oversight.

In our September podcast episode, Sue Burton, SVP of Experience at Digital Federal Credit Union, talked about the importance of “technology-enabled humanity” when it comes to engaging with Gen Z. Yes, Gen Z wants slick digital tools, but they also want the reassurance that a real person is in the loop.

One of the biggest potential pitfalls of technology, and particularly AI, is implementation without transparency. In finance, trust is everything. If a member is denied a loan, gets a fraud alert they don’t understand, or needs assistance with a question they can’t find in the online FAQs, and there isn’t a human being available to help, trust can be damaged irrevocably.

Use digital tools as just that—tools. They can help people help people, but ultimately, it’s all still about people helping people.

2. Measure your impact in meaningful ways

Another theme we saw surface again and again in 2025 was moving beyond financial performance and vanity metrics to measure real outcomes and impact.

Andy Bandyopadhyay, Founder and CEO of Attune, put it this way in our August podcast: “If hospitals measure patient outcomes, why aren’t credit unions measuring member financial health?” He stressed that financial wellness isn't just about offering workshops or making charitable donations. While these have their place, credit unions must also integrate financial health into their core products and services.

And while member satisfaction and emotional well-being are important, Andy argues against relying on them as the sole indicators of success. He emphasizes the critical need to directly measure members' financial bottom line, such as increases in savings or reduction in debt.

Gloria Dixon, Director of Philanthropy at BECU, joined our April podcast to share a similar shift on the philanthropy side—away from one-off feel-good projects and toward long-term systems change. Again, financial education is important, but Gloria argues that we need a broader approach to addressing economic inequality. BECU’s multi-pronged strategy encompasses financial literacy, but also financial barriers in education, workforce development, support for entrepreneurs, and housing stability. This more robust approach equips them to create lasting economic resilience.

Credit union leaders tend to think of growth in terms of asset size, revenue, or branch footprints, but as Gloria points out, philanthropy is also a key driver of growth. No credit union can grow effectively without fostering trust in the communities they serve.

3. Stay true to your values and purpose in the midst of ongoing volatility

Anxiety and uncertainty have been dominant forces in 2025. We can throw up our hands and succumb, or we can focus on what is within our control.

When we talked about the NCUA shakeup in our June podcast episode with the former NCUA Director of External Affairs and Communications and Policy Adviser, Elizabeth Eurgubian, she reminded us that the shakeup isn’t “the end of the world,” but it is a wake-up call for credit unions to focus on succession planning, strong cybersecurity, and ongoing advocacy efforts.

Armand Parvazi, Strategic Adviser at CUCollaborate, made a similar point about Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in our May podcast: the best defense is a good offense. Don’t wait for funding decisions to happen to you, he says. CDFIs provide capital, loans, and financial services to economically distressed areas, and they fund affordable housing, small businesses, community facilities, and jobs—all where traditional banks won't. Amidst the ongoing uncertainty over the future of CDFIs, he emphasizes the importance of proactively telling a clear, compelling story about why your credit union—and your CDFI work specifically—matters. 

While it’s important for credit unions to create contingency plans and prepare for crisis, it’s equally important to escape the reactivity trap by creating opportunities for joy and connection. That’s exactly what Abilene Teachers Federal Credit Union’s 325 Day, an event with a name that refers both to its date and the credit union’s local area code, is all about. Community Development Officer, Elizabeth Gray, and Marketing Director, Kathy Mayer, joined our March podcast to talk about the importance of celebrating community, and how doing so from a place of authenticity generates good will that will provide lasting benefits to your credit union.

4. Stay close to your members

At the end of the day, it’s all about your members. Effective marketing is relationship-based, not product-driven. If credit union marketers find ways to engage their members through financial guidance and education, not only are they fulfilling the mission of the credit union, they are retaining members who would otherwise look elsewhere for financial guidance and support.

Ultimately, your credit union’s marketing efforts and member experience are highly interdependent. Marketing isn’t just about bringing new members into the fold; it’s also about effectively engaging with the members you already have. If you simply blast them with not always relevant offers, or halfhearted attempts at personalized offers, they are unlikely to feel seen or heard.

Credit unions have traditionally been product-focused, but sustainable growth requires a shift toward addressing members’ holistic financial journeys. As Samantha Paxton, CEO of Power & Light Collaborative, pointed out in our January podcast episode, part of that entails focusing less on promoting rates and more on promoting the daily-use tools and features that help members feel guided and empowered on an ongoing basis. She pushed credit unions to stop thinking only in terms of “big products” and start thinking about all those little daily moments—checking balances, P2P payments, debit card swipes—during which a credit union can quietly show up as a trusted partner in someone’s life.

In an increasingly digital environment, effective marketing also requires a consistent focus on the user experience. What a member sees on their mobile dashboard or in an onboarding flow is part of the marketing experience. The brand now lives inside the interface, so it’s important to have continuity across all channels. Otherwise, members start to get lost and ask themselves—am I still in the right place? Do I trust the space I am in right now?

Listen to members and test your website and other digital tools. Make adjustments, not assumptions. Ongoing testing data speaks for itself. It will tell you (or show you) how you can better serve member needs.

5. Advocate for the movement—credit unions are stronger together

On a positive note, and perhaps somewhat surprisingly, 2025 has been a strong year for credit unions financially. Loan growth, deposits, and profitability were all up—with net income for federally insured credit unions up 21% year over year, according to the NCUA. This shows that credit unions are actually staying resilient and continuing to support members, even when the broader economy feels shaky.

Not only have credit unions contended with economic volatility, they have also been subject to a host of regulatory pressures and uncertainties. We’re keeping a close eye on the evolution of the rules around fees, acquisitions, tax status, and CDFI funding, as they could dramatically affect the character and mission of credit unions in coming years.

On the bright side, we’ve seen credit unions put cooperative principle number six, Cooperation Among Cooperatives, into action, and as a result, the credit union movement has felt more united than ever. Among other things, its collective advocacy work has helped protect credit unions’ tax-exempt status and CDFI funding—at least for now.

As Stacey Smith, SVP and Head of Programs at Project Equity, and Frank Cetera, Business Transfers Program Director for the Democracy at Work Institute and a board member of Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union, pointed out in our February podcast episode, credit unions and other co-ops are essential to the foundation of democracy. During a time when our own democracy feels constantly under siege, it’s important to think about opportunities to practice democracy in our day-to-day lives. That includes talking to lawmakers on behalf of the movement and motivating members to become involved in the governance of their individual credit unions.

The coming year is sure to pose new challenges, but being part of a broader cooperative movement will help credit unions weather future storms.

Final thoughts

A few clear themes rose to the top this year. Credit unions are shifting from human versus digital to human amplified by digital, using technology to create more space for empathy and stronger member relationships. We also saw a move away from pushing products toward focusing on the member experience and measuring real outcomes—like financial health and long-term community impact. And finally, in the midst of ongoing uncertainty, leaders are feeling the urgency to be proactive and values-driven, both in the context of their individual credit unions and the broader cooperative movement.

Heading into 2026, it’s really about intentionality: being deliberate with technology, impact, advocacy, and how we show up for our members.

This article originally appeared in CUInsight and was co-authored by PixelSpoke President & Co-Owner, Dave Drouin.