Filed under: insurance
Credit unions are businesses and businesses have to deal with claims. A member may sue the credit union, an employee may go to the EEOC or the credit union may draw a counter-claim on a collection action. There are numerous circumstances in which a credit union might find itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit or an administrative action.
It’s important to remember that the first thing that the credit union should do is forward the claim to the insurance company. The credit union may have coverage and if it does, the insurance company may not only resolve the claim but pay any legal fees and costs too.
This is not to say that after the claim goes to the insurance company that you should forget about it, far from it! You should almost always get the claim to the credit union’s attorney as well in case the claim requires immediate action. This could happen if a complaint filed against the credit union floats around the office for a while before it lands on the decision-maker’s desk. Even if the insurance company will ultimately hire its own lawyer to defend the claim, the credit union’s attorney can take the necessary steps to protect the credit union in the short term and avoid, for example, a default judgment being awarded against it.
Even lawyers sometimes forget to file claims with insurance companies. I have seen one instance where a law firm defended a credit union in a suit all the way through to the end. It was when the credit union received the bill (in excess of $20,000) that someone thought to raise the question: “should this have been submitted to insurance?” Needless to say, that’s an embarrassing moment for the law firm because a credit union is not going to be very interested in paying a bill for a lawyer when the lawyer should have told the credit union CEO to submit the claim to insurance in the first place.
So remember, when the credit union receives a claim against it, the first thing to do is fax or email a copy of the claim to the insurance company and then get it to counsel as soon as possible.
Filed under: credit unions
I’m back from my whirlwind trip to Indianapolis. The Symposium is actually continuing today, but I had to come back early. All I can say is, what a great group of people! I want to thank everyone at Trabian, FORUM and Intersystems for putting together a really special event and for being terrific hosts.
Trey Reeme rocks out on Guitar Hero.
Charlie Trotter and Brent Dixon are all smiles.
Guy Messick gave a great talk on collaboration.
Trey with Lisa Renner. Lisa gave an excellent presentation on trend spotting.
Robbie Wright listens attentively.
These are only a few quick pics that I took. There were many worthwhile sessions. Denise Wymore and Ron Shevlin really tore up the place in an intense head to head discussion on member marketing. The good natured banter between the two made for a really memorable session. I am really sad to be missing the speakers today.
Filed under: credit unions
So around 11:00 o’clock this morning, I’m going to pile all my gear into the minivan and head out toward Indianapolis. I used to have a 4 hour fly rule: if a trip was more than 4 hours driving, I would fly. Things being what they are in flying today, that rule has been extended to 6 hours.
I’m excited about the FORUM conference because of the topics that will be discussed but really more so because of the people. I will get to see many friends and get to meet some people face to face for the first time. The vibe of this conference is definitely along the lines of “let’s get together and talk about credit union issues because we want to.” Not that annual conferences are bad, but this one definitely has that come-together feeling about it, like a credit union Woodstock, man. And just like Woodstock, people should just plan on showing up. Really! Here’s the information for the conference. Just go!
So thanks, Trey and Brent (and the other folks at Trabian) for inviting me. It’s going to be a symposium to remember.
