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SHOWN TO THE RIGHT, ARE THE CONTENTS OF THE 11/27/12 LETTER SIGNED BY PRIORITY ONE CREDIT UNION PRESIDENT, CHARLES R. WIGGINGTON, SR. IN COMPLIANCE TO THE TERMS OF SETTLEMENT AGREED TO BY THE CREDIT UNION AND A MEMBER WHO SUED THE CREDIT UNION, ALLEGING THEIR WILLFUL VIOLATION OF THE PRIVACY ACT.

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Monday, September 7, 2009

You Get What You Pay For

THE PRESIDENT'S FIASCO

Last Wednesday, Priority One Credit Union conducted another of its all-staff quarterly meetings, during which employees are provided information about the credit union's performance and about changes the credit union will introduce to improve business. However, this quarter's meeting differed from all previous quarterly meeting conducted in over the past 10 years. 

The information dispensed during the meeting about the credit union's performance could be described as unenlightening and even disinterest, but President Wiggington, AVP, Rodger Smock, and COO, Beatrice Walker, had plans to make this quarter's meeting one that will not be easily forgotten. 

NOT AN ACADEMY AWARD PERFORMANCE

After covering the usual mundane financial topics which rarely ever reveal the credit union's actual financial standing, COO, Beatrice Walker, walked to the podium and standing before the room of attendees read from a piece of paper which she held tightly in her hands. During the several seconds in which she spoke, her voice quivered and she never looked up at her audience. 

Segueing from the topic of financials, she nervously accused an unnamed group of employees of spreading rumors that she embezzled monies while employed by Honda Federal Credit Union. Despite her poor delivery, she got the attention of every attendees. She declared the rumors an utter lie and labeled them slanderous. She announced that there were two officers from Honda Federal Credit Union who would answer questions about the rumors and state in no uncertain terms, that Mrs. Walker was never involved in thefts of money from their credit union. 

Employees looked around the room, searching for the two officers, but no one entered the room.  Some employees turned and asked their workers if they'd ever heard rumors about Ms. Walker embezzling money from a former employer, but no one had heard the rumors. The reason why people had not heard allegations of Ms. Walker's involvement in embezzlement is because no such rumors had ever circulated at any of the credit union's branches. 

HER TRUE COLORS

Ms. Walker was an accomplice in a poorly developed ploy to slander the writers of this blog and accuse us of fabricating rumors about the new COO, Of course, what we publish is factual otherwise would the President react so vehemently, launching campaigns slandering employee reputations? Ms. Walker's willing participation in the embarrassing and childish plot speaks volumes about her character, ethics, and her lack of self-discipline. We've wondered about Ms. Walker's character and her purpose at the credit union and the spectacle she created, confirms that she was hired by the President to serve as his own, personal tool. Furthermore, the officers from Honda Federal Credit Union who she said would answer employee questions, never materialized. It was part of the sham she willingly perpetrated. 

Ms. Walker has been the subject of one of our previous posts in which we provide excerpts from an NCUA docket in which her name is referenced while she served in the capacity of Call Center Supervisor with Honda Federal Credit Union.

At the time, a temporary employee assigned to Ms. Walker completed two credit card applications in the names of his grandparents and forged their signatures. He next asked Ms. Walker to review only one of the two applications which she promptly signed without verifying the information contained in the document. 

The employee later managed to increase the limits on each card. He began charging merchandise on each before an investigation revealed that he'd committed fraud. 

When interviewed, he said Ms. Walker approved the increase limits for each card, she she adamantly denied.

Though we don't believe she authorized the increases on either credit card, she did approve one of the applications without conducted those procedures needed to prove the applicant's eligibility. At no time have we ever accused her of embezzling money or of even being an accomplice to her former employee's deception, but according to the NCUA documents she did approve one of the credit card applications which was a violation of Honda's procedures.

However, Ms. Walker's outlandish and embarrassing performance brings into question her ethics and why she willingly chose to bring attention to an incident that occurred while she was employed by Honda Federal Credit Union. What's more, she chose to distort the truth by intentionally perpetrating a lie. Her behavior is as disturbing as anything done by President Wiggington. 

Here is an excerpt from page three of the NCUA's docket:

Recommended Decision and Order

"Walker, in her sworn declaration attests that she did not give Respondent permission or approval to open an account for any one who was not a credit union member, nor assist him by filling in an applicant's employee identification number or mailing account application forms to anyone on his behalf. WALKER FURTHER ATTESTS THAT SHE UNDERSTANDS RECORDS INDICATE THAT SHE APPROVED A REQUEST TO INCREASE THE CREDIT LIMIT ON ONE OF THE RESPONDENTS GRANDPARENTS ACCOUNTS..."



EFFECTIVE VS. INEFFECTIVE 

Since 2007, the emotionally undisciplined President began removing departments and processes which once drove business  through which profit was generated and membership, increased. 

His reasons for decimating the Marketing Department and compromising security was borne out of his personal belief system which is spurred by his unfetter imagination. With President Wiggington, his beliefs are not based on tangible evidence but rather on what he believes is the truth. 

Priority One was formerly known as the Postal Credit Union of Los Angeles. Due to its expansion and acquisition of community charters which expanded the scope of who could become a member, the credit union found it necessary to change its name to better express its relationship to members. 

Under President Harris, the name was changed to Priority One Credit Union. The acronym of its new name is POCU which discreetly retained its former identity as the Post Office Credit Union. 

Mr. Harris understood that importance of attracting member interest to the credit union's products and services was contingent upon effective marketing. In response, he implemented a marketing department which over the years, amassed annual industry awards recognizing Priority One's imaginative promotions and highly successful products. 

 At the time, the Marketing Department contracted the services of Andermahr and Company who helped in realizing the credit union's intended promotions. In the 1990's, the credit union asked Andermahr to help design a more modern logo for the growing credit union. At the time, Connie Andermahr affirmed the need for a new logo, stating "Because the credit union was changing its name and soliciting new members that were unaware of the credit union, it was very important that they promote their long history...." 


Years later, an industry vendor publicly complimented Andemahr's for designing a 75th anniversary brochure for the Priority One which epitomized the credit union's long history by integrating decades old photographs of postal carriers and embodied in sleep, modern publication which meshed vintage photographs in a modern and tasteful production. 

Priority One's former Director of Marketing said, "[Because] We want consistency, we do everything through Connie [Andermahr]" and adding, "Andermahr prides herself on achieving long-lasting relationships with credit unions-she has worked with credit unions other than Priority One CU nine, 13 and 21 years, respectively." 

In regards to her company's relationship with Priority OneConnie Andermahr stated, "I like to be called a partner, so most of my relationships are very long. I'm able to be proactive in what we do on a marketing campaign. To win an award, there must be a super campaign and the creative brief must be extremely well planned" and adding that it is imperative that any business identify their competitors and find ways to differentiate themselves from other company. 



In contrast to President Harris, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. has no concept of the role of marketing to business. In 2007, he unexpectedly dismantled the Marketing Department, demoted its Director to Marketing Coordinator and instead, installed a marketing committee staffed by the Lead Consumer Loan Officer, the South Pasadena Branch Manager, the VISA Card Specialist, the AVP of Lending, and AVP's, Rodger Smock and Aaron Cavazos. 

None of the committee's had experience or an education in marketing. Furthermore, their only responsibilities were to select graphics and copy for upcoming promotions. Subsequently, Charles R. Wiggington's less expensive marketing committee was nothing more than an advertising committee with no understanding of what was needed to study the credit union's diverse marketplaces. This was by far, one of the President's most inane moves and one which would cost the credit union tremendous losses. 

On the surface, his excuse for dismantling the Marketing Department was to save money. In January 2007, he declared that his predecessor had wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing efforts and he promised he could achieve much more spending much less money. As time would prove. President Wiggington couldn't have been more wrong.

The committee was responsible for a series of failed promotions, often printed on cheap paper stock and utilizing unimaginative graphics and poorly written ad copy. It was also the marketing committee that created the annual reports which are frugal in appearance. It's one thing to be cost-effective and another to appear cheap. Charles R. Wiggington Sr. has achieved "cheap."   
Erasing the Past

President Wiggington has spent more than two and a half years focusing on obliterating all memory of his predecessor and of those employees who were loyal to former President Harris. He's also indulged in malicious gossip, forging plots which slander employees, and creating stories to cover-up his miserable performance. 

His decisions are wrought from pure, undisciplined, childish emotion. There is something disturbing about a person whose efforts are grounded in vengeance, but why is he driven to disrupt the credit union's working environment? 

Instead of focusing on strategical planning, he is obsessed with undermining people who he is threatened by. He has often said that staff are jealous of him and resentful that he was appointed President but the basis for his statements is grounded in fear. He is paranoid and often stating that he knows people want what he has. He, by the way, has absolutely nothing that anyone would ever want or envy. 

His incompetence has placed Priority One in a state of deterioration. His responses to problems is to implement quick fixes. And from what we've seen since 2007, he lacks the ability to stop accelerating decline. 

In 2007, he refused to abide to security protocols and as a result of his refusal, ballots were mailed to members in envelopes on whose exterior were printed member account and social security numbers. Members responded angrily forcing the credit union to spend $100,000 on contracting the services of Equifax's Credit Watch program. The program was offered at no cost to members for a 12-month period and was designed to monitor member credit activity. 

Recently, the President instructed the Member Services Department to try dissuade members who request enrollment in Credit Watch, citing that use of the program will incur costs to the credit union. Clearly, his offer to a free year's subscription to Credit Watch was disingenuous. What's more, it was he who caused the breach in security, yet the President continues in his refusal to accept accountability for his very avoidable blunder.  

We believe someone will find Jimmy Hoffa and the Loch Ness Monster before we'll ever witness Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. act like the President of the credit union. 

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22 comments:

Anonymous said...

When will the election results be announced?

Is the sexual harassment case settled or still pending?

At the meeting Bea said she was not at Honda when the employee took money.Then why do the papers say she was his supervisor?

Kay said...

The marketing committee is a joke.  As you stated none of them have any marketing background, training or education.  As a matter of fact most of the managers VP's and Wigg do not poses the needed education required for these types of position in these difficult times.  They may of passed the mustard 20 years ago.What type of marketing department would send out promotions to members, before letting the staff know about the promotions?  How are they to respond when member come in or call?  Very poor planning when you leave your staff in the dark.  But when you have upper management running around in the dark, I guess that what you get.The only one who seems to have his act together and have some smarts is Mr. West.I have worked in Credit Union's for over 30 years, large and small and I have never seen such an unprofessional staff and management.  They dress like slobs and do not present themselves professionally when dealing with members.  They are not team players and are rude to their fellow employees.The employees knew what Wigg was like for the last 19 years, yet know one did anything about it, or will not.It's very sad to see a Credit Union with the long time history such as Postal come to this.

Boris said...

You are so right. They don't tell employees about promotions. Sometimes you don't even know about a promo until you see it on a poster in the lobby or someone calls and asks about it. And Wigg dresses like he works at Home Depot and I ain't talking about a manager. They dictate how to dress and they all dress horrible. I said "all."

Anonymous said...

I hadn't thought about it but I don't get those cards in the mail showing what they are offering.

Anonymous said...

They really don't know what they are doing. None of them, not even Wigg, Roger or Patty know what they are doing. They act like they do, but they don't. They don't understand that marketing is more than choosing a picture or thinking up some promotion. And then they write up these long, boring offers when it should be short, fast & to the point. The worst part is they think they know what their doing. Under Mr. Harris time was spent thinking about what the cu was going to offer and listening to members so they could create products people wanted. Just sad to see how they have gone from 1st rate to 2nd rate to unacceptable. Great way to show the old team that you could do better.

Anonymous said...

Last week Patti the avp,got upset during the employee meeting because one employee suggested senior mgmt take a pay cut. She said employees should give up a day instead. Obviously the biggest snot at P1 forgot employees don't earn that much money as she does. She's also afraid because her husband is not working....again!
Back in 06, Patti was told that Aaron Cavazos let the dmv specialist & another employee sign forge mbr names on power of attorney forms loan procesors forgot to have signed when the mbrs got their cars financed. Patti
said she couldn't do anything about it because it came from Aaron her boss. She has always talked down to people just like she did last week but she forgets she is as dishonest as the worst of them.

Anonymous said...

Patty is poor white trash or trailer trash

Anonymous said...

Patti only made avp because Charles can depend on her to break the rules and be dishonest. And your are right the senior mgmt needs to take a cut in pay and let go of the COO who was hired to Help Charles!!!! WHAT TO SCREW THE STAFF AND MEMBERS

Anonymous said...

Please Mr. West is a joke! he writes his "book" all day and takes naps the other half of the day.

Anonymous said...

5 people got fired today.Last week at the company meeting the coo said things were going to get better. She lied. Roger thanked employees who gave up a day. He lied. This blog was so right. Wiggington kept saying things were not bad and getting better but it wasn't until he started hiding the financials we knew something was up. They got rid of Wendy after years and years at the cu. They got rid of Joe who was the guy who took care of the atms and a close friend of the CFO. They got rid of Sonny who was also a friend of the CFO and who was the inside auditor. Why get rid of him. Did he know too much about how Wiggington cooks the books? He ought to expose all he knows. They got rid of George the dmv specialist after they asked him to train someone else to be his backup. Wiggington doesn't care if people lose their jobs, can't pay their rent, take care of their children. And he's the one that has screwed everything up and he is still there. Sickening.

Anonymous said...

Employees are so sad and not just at south pas. We can't believe just what Wiggington has done to the credit union or to us or to the members. When the coo arrived a lot us wondered why the cu was spending so much money if business is bad. We don't understand why they spent so much money on Loren so he could test us and tell them our personalities. That doesn't make sense. You want to stop the losses, get rid of most of the mgmt starting with Wiggington.

Anonymous said...

I was reading some of your posts and am was surprised that months and monnths ago you wrote about comments sent to you by people who read this blog and you wrote your opinions about the credit union's future. 8 months later its all coming true and people are being fired.

Anonymous said...

Robert West is a joke, a training manager who trains who?

Anonymous said...

Do you see how happy wiggington is? This coward goes on vacation while the cu gets gutted by a woman who looks like she just got out the bed. He has no concern at all for the cu, I hope he gets his.

Anonymous said...

First Carol, Maggie, David, Aaron and now Joe, Sonny, Wendy, and George. Calling Wiggington a monster doesn't begin to describe how horrible and sickening he is. He is the worst thing that could happen to any cu. Back in the day, he used to work for Security Pacific Bank. They're no longer in business. Wonder if that's a coincidence?

Anonymous said...

If he wanted to make everyone miserable then he has succeeded.

Anonymous said...

wigigington is a bastard who would screw his own mother.

Rodge is a pimp who screws all the employees.

Direda is just a plain old bitch

And Bea is a idiot who is likes to knife everyonein the back

Anonymous said...

Wiggington is the main problem and a really big embarassment throughout credit union land but the board and supervisory committee are just as much as fault as he is. I did a search and found some info about the duties of the Board Of Directors for Bayview Credit Union. Their web page is at http://www.bayviewnb.com/index.cfm?method=pages.showPage&pageid=c943e48c-c103-64e3-dd0e-e5fc3ec19691. Look at the experience their board brings. P1's board is nothing more than a bunch of uneducated "folks" compared to them. It says
"Accountable to the members it serves, the Board is responsible for strategic planning and ensures that the Credit Union remains prosperous and progressive. Individual board members also serve on various committees."

On State Department Federal Credit Union's web page at http://www.sdfcu.org/aboutus/board.html, it says "Board of Directors...serve without financial compensation. They possess the responsibility for maintaining the general direction and control of the Credit Union to safeguard each member's investments." "Board members also serve on one or more committees."

"We are always looking for interested members who would like to participate in leading our organization for the benefit of all members."

About their Supervisory Committee
the page says, "primary functions of this committee are to ensure that:

On-going reviews and audits to make sure that credit union records are maintained properly, honestly, and accurately.
Policies established by law and by the Board of Directors are carried out faithfully. Members' assets are safeguarded and used according to the purposes of the credit union."

P1's board and supervisory committee obviously have failed the members and employees and they whole lot of them should be kicked out along with their boy.

Anonymous said...

Everyone knows by now that the Board is composed by a bunch of self serving idiots, who have not put the best interest of the Credit Union before their selfish wants. I would like to know why when they were seeking a replacement for Mr. Harris, they felt that this person needed to be a black person. That seemed to be the only qualification needed for the position. I would think they would be more concerned with education, experience, people skills and integrity would be more important? But being black and a puppet were the most important items. I guess when you scrap the bottom of the trash barrel, you get a Wigg. They want employees for take furlough days with out pay. Is this to make up for the new Coo very large pay? Why was Wigg payed for the time off when the Sexual Harassment investigation going on? His pay and the cost of the investigation would have paid for the new Coo. Also all the money wasted for bug sweeps of the office, guard for the annual meeting and the attorneys. You can go on and on, but the buck need to start at the top where the big money is.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous you forgot Kim Burke. Wiggington sexually harassed her, spread rumors about her and then fired her. He did that with the help of Roger and the board then said it was mutual. Mutual my ass. In fact Diedra wasn't even there so how could she or the loser board know it was mutual? Becuase they decided to side with Wiggington the biggest liar at Priority. Way to do your jobs you bunch of morons!

Anonymous said...

Wiggingotn talkd so bad about Maggie before he LAID HER OFF and after, but she at least knew how to market the business. And if you scrape the bottom of any barrel you not only get Wigg, you also get Diedra. The postal workers at LAPDC were so happy when she finally retired. That meant 1 less bad manager.

Anonymous said...

Wiggington has to talk about others because he can't stand looking at himself.

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