Self-Indulgence Trumps Integrity Any Day

MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES

Over the past 10-days, Priority One Credit Union's President, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. has exhibited behaviors that could have made a wonderful study in human psychological disorders. 

Employees have noticed he appears worried on one day and the next capricious and temperamental and at other times, almost giddy and excessively talkative. Its a virtual emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows. 

Though often inflexible and erratic, increases stresses appear to be taking a toll on the undisciplined President, placing the credit union's gossip mill into full throttle. 

More than half way through the year and the credit union's financial performance remains stranded in the RED with no indication of when Priority One's misfortunes might change. 

MOOD ONE

On Monday, July 20th, the President expressed his dissatisfaction over mounting delinquencies and increased charge-offs and complained that his loan modification program has failed to attract the level of member interest he was so certain would be obtained. He still hasn't learned that he should conduct surveys and studies rather than relying on the concoctions from his wild imagination.

MOOD TWO

By Thursday, July 23rd, the President's mood had changed, again. The catalyst for the change occurred after meeting with CFO, Manny Gaitmaitan. During their discussion, the President ordered the CFO to slightly tweak the credit union's June 2009 financials. He insisted that a slight adjustment in reporting could make the financials much more palatable and would create the impression that business is on the upswing. Though "cooking the books" may not be an uncommon practice, at some point in time, President Wiggington is going to have to prove that actual improvement is occurring. 

MOOD THREE

By Friday, July 24th, the President prepared to meet with the Board of Directors. He appeared giddy and traipsed about the South Pasadena branch and even exhibited a rarely seen air of confidence. 

MOOD FOUR  

Following his meeting with the Board of Directors, the President hastily made his way to his office, closing the door behind him and appearing irked and displeased. 

Obviously, the Board wasn't enthused over the credit union's financials, even after these had been altered to lessen their negative impact. 

THANK YOU

We'd like to extend our thanks to readers who over the past several weeks, have provided us with emails describing their personal experiences while employed by Priority One Credit Union. The amount of personal accounts sent us, attests that something is sorely amiss at Priority One Credit Union. Lately, he has escalated efforts to trap the people who he believes are leaking information to this blog. It's nothing less than hypocrisy that the worst violator of policy at Priority One is launching a witch hunt to capture employees he believes are violating policies as much as he is. Here are some of the comments sent to us in recent weeks:

"Charles took Diedra to the desk of the person he thinks is writing this blog. They talked about it while walking through collections, the loan department and the member service department."

"Rodger [Smock] told Charles that he knows who is writing the blog."

"Wigg says he knows who is giving you information and he's going to get them all."

"Charles was on his cellular telling someone that he has a camera in his office because he doesn't know whose going to get him."

"Wiggington says he is sick of hearing [the name of the woman he's accused of sexually harassing] and he wants that woman out of his life."

"The president has been talking about an employee who crashed the van and how the employee is costing him money and must have been on drugs."

"Charles was in Patti's office talking loudly about Yuling and saying he doesn't need her negative attitude and is going to get rid of her if she doesn't start doing what he says."

"Charles said Mr. Harris screwed everything up and he has spent years having to correct Harris' mistakes."

"Charles was in Beatrice's office telling her people are out to get him."

Well, it seems the President has no thought of guarding confidentiality. Why someone would choose to divulge confidential information in the presence of staff members who should not be privy to the information is quite frankly, inexplicable. 

The President says that he "doesn't know whose going out to get him." Really? Who would want him? Does he have any evidence that might lend credence to his statements or is this just more neurotic babbling from a man who loves fabricating stories?  

READER'S FAVORITE

AVP, Rodger Smock, made his way through every department in the South Pasadena branch, proudly announcing that a recent article in the "Daily News" disclosed that readers of the publication voted Priority One the "reader favorite." If true, then why is the credit union experiencing an all-time high in accounting closures, reduced membership, and amassing complaints citing poor member services? The publication never mentions how many readers voted Priority One their favorite, so we'lll take the claim with the tiniest grain of salt. 

PERKS TO A VOLUNTARY BOARD

Gasoline Expense

We've recently discovered that several months ago, President Wiggington authorized that all Directors be provided with an allowance of $30 to cover their gas expense when having to attend monthly meetings. Most of the Directors live in or near  the city of Los Angeles. The roundtrip drive from their homes to the South Pasadena branch couldn't cost more than $6. So why are they being paid $30 to travel to and from the branch once day a month? And don't they serve as volunteers? 

Free Internet

The President also provides all Directors and Supervisors free Internet access. He is able to do this by remotely connecting them to the credit union's network. They are not employees of the credit union, they are supposed to be volunteer officers, so why are they receiving free Internet access? 

Educational Junkets

In earlier posts, we reported that in recent years, the Board was allowed to attend educational junkets, including traveling to Europe, Hawaii and most recently to Las Vegas. During each excursion, most of the Directors including it's Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks, opted to skip the classes they were sent to attend and instead went sightseeing all at a cost to the credit union. 
   

HOLDING EMPLOYEES ACCOUNTABLE 

Merit Increases

The President, angered by our frequent reporting about the freeze he placed on all raises just a few months ago, issued a memorandum on July 21st, containing the following message: 

"Performance reviews ending 2008 and their 2008 merit increase consideration must be submitted by Friday, July 31st. These must be reviewed, submitted and completed by this date for any past due 2008 merit consideration. No consideration for 2008 merit increase will be honored after July 31st."

At many companies, it's supervisors and Human Resources who are responsible for insuring performance evaluations are completed by their designated due date. Not so at Priority One where employees are required to evaluate their performance. Once completed, it is submitted to their supervisor for review. However, at Priority One, evaluations are sometimes late by as much as one year, pointing to a problem with both supervisors and the Human Resources Department who is to ensure the evaluations are completed on time. 

In  the meantime, many employees continue to work outside of their job classifications which is illegal under California Labor law and all employees are currently subject to a wage freeze.  

THE 911

The President recently disclosed that he is considering hiring consultants to delve out solutions needed to resolve the credit union's increasing inability strategies needed to spur business which has been in decline for more than one year. He says he hopes to focus on key problem areas including finding ways to reverse monthly losses, augment business development and finds ways of improving deteriorating employee morale. 

He also wishes to develop a means by which to identify "rebel employees" who he says are causing Priority One's decline. He has placed emphasis on the fact that the tactics used to terminate employees must be legal so to eliminate the potential incidence of lawsuits. 

It doesn't take a financial wizard to know that his plan will be costly and will offset the credit union's bottom line. What's more, isn't his plan the antithesis of his statements made during the annual meeting that he was seeking ways to reduce spending, "streamling", and "working smarter." We invite President Wiggington to explain what he meant by "working smarter" because what we are seeing isn't sagely or productive.  And is he using the monies saved from the company-wide wage freeze to hire consultants? 

SPENDING MONEY THEY DON'T HAVE

COO, Beatrice Walker. has recently disclosed that she is planning to install the credit union's first Call Center which she is describing as an "one-stop Call Center." The new center will answering incoming calls formerly diverted to all branches, providing account information, transferring funds between accounts and opening new loan applications. However, isn't the ambitious and potentially costly plan inconsistent with President Wiggington's May 2009 declarations that he is seeking ways to reduce spending?

The COO has said she may want to install the center in the South Pasadena branch, in the space located behind the Teller line. What we find peculiar is that in 2008, the President purchased the credit union's current phone system at a cost of $600,000, insisting the system would circumvent having to create a Call Center. Evidently, like much of what the President attempts, the telephone system he selected without the assistance of his executive staff, has failed. Is this again an example of how Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. is "working smarter"? And are the President and COO using money that might usually be spent on wage increases, to build a Call Center? 

FRUGALITY

To save money, the credit union is also reducing budges once used in the development of new business, on marketing and needed to participate in community and city chamber events. Since 2007, the quality of credit union publications including brochures promoting products and services and the annual report have cheapened in appearance. Nowadays, the quality of paper and ink has been reduced suggesting President Wiggington doesn't understand the difference between being cost-effective and looking cheap. 

THE ELECTORAL PROCESS

The credit union recently responded to concerns which asked what happened to this year's election. On July 28, 2009, President Wiggington issued the following notice:

Ballots have been mailed for the election of two (2) members to the Supervisory Committee. These ballots must be postmarked by midnight, September 15, 2009. The election results will be in the October newsletter.This info is being provided in the event a member inquires about receiving a ballot.

Several days after the deadline for submitting nominations had passed, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. once again violated state law when he accepted a nomination from a member. The member had been coaxed by Director, Bobby Thomas, over a period of almost 2 months, to submit his nomination but the member missed the deadline. Despite being ineligible to submit his nomination, the Board Chair and President made an exception. But why violate state law? 

As we've mentioned in previous posts, Board Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks, is a woman who likes the Board's and Supervisory Committee's current dynamic. The Directors and Supervisors are completely subservient to her every whim and never disagree with any of her decisions. Last year, the President revealed that he and the Board Chair had decided it was imperative that none of the Directors or Supervisors leave. To ensure current Directors and Supervisors remained unchanged, they first orchestrated the mailing of state-mandated notices announcing the election, to only those members who have a checking account and excluding the larger sector of members who only have a savings account. There plan may have worked had we not expose it on this blog.

When Mr. Davidson submitted his nomination, Director, Bobby Thomas volunteered to find a member who nominate themselves and thus reduce the chances of Mr. Davidson being elected. And though Mr. Thomas' nominee submitted his nomination after the deadline, Mrs. Harris-Brooks and the other Directors started a campaign promoting the nominee's name. So why did the Board Chair and President want to derail Mr. Davidson's chances to win a seat on the  Supervisory Committee? 

Two years ago, it was Dave Davidson who received an anonymous letter mailed to his home which exposed then AVP, Liz Campos, of having overdrawn her account on 24 separate NSF incidents to her Priority One checking account. An investigation which included an audit of Mrs. Campos' account revealed she had been kiting- a federal offense. She had used checking accounts from three different institutions to issue checks in amounts exceeding her account balances. The termination of Mrs. Campos, who the President described as his "friend", incensed the vindictive CEO, who publicly declared, "I'm going to get Dave Davidson!" Apparently, the President was unconcerned by the violation of federal law perpetrated by Mrs. Campos but incensed by the fact his hand-picked AVP was exposed. Doesn't that say a lot about Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. abhorrent character?

The tyrannical and unscrupulous Mrs. Harris-Brooks succeeded in retaining the almost all Black Board and the entire Black Supervisory Committee. Only time will tell what effects the scurrilous tactics employed by the President and Board Chair will have upon the credit union. For the two notorious officers, the credit union's reputation and integrity mean absolutely nothing when all their only objective is gratifying their insatiable wants.

Cutting Back in All the Wrong Places

CUTTING OUT THE SMALL THINGS

Today, we obtained of a memorandum dated February 24, 2009, issued by President Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. to all of Priority One Credit Union's staff at all branches. The subject of his memorandum is reducing expenditures. According to the President, the elimination of food on payday Fridays will save approximately $12,000 per year. What are they serving employees, caviar and Armand de Brignac Brut Rose Champagne? 

The President states that Priority One is no longer able to afford paying "treats" which for years, were provided to employees at all branches on payday Fridays. Prior to January 1, 2007, the date Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. began serving as President of the then thriving and growing credit union, there was no problem providing employees with a perk that expressed how the credit union felt about its employees. And though Charles R. Wiggington spent 2007, 2008, and January and February of this year boasting that business was experiencing an upward surge, the elimination of this long held tradition suggests President Wiggington has been exaggerating the credit union's actual financial standing.

Eliminated unnecessary spending is prudent and should be consistently practiced by all businesses. The current cut-back is being implemented just two months after the credit union ended 2008 with more than $5 million in losses. But is the elimination of this expense sufficient to positively impact the credit union? Aren't there other areas in spending where reductions are more urgently needed?   So what items were being purchased on Payday Fridays that added up to an expense of approximately $12,000 per year? Food is always purchased at CostCo in Alhambra, California. The most common foods stuffs purchaed by the credit union, are: 

• Fruit, i.e. apples and grapes
• Coffee cake
• Boxes of croissants

The act of buying food for employees on Payday Fridays is not something the credit union has to do. However, it would seen that this bi-weekly expense is hardly going to have a noticeable impact on a business whose financial losses are increasing. President Wiggington's memorandum is shown below:

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DATE: February 24, 2009

TO: All Employees

FROM: C.R. Wiggington, Sr.

SUBJECT: REDUCTION OF EXPENSES

As I have asked all of you to submit to me any ideas, suggestions, comments

as to the reduction of expenses for the credit union, this recommendation

will provide a substantial reduction for the year.

It was recommend that the “employee payday treats” be eliminated. Just

think about the savings---food, kitchen supplies (plasticware, cups, plates

napkins) and the time procuring these items. It is estimated that the savings

will be in excess of $12,200 per year.

We will continue to provide the complimentary coffees, teas, cocoa, water,

cups, plates and plasticware in the lunch rooms.

We will still provide the “payday Friday member treats”. This is only

coffee, bottled water, candy, cookies, juice as per previous arrangements.

I will mess the “payday Friday treats” as well. But we must conserve for the

credit union and the membership expectations during the economic situation

of the US and world economies.

This will be effective immediately with February 20, 2009 being the last of

the “payday Friday treats.”

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One problem affecting Priority One's financials is President Wiggington's unbridled spending. Since being appointed President he's spent money on a $600,000 phone system, an on an upgraded email program, and on useless, silly an immensely stupid inspirations like a large badge he designed on which were printed the words, "JUST ASK." At the time the badges were distributed to all employees, the President declared the badge would bring in massive amounts of new business. His declaration proved to be untrue and within 30-days after being distributed, the badges stopped being won by staff. 

During the 2008, the President approved sending Board's Directors to Hawaii and Las Vegas to attend educational junkets. The credit union paid for airfare, hotel accommodations and provided a daily food allowance. We've confirmed that each member was allotted a total of $3,000 to travel to Hawaii. We also discovered that the Directors did not attend the junkets but visited tourist sites. Evidently, the derelict Directors didn't realize they were flown to Hawaii to obtain knowledge needed to carryout their responsibilities. 

In 2008, thousands of dollars were spent hiring EXTTI, Inc. to conduct an extensive investigation of allegations that President Wiggington had allegedly sexually harassed a former employee. Employees were interviewed over a six week period and the investigator concluded that the President had indeed sexually harassed a former Real Estate Loan Officer. And though the investigator recommended the termination of the President, Board Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks, led Directors, Thomas Gathers and O. Glen Saffold and Supervisory Committee Chair, Cornelia Simmons, to vote for the President's reinstatement. The President was also paid for each day he remained on suspension. 

The investigation included the involvement of the credit union's attorney, William Adler, which constituted yet another expense. 

Two weeks ago, President Wiggington contracted the services of Sepia Consulting. The owner and chief consultant of the firm, conducted an electronic sweep of the President's office, searching for electronic surveillance equipment the President was sure had been placed throughout his office. The sweep turned up nothing though the services for the consultant were paid by the credit union and not the President. .

Two weeks ago, Mr. Wiggington, Sr. contacted a security firm who conducted a sweep of his office to uncover the hidden microphones which are recording the information exposed in this blog. Did he pay for their services from his pocket or did he charge this to the credit union? The money would have been better spent had a sweep of his mouth been performed.

On January 1, 2007, the President unveiled his new Assistant Vice President ("AVP") sector who he said would change how Priority One develops new business and maximize business development. The President was again, wrong. Each of his four AVP's had been managers appointed by former President, William E. Harris. President Wiggington not only hand-picked each new AVP but authorized substantial increases in salary. 

The President has also boasted that when he flies on business, he only flies first class. He has said that the seat in coach are uncomfortable. 

In 2008, the President ordered all hardcopies of member records packed and sent to be microfiched and afterwards, placed in storage. The area which had served as the File Room was vacated and new carpet installed by the President. Desks were also purchased and new computers installed. He then ordered the IT and Card Services Departments moved into the former File Room leaving the offices empty that the departments had former occupied. . 

In 2008, the President spent more credit union monies revamping the South Pasadena patio and installing new redwood planks and purchasing patio furniture for a space that traditionally, has barely been utilized by employees. 

In 2006, Priority One manually input information into its network for employees of Inland Counties Federal Postal Credit Union. Inland Counties had merged with Priority One at the end of 2006 and on January 1, 2007, it's members effectively became a part of Priority One's database. Unfortunately, the transition to Priority One failed and many of Inland Counties' employees could not access their new Priority One accounts or use their check cards. Rather than responding to a problem affecting all members formerly under membership to Inland Counties, the President ordered that staff only respond to those members who took the time to call Priority One. His directive backfired and the credit union was forced to pay more than $100,000 to rectify a problem affecting only 1200 members. The President's decision not to address the entire problem resulted in mass account closures by members of the newly merged group. 

On January 4, 2007, the President announced he was implementing a retention program which would be staffed by two employees who would try to persuade members requesting to close their accounts, from doing so. He said a retention program would reduce the potential for losses. Two years later, a retention program has yet to be implemented.

Two months ago, the Board of Directors contacted the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and offered $20,000 to settle the complaint filed by the former employee who had been sexually harassed by the President. When the offer was rejected, the Board offered $40,000.  

In view of the President's abusive spending habits, its seems more than a little absurd that in an effort to reduce spending, he now chooses to eliminate purchased food for employees on Payday Fridays. We're 100% certain that his decision will have no positive impact on spending.  

One last concern we have is what happened to the $15 million in new assets obtained from the merger with Inland Counties? And why did President Wiggington choose to borrow $20 million in mid-2008, from the credit union's line-of-credit? 

Choosing Not to be Proactive

 Inland Counties Postal Credit Union

We received a comment from a reader using the handle, KayO, concerning the 2006 merger between Inland Counties Postal Credit Union ("Inland Counties") and Priority One ("Priority One"0 Credit Union. KayO writes:

KayO wrote:

The only one hurt in the merger was Inland Counties Postal Credit Union.Instead of using XP system to do the conversion, they chose to do it by inputting all accounts and information, thus saving $50,000. BIG BIG mistake.

Pertinent information was left off accounts such as joint owners, telephone numbers, loans just to name a few. Debit card where issued and to activate them, the member was to call from their home number. Unable to activate, as no phone number [appeared] on the system. Their old debit card from Inland had been shut down on Friday. So they were unable to access their funds. Checks were issued with out the joint members name on them, as this information is taken from the system. Retirement, Social Security and other direct deposits were not posted to account because they had not been set up correctly. The deposits were rejected and Priority made no effort to correct the rejections. They just sat back and waited until the member called wanting to know where their money was or checks had been returned because the funds were not in there account. Loans were delinquent because the transfers where not made due to funds not in their account. Late notices were sent and calls made to members. Priority One took a loss of over $60,000. due to all the errors they made in the merger.

All because they want to save $50,000 You should ask them how many accounts they lost over the merger from Inland Counties CU. This is just the tip is the iceberg of the problems that Inland Counties members suffered during the merger not to mention what their employees.

I hope NCUA does something about the board (who wanted to get paid a monthly salary, which is against the Regs) I guess they forget they are VOLUNTEERS ( UNPAID WORKERS) as described in the dictionary. They are just in it for themselves and what they can gain.

KayO is correct. Priority One could have used XP2 to transfer records for all members of Inland Counties Postal Credit Union into it's own database but it chose not to do so as a means by which save thousands of dollars. There is a difference between being cost-effective and being frugal.  At Priority One, there is clearly an imbalance between what is spent on member service, business development and marketing and what is spent by President Wiggington on indulging his wants, i.e. flying first class versus coach, authorizing large amounts spent on trips for Directors and Supervisors to allegedly attend educational junkets, etc. 

The decision to manually input member records into the credit union's database ignored the possibility of potential human error and as it turned out, human error was indeed the cause of the debacle which proved a public relations nightmare for a credit union continually immersed in scandals. 

Exacerbating the failure to transition Inland Counties' member records into Priority One's database was the fact that President Wiggington chose not to respond to the incident in either a timely or effective manner. When he was advised that Inland Counties' members could not access their accounts, they could not use their VISA check cards and that scheduled BillPay payments had not been processed, he ordered that his staff only respond to members who actually called the credit union. His directive ignored the fact that the issue affected all accounts of all Inland Counties members. He failed to be proactive and demonstrated he had no concern for members and the tremendous inconvenience they were subjected to. 

And though we understand KayO's hope that the NCUA will choose to conduct an investigation of Priority One Credit Union, historically, it often takes a lot to move any government department to initiate corrective measures. 

The President's refusal to act proactively aggravated an already serious incident and as a result, many former Inland Counties' members closed their accounts. Furthermore, the chronically obtuse Board of Directors did not delve into the matter nor did they hold the President responsible for failing to respond quickly and effectively. Maybe a body of volunteer Directors is at the root of Priority One's growing problems. After all, in life you get what you pay for.