Plainspoken credit-union strategy for a cautious market.
Dave Berger uses this CU2.0 conversation to make a simple case: when consumer confidence is shaky, credit unions can still act as financial stabilizers.

Credit union futures, stated plainly.
The CU2.0 Podcast is a working-room conversation about credit unions, fintech, member trust, and the pressures reshaping financial services. It favors plain questions, named examples, and guests who can explain what a board or CEO might actually do next.
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The CU2.0 Podcast is a credit union industry show with a clear fixation: what comes next, and whether credit unions are ready for it. Its conversations are interview-led, plain-spoken, and often framed around a specific article, product, market signal, or guest claim. The pace is steady. The questions tend to start from practical skepticism rather than polish. A discussion of consumer confidence turns into a look at pre-approved loans, dealer financing, and the moment a homeowner needs fast help for a broken furnace. A conversation about CineFi becomes a case study in digital-only expansion, entertainment workers in Atlanta, and what a credit union can launch without a new charter. Stablecoins show up often, not as speculative noise but as a coming payments issue for credit unions that still depend on card economics and member trust. AI gets similar treatment. It is discussed through data quality, response accuracy, human review, call transcripts, and the everyday mess of institutional knowledge. The show also spends time on loyalty, deposits, lending, advocacy, and the shrinking number of small credit unions in the United States. It has a strong bias toward named operators and concrete examples. Guests include fintech CEOs, credit union executives, advocacy voices, and specialists who can translate a technical shift into board-level choices. The mood is not glossy. It can be dry, urgent, and occasionally skeptical, especially when credit unions are slow to act. That gives the show its usefulness. It assumes the audience already understands the movement, then asks whether the movement is adapting fast enough to keep mattering.
Made for: Built for credit union executives, board members, fintech partners, consultants, and industry watchers who want practical context on lending, payments, AI, member data, loyalty, and advocacy. It suits listeners who already know the sector and want direct questions more than broad finance chatter.
What sets it apart: The show stays unusually close to the credit union operating reality: charters, members, boards, loan demand, data systems, payment rails, and the pressure from megabanks and fintechs. It turns big technology and market shifts into blunt questions about what credit unions can actually do.
This podcast explores contemporary, critical thinking and issues impacting the nation's credit unions. What do they need to be doing to not just survive but prosper?
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
The CU2.0 Podcast turns credit-union innovation into concrete questions about technology, lending, payments and institutional execution.
Robert McGarvey treats credit-union strategy as a series of operating decisions. His interviews move from a large question about an institution's future to the systems, products and tradeoffs underneath it, with guests given room to explain how their plans would work in practice.
Robert McGarvey makes credit-union futurists show their work before you buy the next shiny banking pitch.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Plainspoken credit-union strategy for a cautious market.
Dave Berger uses this CU2.0 conversation to make a simple case: when consumer confidence is shaky, credit unions can still act as financial stabilizers.
A clear look at a rare digital-only credit union launch and the machinery behind it.
Stephen Owen frames Cinefy as a digital-only credit union with no branches, and the piece is strongest when it keeps to the basics: why the institution exists, how its membership ties to Atlanta-area Georgia counties, and why a launch like this is still unusual enough to notice.
A blunt look at how AI and stablecoins could reshape credit union payments.
The episode treats the future of credit unions as a practical payments problem, not a branding debate. It moves cleanly from AI to Bitcoin to stablecoins, and it is most convincing when those ideas are tied to merchant pressure, payment rails, and the squeeze from interchange…
Big data and AI are framed as complementary parts of the same credit-union problem.
Anne Legg and Sarup Barwani make a straightforward case that credit unions do not need to choose between big data and AI. The conversation stays practical: data quality, context, and the plumbing that lets AI work.





Real-estate freedom, taught in plain numbers.

This episode explores Remynt's innovative approach to debt collection, which focuses on helping consumers pay off debts and rebuild credit while assisting credit unions in recovering funds.
Consumer confidence is wobbly, and Union Credit's CEO says credit unions have a shot at steadying members before the stressful money moment hits.
Robert McGarvey talks with Stephen Owen, CEO of First Entertainment, about Cinefy and why it came together.
An interview with leaders from Circle and StableCore about blockchain investment and digital asset infrastructure for credit unions.
This episode discusses shifting from card-centric to relationship-focused loyalty campaigns in credit unions to grow deposits and strengthen banking relationships.
This episode discusses how credit unions can use DeepTarget's fintech tools to mine member data for better service and increased revenue.
Robert McGarvey interviews Dr.
Host Robert McGarvey interviews Jason Sturek about why small credit unions matter and how to help them survive and thrive.
Anne Legg (founder, Thrive 3.0) and Saroop Bharwani (co-founder and CEO, Senso) join the CU2.0 Podcast to argue that big data and AI are complementary rather than competing forces for credit unions.
An interview with Judy.ai CEO Gord Baisley about how credit unions can use automation to increase small business lending and reduce friction.
This episode explores a credit union's new research CUSO, Room 39A, and its potential to help credit unions compete with big banks and fintechs.
An interview with economist Bill Handel discussing economic trends and strategic advice for credit union CEOs navigating uncertainty.
An interview with Kirk Drake about AI adoption in credit unions, addressing the gap between AI initiatives and results, and promoting a launch event focused on AI.
This episode discusses how fintech Ribbon helps credit unions efficiently handle deceased members' estates and retain assets, featuring interviews with Ribbon's CEO and First City Credit Union's CEO.
A credit union member shares her positive experience with a cashback debit card, highlighting the benefits of fintech partnerships for credit unions.
Interview with Kevin Hart of Green Check Verified about how credit unions can serve marijuana businesses legally and profitably.
This episode explores how credit unions can effectively rename themselves to stay relevant, featuring insights from branding expert Phil Davis of Tungsten on the process and examples of successful rebrands.
This episode explores Takara's solution to the mortgage lock-in effect using a Danish-style mortgage payoff model to help credit unions offer principal discounts and create new revenue opportunities.
This episode explores the resurgence of youth banking in credit unions, featuring insights from Incent's president and Pioneer Federal Credit Union on why now is the right time for this market.
This episode features an interview with Shanti Shanmugam, CEO of CASAP, discussing how automation can streamline chargeback and dispute processing for credit unions to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
This episode explores how credit unions can use AI and data from Virtus to improve new member acquisition campaigns by targeting more profitable customers, featuring insights from Virtus CEO Mitch Rutledge and Education Credit Union representatives.