Lending Perspectives: COVID-19 next wave
Five short-term questions to answer in between your planning sessions for the long-term future.
As I write this, it’s been about two months since the sports world seemingly set the precedent for the U.S. economy by shutting down operations, setting the stage for an episode that has been a blur for virtually everyone. As essential businesses, credit unions and banks have been right in the middle of all of the activity.
People wanted cash. They needed emergency loans. They needed payment deferments and modifications. In a matter of 72 hours, I realized the economic impact of COVID-19 was not going to be anything like the financial crisis and the Great Recession. This was much more severe and faster than 2008-2009; anything we thought we could leverage from that time period was pretty much worthless.
Where are we headed? I think today’s economic and social realities make long-range planning a difficult thing to do. Certainly lenders and senior management teams have to be evaluating segments of the economy that will suffer from displacement and disruption in the long run. Yet there is so much to do in the short term that you need to take turns thinking and planning long term while acting and executing short term. So what are the short-term decisions impacting credit union lending?
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