ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It – 6.10.2026

The Q&D on BOA’s Gen Z POV. How to de-jargon and un-confuse your members. Even more clarity with a breakdown of the CLARITY act. Why AI is losing its own popularity contest. Rumblings of rewards-based resentment. Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it:

Generation Survival: BOA’s Gen Z Report

Bank of America just dropped a very interesting report using data from their Better Money Habits® Survey. (If you’ve lost track, keep in mind that members of Gen Z in 2026 are adults, ages 18-29). It’s a picture of a cohort under immense pressure from rising costs (especially gas) and stagnant wages, but also hungry to sharpen their financial skills and tools, out of necessity and sheer self-defense.

They’re practicing “loud budgeting”, they’re talking about money with friends openly, and they’re saving every penny they can, a big shift from previous generations. According to the report, “Nearly a quarter (24%) are delaying moving relationships forward because of their financial situation.” Yikes.

If you need more young members (and who doesn’t?), you need to read and understand this, and ask yourself (better yet, ask them) what tools and information these folks need to thrive, and how to build trust.

Check your jargon and unconfuse your members

As this very thoughtful article from Peter Benjamin, CMB of ACUMA gently points out, your members aren’t born knowing all the jargon, acronyms, and complex concepts around mortgages (or HELOCs, or car loans, or really much of what CUs do.) You really need to manage the bewilderment and help people learn and understand; even if it’s not their first home purchase, most people don’t do mortgages every day.

One of our clients recently mentioned that many of the members they speak to every day, including people with significant equity in their homes, didn’t know what “home equity” was, how a home equity loan worked, or what HELOC means. If you’re marketing home equity loans, make sure you’re meeting members where they are, not where your loan officers are. Same goes for everything else; clear and simple wins every time.

CLARITY Act Overview

Speaking of confusion, jargon, and general bewilderment… this article from Jon Ungerland, CIO at DaLand CUSO, seeks to summarize the CLARITY act and upcoming challenges, and discuss how credit unions should be reacting. (As of this writing in early June 2026, it’s headed for the final vote in the US Senate in a few weeks, and seems to have the broad bipartisan support needed to pass quickly.)

The law puts into place some regulatory structures around digital asset markets, and authorizes credit unions to participate. Along with aspects of the GENIUS act, many regulatory gray areas have been resolved.

AI’s poor popularity performance

While a lot of us are feeling mounting pressure to add AI tools into our workflow, the average person’s attitudes towards AI aren’t nearly as optimistic. A few months ago, Pew Research Center published their results from polling how Americans view AI, and it’s pretty clear people are concerned and want more regulation. More recently, blogger Alberto Romero compiled a large amount poll data, showing similarly negative attitudes that were likely exacerbated by the largely negative response to data center construction around the country. This is certainly some food for thought for AI-curious Credit Unions, especially those whose members might be worried about a datacenter being built too close to home.

Rewards backlash brewing?

There’s an interesting new study from Harvard Business School called “Who Pays for Rewards? Redistribution in the U.S. Payments System” that points out “Cash-paying consumers and households with lower incomes effectively subsidize credit card rewards programs used disproportionately by higher-income Americans.” In other words, assuming businesses raise prices for everyone to cover interchange fees, the end effect is that lower income people are subsidizing rewards for high income people, to the tune of a claimed $9.2 billion per year.

It’s a controversial, perhaps debatable take, but in the end they have a point, and it’s an uncomfortable thing for credit union folks to think about.

That said, reward cards are a valuable and needed product, and from what we’ve seen, credit unions consistently strive to offer the most ethical possible cards, with the lowest rates and most member-friendly terms possible, and to extend access to as many people as possible. Credit unions routinely consider the ethics and impacts of their products and policies, something that’s rarely seen in the profit-driven equations elsewhere.

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