Team Awesome Sauce Proposal- April 9, 2015
Gabrielle Alexander, David Gutierrez, Katy Hudson, Jeremy Ochoa and Paul Oja

Team Awesome Sauce will evaluate the strategic issues at Kern Schools Federal Credit Union (KSFCU). Credit unions are not-for-profit corporations owned by members who pool their money to provide loans and services to other members. The cooperative structure, one-member equals one-vote, ensures fairness. Any profits earned by a credit union are passed along to members in the way of higher dividends, better loan rates, and smaller fees.
We chose to evaluate KSFCU for several reasons:
1.) Consumer spending financed by debt is a large and important part of our economy. The Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, provides a current regulatory/legislative issue with which the credit union must deal as the CFPB considers legislation regulating consumer finance markets.
2.) The “anti-bank” sentiment that grew out of the latest recession and mortgage crisis is an interesting social issue and we look forward to seeing how the credit union might deal with that, or if it even is an issue? Is there an opportunity for it and others in the credit union industry to capitalize on the non-profit status of credit unions as a way to promote goodwill and increase membership among those who feel harmed by other financial institutions over the last several years?
3.) The credit union has balance sheet and financial information that is readily and easily available for our evaluation and we feel our contacts there, Neil Marshall, Senior Vice President and CFO, and Vice President of Loans and Collections Hilary Applebee can provide valuable information and education to us as we pursue this