From bartending in Estes Park to golf lessons to running a multimillion-dollar CUSO, Michael Nagl's story proves that the best leaders take unexpected roads. He and Mark Ritter dig into mortgage-lending boom-and-bust cycles, why member service still beats automation, and how a niche auto-leasing program now serves credit unions nationwide. They also swap stories about golf at altitude and Estes Park, Colorado. Whether you run lending or just love a great career journey story, this episode of Credit Union Conversation delivers insight, humor, and real talk about building lasting credit union partnerships in a shifting rate environment.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

✅ How credit union lending partners like Centennial balance mortgage rate cycles with steady member service

✅ Why member business loans and commercial real estate lending demand local market expertise

✅ How indirect auto loans and leasing give credit unions a low-delinquency, high-yield product

✅ What separates a true credit union partnership from a simple vendor relationship

Subscribe to Credit Union Conversations for the latest credit union trends and insights on loan volume and business lending! Connect with MBFS to boost your credit union’s growth today.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Meet Michael Nagl, CEO of Centennial Lending, and learn about his ties to Estes Park, Colorado

05:10 From bartending to golf pro, Michael's unconventional path into credit union lending

12:19 Managing mortgage lending boom and bust cycles, including the 2023 workforce reduction

16:02 Why member service still wins over automation in today's mortgage lending market

22:56 Inside Centennial's member business loans and commercial real estate lending strategy

29:53 How indirect auto loans and leasing became a niche win for the credit union service organization

37:13 What makes a strong credit union partnership work, plus Centennial's four strategic pillars

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

💎 Strong credit union lending relationships depend on communication, discipline, and genuine member service, not just rates

💎 Mortgage lending is cyclical, and CUSOs that absorb the boom and bust protect staff and credit union partners alike

💎 Auto leasing and member business loans give credit unions low-delinquency ways to diversify their lending portfolio

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Michael Nagl - LinkedIn

Michael Nagl - Email

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Mark Ritter - Website

Mark Ritter - LinkedIn

SEO KEYWORDS:

Credit Union Conversations, Mark Ritter, MBFS, Credit Unions, CUSO, Credit Union Lending, Mortgage Lending, Member Business Loans, Commercial Real Estate Lending, Auto Leasing, Indirect Auto Loans, Credit Union Service Organization, Centennial Lending, Blue Federal Credit Union, Mortgage Rates

[00:00:37] And this week, I do indeed have, we'll have one of my good credit union friends coming on, and is-- my guest this week is Michael Nagle, the CEO of Centennial Lending out there in Colorado. How is it in beautiful Colorado these days?

[00:01:08] As you and I talked in the past, I-I'm a-- my family is a skiing family, and we had a, a pretty rough, uh, season. But, uh, they're talking about El Niño, which hopefully brings some moisture our way, and, uh, I think we can handle one year of, of, uh, lack of moisture, but two would be pretty bad for Colorado and those downstream, particularly Arizona, Nevada, some of those folks.

[00:01:39] Mark Ritter: So I, as a kid, didn't get to travel very much, and I believe it was two years ago, you had our CUSO group out to Estes Park, Colorado, which one of, one of my favorite getaways and a place that I never would have stumbled [00:02:00] upon if not had been for your invitation, and had just had a fabulous time and would love to make it back to that area someday.

[00:02:22] Michael Nagl: You bet. Yeah, Estes Park is the, the eastern gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, and from my understanding, they, they attract, uh, over six million visitors a year now, which ranks them, I believe, somewhere in the top six or seven in national parks throughout the country, and it's just a wonderful place.

[00:03:02] I was up there this last weekend for our 62nd annual Wheel Open. It's a, just a fun golf tournament, bunch of guys get together and have a few laughs and drink a few beers. Love visiting up there. We still have a home up there. You know, there was some history up there with credit unions as well. Back in 1934, they, uh, by the YMCA, they signed some charter documentation And with the NCUA, they had a good place to meet way back, gosh, what was that?

[00:03:48] Mark Ritter: Yeah, it is absolutely stunning.

[00:04:07] Michael Nagl: Absolutely. You know, our, our lineup up there when we send people for drinks is that we'll, we'll buy the second drink.

[00:04:39] Sometimes it's kinda heavy, but, uh, uh, as long as they're in town having fun, that's, uh, that's great by me.

[00:05:04] you know, growing up as a youngster and, uh, that professional path and what you're up to today.

[00:05:30] And so, uh, I had the opportunity to enter the golf business. I was an avid golfer growing up and through school, and then, uh, jumped into the PGA professional track, and not the folks that are playing at Shinnecock this weekend, but more on the, the country club and municipal level where you could give lessons, run golf tournaments.

[00:06:17] And from there, I actually ran into Mark Bostock, who, uh, was the first CEO here at Centennial Lending, and I gave golf lessons to he and his family for a few years and, uh, got to know Mark really well. Of course, Mark Ritter, you, you know Mark from, from your past and, uh-

[00:06:36] Michael Nagl: He, he is a legend.

[00:06:59] On your days [00:07:00] off, you're typically there as a young professional working because that's when your opportunity provides itself to give golf lessons, and that's where you make additional income. And, uh, one day I used-- we used to play nine holes every week, Mark and I, as sort of a playing lesson, and I said, "You know, what does it take to get in your line of work?"

[00:07:47] And, uh, and then from there, my role transitioned a little bit into, um, you know, participating, packaging, underwriting these member business loans into being our marketing and business development officer. [00:08:00] So I had the opportunity to go out and visit credit unions, learn more about the internal, you know, workings and operations of credit unions fro-from that business development role here at the CUSO.

[00:08:30] The credit union industry really jived with me. It's about relationships. It's about doing good things. Yes, making a little money. Yes, making smart decisions, helping folks out with their, their mortgages or member business loans or, or what have you. And so, uh, from the about five or six years at the CUSO, I ended up taking a job at what was, uh, called Warren Federal Credit Union in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

[00:09:15] And then when Mark decided to retire They did a, a very, you know, nominal, if you will, uh, search for Mark's replacement, uh, as the, the CEO as, as Mark moved on to, to, to greener pastures as they say. And so I was fortunate enough to earn the role of CEO, and that was in late 2016. So I've been in, in this seat for about 10 years and just love it.

[00:09:47] Mark Ritter: just- Yeah ... it's just a great- A little couple more years, but yeah, it's great ...

[00:09:56] Mark Ritter: untraditional path.

[00:09:59] From the bar [00:10:00] to the golf course to, uh, to the CUSO world. I, I would never have guessed.

[00:10:06] Michael Nagl: You know, not too good. I, uh, these last couple years, I don't know if it's age or just the lack of playing, but it has really, uh, diminished. I'm still an okay golfer, but not where I'd like to be and, um, I'm certain that some practice would help, but, uh, you know, who has time to practice?

[00:10:27] Mark Ritter: Okay, now these are the things that interest me. What is... Are, are there any differences in g- kind of s- your golf game at an elevation that you are compared to the flatlander like myself?

[00:10:59] And [00:11:00] if you were to move to this dry thin air, uh, and go down to, you know, some coastal area like where they're playing the, the US Open on Long Island, big difference with humidity Where, where it's

[00:11:16] Michael Nagl: Yeah, you're in Pennsylvania. You know of humidity. And so yes, I would say there's probably about a, what we would in the golf business or golf tech say, about a club and a half difference.

[00:11:47] And so- I would imagine it's difficult ... I just heard yesterday, yeah, they, they're actually gonna, uh, roll back, quote-unquote, the, the length of the ball that the professionals will use by 2030. So the next four years they're gonna [00:12:00] make certain that the ball dynamics and the makeup limit them, uh, 'cause some of these guys are hitting it almost 400 yards.

[00:12:18] Mark Ritter: Yes. So I wanted to check in on the different lines of business- Yep ... Centennial has, because it's a much more diversified company than, than a, a company like MBFS and some of our brethren.

[00:12:38] Michael Nagl: It is.

[00:13:00] What, just from an executive managing that business, what are those cycles like for you, uh, dealing with that?

[00:13:28] You know, I, I sort of built my career as CEO of, uh, and we, we did have to, we did have a reduction in force back in 2023 because it, it was a bust. We were so busy during COVID and, and through the 18 to 24 months post the start of COVID, you know, rates were below three on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, and so everybody was refinancing, obviously.

[00:14:21] And so we've really, you know, maintained those relationships with our credit union partners to, to, you know, to drive that business. Um, you know, operational efficiency, just the, the str- the strength of our, of our systems has helped us with that ebb and flow. And y- y- you know, Mark, it's so, so much about relationship and- Yep

[00:15:05] We, we reduced our force by about 10% in 2023, and, um, like most that have to do that, just probably the worst day of my career.

[00:15:20] Michael Nagl: Right.

[00:15:35] Right. We're not. Um, we're in an, we're in an average interest rate vi- environment- Yeah ... that, you know, it may go up and down a little bit and fluctuate. What are you seeing the opportunities for, for credit unions today in the mortgage business?

[00:16:02] You know, here at Centennial, my board, you report to a board too, they, they require that high level of member service. And so that, uh, I know we're moving into the age of AI, and there's some automation that will continue to come our way. It, it already has. Um, but we are an organization that picks up the phone.

[00:16:56] And we have quite a few of our credit union-- more [00:17:00] robust credit union originators on the mortgage side, uh, doing some excellent promotions right now, either through reduced rate or through reduced fees. We've also, the last two years, we're in the second year of our Centennial Rewards program, where we're offering money back.

[00:17:45] And so we have an opportunity to sort of revenue share at the, you know, at the closing of a mortgage, at origination. And we, we've been pretty successful. It's not a-- It's certainly not a hockey stick relative to origination, [00:18:00] but we have seen a, a nice increase, um, in '25 and now '26. Those have been... We're starting to stabilize and, and move that back up where, you know, '23 and '24 was that, that, that bust cycle, if you will.

[00:18:33] And we've seen everything from down to a five and a half just in the last month or so, down to a five and a half, and now we're at six and a quarter today. And, uh, the, the rates are here to, to stay at least for a while. We believe, uh, with some of our credit union partners as well, that there's opportunity if you maintain that positive relationship that we can refinance them.

[00:19:14] Mark Ritter: I hope we're not offering 3% mortgages anytime soon, because that means something- Me too ... that means something very bad happened.

[00:19:24] Mark Ritter: And you mentioned about, you know, service. Mm-hmm. A- and so many people today, they get so tied up into speed, automation, AI, you know, doing speed, speed, speed. Don't touch- Exactly

[00:19:39] Michael Nagl: Yeah.

[00:20:02] Michael Nagl: Yep.

[00:20:12] I want it... This is a massive deal for me. Right. And s- I want quality service, and that's what I expect through my credit union. Mm-hmm. And I think that's kind of what you're saying is, yeah, there's technology and automation, but to a point. Right. People want service.

[00:20:35] Yep. And, and again, do we slip up or we, you know, don't call them back at, you know, right before the end of the day sometimes or... Of course, you know, we are human. But I, I think the, the, the focus on member service and communication, to your point, if it's your first mortgage, oh my gosh. Now, you've been to closings where, you know, there's an inch worth of papers that, you know, borrowers need to sign at, at the transaction, at, at, at closing.

[00:21:19] It's your first home. You just got married. Okay, let's talk about some of these, uh, things that will impact, uh, this process, because it isn't just this 30-day rainbows and roses sort of situation. There are... You're dealing with so many third parties, with appraisers, with inspectors, with the title company.

[00:21:59] We have [00:22:00] just to be certain that when the appraisal comes in, um, when they've, you know, when the bor- when the, the seller has, um, signed a new contract, some of those things where, okay, let's keep in touch with realtor, let's keep in touch with title company, obviously the borrower's in play, so that we're all on the same page so there aren't any huge surprises at the end because, boy, there's nothing worse than having to push a closing when there's the domino of the next home.

[00:22:45] Mark Ritter: So helping credit unions with business lending can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

[00:22:53] Mark Ritter: We're, we're not a, uh, it's not a monolith product. Tell me a little bit about how Centennial [00:23:00] helps out credit unions and, and, and the services you provide for business lending.

[00:23:10] We're primarily a commercial real estate lender. We, we do some equipment lending. We are not in the C&I space, although some of our partners are, and we will help with some documentation around that. It's just not our expertise. Uh, y- you know, Kirk and, and Jeff that run our, our member, member business loan department, they have between the, the team, I'm pointing down here, down in their office area, uh, about 150 years of, of expertise i- in this market, in this Front Range, we'll call it from Cheyenne to Pueblo, up and down I-25.

[00:24:07] You know, we, we have a lot of partners, uh, small asset size credit unions that can't afford to take a 50 or $100,000 loss on a, on a commercial real estate loan. And so we really, uh, provide that expertise and again, e- efficiency and, and try to build out part of their, we'll call it the loan pie. You know, if you think about cars and homes and everything involved in a credit union's lending pie, we want to be certain that that MBL slice of the pie is safe.

[00:25:01] They can, they can reach a little further in the indirect space or, you know, with the RV lending or unsecured loans, whereas they're pretty comfortable. And again, we're not guaranteeing no loss, but it has been a nice 10 to 12-year run here at RCUSO, which I think you as well have said recently, not a lot of losses going on.

[00:25:43] Mark Ritter: I'm always fascinated with credit unions in the Mountain States because here in my neck of the woods, I can drive from the Washington, D.C. area to the New York City area in about four hours [00:26:00] And I can drive through probably four or five different market areas in that. And you know, if I have a, a lender in Philadelphia, if I want him to do something two hours away, you know, it's acting like the other side of, uh, the moon versus i- if you're in Cheyenne, Wyoming, uh, you know, you say, "Oh, the next town over," that might be three hours away.

[00:26:44] Michael Nagl: There is a lot of dead space, a l- lot of ag, you know, in, in between. Like you talk from Cheyenne to Fort Collins is probably an hour, but boy, y- once you get out of north or anywhere around Cheyenne except for south and a little bit to the west, it, it's, you know, I don't know if you've been to [00:27:00] Wyoming, but it's, it's our, uh- Right

[00:27:03] Mark Ritter: Ma- make sh- make sure you have gas in your car.

[00:27:21] Well, a lot of times it's less than arm's length folks. In other words, landlord owns the building, but it's nephew that rents the operating business, and so he's given nephew a little bit of a break, but then uncle wants to go and, and sell the building, but he's given this l- less than market r- you know, rate for many, many years, but he wants his top dollar.

[00:28:01] And then to your point, Cheyenne, Wyoming is way different than Boulder, Colorado, where University of Colorado is. I mean, the price of a home, for instance, uh, average price in Boulder is a million and a half, where you go up to some suburbs, if you will, of Cheyenne, and it's 300,000 for the same square footage.

[00:28:24] Michael Nagl: It, it, r- well, y- oh, yeah, you're, you are living high on the hog at a million and a half in, in and around Cheyenne, where it's an average price. It's a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,200 square foot place in Boulder, right? And so that's just an example on a mortgage side, but, and then you go into downtown Denver a- and that's, that's seen its challenges as well as a, as a big urban center that struggled through the commercial real estate vacancies, through COVID, through just the, I don't know, just any sort of major metro area has, has struggled.

[00:29:15] And, you know, loan-to-value in Boulder is way different than a loan-to-value in Colorado Springs, for instance. And so how do we make sure we're delivering these loans, you know, for these great borrowers, but also protecting the credit union should there be hiccups or, you know, heaven forbid, any sort of loss?

[00:29:40] Mark Ritter: Now, Centennial has developed one of the more unique little niches among CUSOs in the credit union world. Mm-hmm. So tell people a little bit about what you're doing with vehicle leasing.

[00:30:14] And so what credit unions needed or what he needed was someone to service these leases, because from his analysis and, you know, calculator, he determined that this was a money maker from a yield perspective at the credit union level. But his core system couldn't handle if there's a balloon payment, and it gets a little funky with residual values and things, and his core couldn't handle the lease.

[00:30:59] [00:31:00] Can you help me?" CUSO figured it out, and it's been very successful for us and has provided, uh, you know, the, the diversification that a- any organization needs. And so now, you know, along with the member business loans and the first mortgage lending that we do, we are the servicer in that relationship. So any indirect member, les- lessee, I guess we'll put it in this, in this case scenario, they would go into a dealer.

[00:31:48] They're an outstanding partner of ours. They have Origins Lending Services, who help consummate the deal at the dealership, and, and then the servicer in Centennial. And so [00:32:00] the borrower member lessee walks out of the... And they're going, "What the heck just happened here? I don't... Who am I paying? I mean, now I'm leasing this vehicle.

[00:32:28] And so we've tried very hard to communicate as quickly as possible saying, "Here's what happened. You know, here- here's... We're- we are the, the servicer. You send your payments to us, and then we do our work, and we send it back to the credit union." Again, they may or may not know who that credit union was or is.

[00:33:08] Um, but it is a very unique relationship and one that, uh, just like any... We, we've heard stories all over the CUSO land of folks just fitting in and, and providing value and meeting the needs of members and credit unions. And so it has actually... We service about 500 million in auto leases and a l- a lot throughout the country.

[00:33:54] Again, it's a, th- their, their core systems have a hard time with the lease- Yeah ... and the balloon [00:34:00] payment.

[00:34:19] Michael Nagl: Absolutely. You know, if, if- There's a lot of misnomer about a, a lease, like the, the residual value. "Oh my gosh, I'm gonna lose my, lose my tail when I turn this car in because the value that they projected at the consummation of the lease is gonna be so much lower." You know, and they have so much analytics there at CULA.

[00:35:00] It's not that complicated when you get down to it. They're just a little fearful, uh, of these, some of these past, uh, um, faults or perceived faults, if you will. And at the end of the day, it's really about the credit union setting their parameters, just like any indirect program. This is what I'd like. And, uh, typically in the lease space, uh, that's a prime borrower.

[00:35:46] I mean, it's, it's... I mean, we're talking over 100 basis points on some of those 30- and 60-day delinquencies and, and even more. And so that, that's very helpful, and it's really a turnkey operation for, for credit unions because we have-- we've [00:36:00] put this all together for them. Again, we can help consummate the lease.

[00:36:33] Knock on wood. We, we've seen the cycle. Right now we're in a, in a bit of a lull, and, uh, that's good because what we've seen, the, the products that we originate and service, leases kind of s- they'll, they'll give us a glimpse into the kind of a coming attraction. And so to see that move down, hopefully our mortgages start to move down because we've seen some, um, some delinquency, not a lot of loss, but there's a, there's an uptick in [00:37:00] delinquency for, for homes, which is sort of the national norm.

[00:37:05] Mark Ritter: Now, you have a diversified product line, a diversified CUSO, a lot of different relationships. What do you see as the common threads for the people that really succeed and work well in their CUSO relationships versus some of the ones that struggle?

[00:37:32] We, we really push for partnership. That's a, a, uh, the language we like to use. We, the, and we get, you know, MBFS, Centennial, all of our MBL friends are, a lot of them are considered a vendor, and that really starts to get under my skin. We, w- yes, we, yes, we sell products and services. Absolutely. I, I vend, but I am certainly not a vendor, and I think the, the thing that separates [00:38:00] us or what tries, what I try to differentiate is that we are a strategic partner of the credit union.

[00:38:34] And, and we have hard conversations with each other, but that's what partners do. You know, sometimes there's a I don't know if it's a he said, she said, or there's just difference of opinion, or you have some officers that, that think they can go out and, and originate, uh, uh, a member business loan at 90% or something.

[00:39:11] Of course, we want to have great staff. We want to create value, and that's for everyone. That includes our board, our employees, regulators. W- we want to create value for everyone. We want invested partners, and that, and that's really, um, one of the big keys is it's a yes and conversation. Will you do this?

[00:39:57] You know, as you and I talk about, Mark, uh, [00:40:00] we compete a lot with credit unions. And at some point, if there's a consolidation of credit unions, they get so big, they end up bringing everything that they do in-house because they have the expertise, they have the systems. You know, are we gonna be, um, relevant, you know, to their future success?

[00:40:34] Mark Ritter: That, that's a great way to wrap it up.

[00:40:57] Michael Nagl: Absolutely. Please, um, email me, [00:41:00] [email protected]. I am, uh, pretty much always available. I love what I do, and so if there's opportunity that we can help in the mortgage space, in the auto lease space, member business loan, um, we, we, we are here. And again, one thing that does differentiate is we do service in, uh, all of our loans and leases, besides a few, uh, uh, VAs.

[00:41:49] Mark Ritter: So joining me today was Michael Nagle, CEO of Centennial Lending. Uh, they do a great job helping out a variety of credit unions, as he said, in mortgages, business [00:42:00] lending, vehicle leasing. Uh, they do a great job, so check them out i- if you're interested in, in talking and having those conversations. Uh, I always enjoy our conversations in and off of the podcast and when we're together.