There are few opportunities to bring the credit union movement to the national stage better than appearing on national news! This last Monday, QCash CEO Seth Brickman appeared on Mornings with Maria on the Fox Business channel to speak with anchor Maria Bartiromo about solutions to everyday Americans’ battles with inflation while trying to pay for even the basic essentials.
Consumers are fighting inflation on multiple fronts
We have all felt the effects of the economic challenges occurring around the world for a while now. The U.S. economy is battling multiple fronts in the fight to lower the costs of consumer goods. According to an October Consumer Price Index report cited in Forbes, items that have been affected the most over the last 12 months include:
- Meats and poultry, +8 percent
- Fruits and vegetables, +9.3 percent
- Electricity, +14.1 percent
- Utility gas service, +20 percent
- Airline fares, +42.9 percent
- Primary resident rents, +7.5 percent
While a variety of consumer indexes such as cars and trucks, medical care, and airline fares are showing signs of easing from September into October, don’t tell that to individuals and families who are beginning to face layoffs in early November. The CPI report shows costs remain high overall for consumers across the nation, especially in the South and West that saw an 8.1 percent increase from October 2021 to October 2022, highest in the country.
As Seth stated in the interview above, “The Financial Health Network does an annual Pulse report, and it showed that for the first time in five years, the financial health of Americans actually decreased.” And that’s not even including the fact that corporations across a range of industries have laid off tens of thousands of workers in the last few weeks as earnings have slowed and executives foresee economic turbulence on the horizon in 2023. On November 9, Facebook’s parent Meta laid off 13 percent of its staff while Twitter, under the tumultuous control of new owner Elon Musk, slashed half its staff, then asked some to return when it claimed they were laid off “by mistake.” Such developments directly affect American workers’ financial lives and stress levels, and taking into account many economists and executives’ worries, it couldn’t come at a worse time.
That’s why a financially healthy and economically stabilizing force like small dollar loans and credit unions’ relationship with them is so important. They are a reputable financial tool within credit unions that Mr. Brickman wanted to share with Fox Business’s national audience in the pursuit of mass awareness for responsible methods of financial inclusion in the mainstream financial system. By partnering with fintech like QCash CUSO, credit unions can show why, as Seth states above, “getting (consumers) out of predatory lending is so important.” By helping to get them out of the predatory payday lending culture of roll-over loans, abusive fees, and overall financial uncertainty, your credit union allows the consumer to realize what real access means while providing a stable financial environment through accessibility, trust, and eventual long-term loyalty.
Featuring a truly accessible and affordable financial product like QCash CUSO into your credit union core, you enable your members to experience “people helping people” in its truest form. Whether they’re home struggling with more month than money or stuck on the side of the freeway knowing they can’t pay for the tow truck, much less the car repair, with QCash they won’t have to tap into and damage “their credit and their savings to actually pay for the essentials; food, fuel, and rent,” as Maria categorized it.
We greatly appreciate Seth’s appearance on Maria Bartiromo’s Mornings with Maria on Fox Business, and we certainly hope it won’t be the last time. QCash CUSO’s mission continues in its efforts to make credit unions aware of the financial products and services available to increase financial inclusion for their members and build a financially healthy life in which they can be proud.
