Trust and Equity: Cornerstones of the Member Experience

Being a working class kid from the south side of Milwaukee, getting a degree from UW-Madison changed my life forever. It's a nice connection every time I pull out my UW Credit Union debit card and see Bucky Badger – there’s a lot of pride in that. 

When I moved to Madison in 1997 to attend UW, I was like a fish out of water at a Big Ten university with no concept of how to manage money because we never had much of it. At one point, I had a check I needed to cash and my only bank account was in Milwaukee (this was before mobile deposit). I was about to take it to a check-cashing place when I realized paying 20% interest on my money wasn’t a good deal. 

That’s when I found UW Credit Union. 

The financial specialist at the Monroe Street branch knew how to interact with young people. He clearly explained the whole process of opening an account – the account I still have to this day – and had a conversation with me about the basics of money management.

I returned to Milwaukee for graduate school in 2002. Back then, there were very few Milwaukee branches, but there was one on the UWM campus. So it was a little bit of a challenge to stay a member but I had no intentions of switching. Now I have a branch right down the street but I mostly do mobile banking.

When I had to get a new set of wheels pretty quickly to get to a new job, and didn't have the bandwidth to shop around for vehicle loans, I knew UW Credit Union would provide fair loan terms and a positive experience. I was almost 30 when I purchased my first car. Having public transit options before then allowed me to get to jobs and school, and save my money for my education.

Transportation is a huge factor in equity and driver of economic development. Lack of transportation options is a major barrier for employment and people being able to advance in their lives. 

In my work at MobiliSE, I advocate for public transit and transportation choices. Since 2022, our workforce transportation service, FlexRide Milwaukee, has given 125,000 rides and served about 5,000 Milwaukee residents who have used our service to get to good-paying jobs they wouldn't have been able to get to otherwise. The same bus route that can very quickly and efficiently take you a couple of miles within the city can take hours to get out to the suburbs, if they even go there at all – which most routes don’t. 

It's meaningful to me that UW Credit Union has taken demonstrable steps towards equity – such as making overdraft fees fairer – and they haven't backed down. They recognize how those fees disproportionately impact people that are living paycheck to paycheck – which is way more people than I think most people realize.

At various points over the last 30 years, I have had different financial needs. What it really comes down to is trust. UW Credit Union is the same institution that it was in 1997. I know they have my back.