Building trust, community and homeownership: Julie Bowering on the future of credit union lending

HousingWire

Credit unions aren’t just financial institutions — they’re member-first communities dedicated to building financial strength. In this episode of Ten Minute Talks, filmed at ACUMA, Brena Nath interviews Julie Bowering of Lending A+ Federal Credit Union to discuss how credit unions elevate the mortgage process with collaboration, transparency, and borrower education.   Julie emphasizes why mortgages remain central to the credit union mission and how the industry is seizing opportunities to expand access to homeownership. Julie explains why credit unions are more than competitive; they’re vital in shaping the future of lending and financial wellness.    #CreditUnion #MortgageLending #RealEstate #ACUMA

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Bretta Nath, Vice President of Events and Community at Housing Wire. I'm super excited to be

00:12at the ACUMA Conference. The theme of the event is Making Your Mark, and I'm sitting down with

00:17Julie Bowering. She is Senior Vice President of Lending at A Plus Federal Credit Union. So, I mean,

00:23just to start, first off, thanks for joining me. Thank you for having me. One area that I think

00:28would be useful for our audience is kind of first just getting them used to learning who you are.

00:34Can you just lightly touch on your journey, your involvement with ACUMA to help set the foundation

00:39of our conversation? Absolutely. So, I've been in financial services for over 30 years, so I'm

00:45dating myself a little bit. But I've been proud to be part of the credit union movement since the end

00:50of 2013. So, I currently serve as the Senior Vice President of Lending at A Plus Federal Credit Union,

00:56as you said, in Austin, Texas. I have been engaged and a part of ACUMA since 2014. Amazing. So, that's

01:05when I attended my first annual conference. My Chief Lending Officer at the time couldn't attend,

01:10so I attended in his place. And then I went back and said, you know what, I think I should be going

01:14every year as the Vice President of Mortgage at the credit union I was at at the time.

01:20That, I mean, that wealth of knowledge in this space is a great reason why you're on that board,

01:24but also lets you speak to something that I've noticed in attending this event is how much people

01:30reference belonging and community and the power of coming together. That seems so ingrained in the

01:36credit union space. Can you kind of dive into whether it's just even coming to this event, but also

01:41that core almost value that I'm saying, value proposition in the credit union space? Why is belonging

01:47being so important? I'll tell you what, there's so much power in being part of the credit union movement

01:55and really serving members. And when I think about all of the peers and connections I've been able to

02:02make, and friends, honestly, over the course of the last nine years, all just really focused on what we

02:08can do to help serve members, especially when it comes to achieving home ownership, or even just putting

02:13them in a better financial position when it comes to, you know, their current mortgage. And so there's

02:19so many resources and tools and just topics that are just relevant and important to us as credit union

02:28leaders, trying to do the very best that we can to help serve our members when it comes to mortgage

02:33lending. Yep. Mortgage lending is the unique part of this conference. It's not just credit unions.

02:38You oversee lending. Mortgage is the backbone of, I think, a lot of, you know, it's the, you said

02:45earlier, achieving home ownership. It's the American dream. Can you touch on why mortgage lending is still

02:51so important to have at a credit union? I sure can. So, you know, when members are engaged and working

03:00with a credit union, they have put trust and faith in us when it comes to their finances, whether it's

03:05their checking, savings, auto loans, personal loans, right? Why wouldn't we help them with their

03:10mortgage as well? There's so much trust and knowledge and experience that an individual needs

03:17to have in order to educate our members on the home ownership process and the financing process.

03:23So we, I feel like we have tremendous opportunity. I know at A-plus, we are excited and thrilled about

03:31our future state when it comes to providing just a robust product set and services and solutions for

03:39our members. And when I think about my peers all across the country that are here this week,

03:44they're invested in, you know, coming away with tips and best practices and tapping into the network

03:51here in order to go back and continue to find ways to grow their mortgage program and help more members.

03:57Because if we don't do it, they're going to go somewhere else. Yeah. And they do. It's such a

04:01great call out. And even though you guys have this full picture of them, what would you want the real

04:06estate, the realtor, real estate agent, realtor to know about that dynamic? Yes. So I think realtors

04:13should never be afraid or hesitant to work with a credit union. Yeah. There sometimes has been a

04:18stigma in the past, like, oh, credit unions, sure they do mortgage, but you know, an IMB or a bank may have

04:25more knowledge and expertise when it comes to credit union. Not true. I think when I look at my

04:31peers and all of the credit unions that are, again, invested in mortgage lending, I think we have the

04:37knowledge and expertise to be able to serve our members well and build relationships with realtors.

04:43Not only are realtors important to our business and for our members, but they have the opportunity

04:49to help us bring in new members to the credit union, but also existing members as well. Yeah. And one of

04:55the best kept secrets out there is many of our credit unions, everyone's working together as one

05:00team in a centralized location. So typically with a larger IMB or even a bank, you may have your

05:08processors and underwriters and closers in a different city or even a different state. Yeah. The one thing I

05:13love about being in the credit union is the ability to foster that one team culture and environment.

05:19Everyone's invested. Everyone knows that there's a member that needs to close on that loan on time

05:26or early, honestly. And we need to make it as smooth and easy for all parties involved. So that almost goes

05:33back to the first question I asked, which shows how even at this event, community and people are at the

05:37center. And that seems like through what you're saying, it goes back to the borrower. An extra element

05:42that comes into play with credit unions is the educational element. Can you kind of talk about

05:48how education also is an element that helps borrowers, helps you guys serve them? So that's

05:54a great question. I was actually just sitting in general session this morning and one of the

05:59panelists said, you know, it's not really about selling a mortgage to a member or to a potential

06:06client or new member. It's really about education. Honestly, we're talking, you know, the average first

06:12time home buyer age is 38. I just heard that this morning here. Right. And so when we think about

06:18that and we think about all of the things right now, challenges with homeownership from an affordability

06:24perspective, and honestly, just being able to help members navigate the home financing process.

06:31They need us right now more than ever with our knowledge and our expertise to be able to educate

06:37them and really walk with them through the journey from origination all the way through to closing and

06:44getting those keys to their new home. Yeah. It's a tremendous responsibility. Yeah. When one, I think

06:49through the theme of your answers, you can tell that you guys don't take lightly. You guys are focused

06:53on and going back to that theme of putting the person at the center. What are your final closing

06:57thoughts that you want to know to our audience? I mean, the credit union space is here. Mortgage is

07:01clearly a key element. What has you excited about not only 2026, but looking past that when it comes to

07:07ACUMA, credit union, what you're doing in this space? I'll tell you what, Brenna, the key word

07:11for me is opportunity. I talk about it all the time at A+. We have tremendous opportunity to help

07:17even more members than we currently are today with the homeownership process and journey, as well as

07:24just putting them in a better financial position overall when we think about financial wellness and

07:29coming here to ACUMA and being able to really just spend a couple of days, again, gaining knowledge

07:35and experience hearing awesome panelists and speakers about relevant topics that will continue

07:41to help cultivate us and push us into the future when it comes to growing market share and helping

07:48more members with mortgage lending. That has me excited. I appreciate you unpacking so much,

07:53not in the credit union space, but what ACUMA is doing, what we can do in mortgage lending.

07:57So thank you so much, Julie. Thank you.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended