No fee? Still flee?

by Margie Church

Bank of America's decision to drop its proposed debit card user fee has me wondering how credit unions will respond. The tremendous amount of negative national press has given Bank of America a black eye, yet it's given credit unions invaluable positive press. For free.  Some credit unions rushed to the unique opportunities presented by the user fee boondoggle and the Bank Transfer Day. They're communicating with members and rattling the chains of banks in their communities. 

Is your credit union going to take its "ball" and go home now, feeling the game is over? Or will you keep the pressure on to deepen relationships with your members and increase rolls because you're a better alternative?

The economy is slowly stabilizing. Consumers are cautiously spending, but they are spending. A new Bloomberg report stated this year, debit card spending in the U.S. increased 23 percent to $97 billion, and worldwide, debit card spending increased 35 percent to $62 billion. Credit card spending worldwide rose 21 percent to $469 billion from $389 billion a year earlier.* Holiday promotions are everywhere. Auto manufacturers are offering fantastic incentives to clear out 2011 inventories and they're promoting their luxury new models. Interest rates are rock-bottom low on auto loans. Many of you are promoting amazing new HELOC programs. These are all perfect ways to bring your relevant, timely, and personal messages to members and prospects alike.  Email is an inexpensive, fast way to be in touch even at year-end when budgets are spent or nearly so.

Some credit union officials have been fretting that those leaving big banks might be unprofitable members. Perhaps credit unions shouldn't be too quick to embrace them. Huh? If these people really were unprofitable, Bank of America, and others like them, would have found a different, quieter way to get rid of them long before now.** And we don't perceive these banks as the good guys just because they decided not to stick it to their clients. They just cried "uncle." Their greed will drive them to find another, less public, way to get the cash sooner or later.

Keep the heat on. Be the financial hero your community needs.

*http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-02/mastercard-profit-climbs-38-as-card-spending-increases.html?cmpid=bit 

**http://thefinancialbrand.com/20268/thinking-bofa-debit-fee-refugees-are-unprofitable-is-a-mistake/

Pinpoint Direct Marketing exclusively serves the U.S. credit union market. We provide excellent, turnkey or a' la carte creative services at a great value.

Be Proactive with Checking Opportunities

By Margie Church

The debit card user fee proposed by several of the large banks has pushed Joe Public to take action. Angry consumers are leaving them in large numbers. Last December, The Financial Brand wrote an excellent article about the importance of free checking to the typical consumer. One valuable nugget: 57-percent of the checking account customers in America are highly at risk to switch banks if their institution began to charge fees for what were previously free services for their checking accounts.¹ 


In response to aggressive fees, a social uprising called Bank Transfer Day has emerged. The social movement started on Facebook, and encourages bank customers to take their cash out of big banks by November 5, and put it in smaller banks and credit unions instead.² Whether this movement will be successful won't be known until after November 5, but grassroots movements have been successful many times before.

 

Is your credit union waiting for these people to walk through your doors, or are you going after them? 

Whether your competition is tacking on a specific new debit card user fee or eliminating free checking, the fact is, credit unions are a better value. They always have been.  

A checking account is the perfect product to draw new members to your credit union and deepen your relationship with current members who don't have a checking account with you. You're providing a better solution at a time when people are looking for one.

Even if your marketing budgets may be nearly spent, there are several very inexpensive, effective tools you can use to capture new members and their business right now. Here are a few great strategies and tactics to reach out to members and prospects.

1. First, use MCIF or DP data to identify members who don’t have a checking account.  Send them a postcard or letter that states the benefits of your account. Keep your message positive and explain how your credit union will make their transition pain-free. 
2. An email with a PURL for responses is a great twist for follow-up or for members preferring email communications.
3. Canvas your entire membership with a statement stuffer and possibly offer a referral reward.
4. A web banner is a must to communicate to prospects.
5. Experience the effectiveness of multi-channel marketing. Use in-branch posters, scrolling signs, drive-thru banners, and building signs. 
6. Consider a billboard in high-traffic areas.

This is absolutely the wrong time for credit unions to take a low profile approach. Consumers are shopping for value. Make sure they know your credit union is the best place to get it.

What's going on in your area of the country? Are you experiencing any backlash - positive or negative from the new debit card user fee issue?

1-The Financial Brand, 12/16/10. http://thefinancialbrand.com/16108/datahead-switching-credit-cards-social-media-channels-more/

2-Yahoo Finance, 10/13/11. http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/113658/bank-transfer-day-mainstreet?mod=bb-budgeting

About us: Pinpoint exclusively serves the credit union market. We provide excellent, turnkey or a' la carte creative services at a great value.

Will free checking thrive or die at your credit union?

By Margie Church, Copywriter/Editor

I spend a fair amount of my day reading about business practices, trends in the financial market, emerging technologies, and all kinds of other things that help us keep abreast of the credit union market and anticipate the next best move for our clients.

Some days are real head-scratchers, aren't they?

We have some great insights to national trends, but nothing beats feet on the street. The pulse of what's going on in your neighborhood credit union. We invite you to share some of your insights with us today. 

Specifically, we're interested in your perspectives on free checking. We all know how bottom line-driven banks are. They're yanking free checking and debit card rewards programs, and fees are piling up. These days, there seems to be two options for bank customers– take it or leave it. More and more, it feels like even the threadbare "services" a bank provides are an inconvenience to them.

Who's taking it? Who's leaving it?

A recent study conducted by ACTON Marketing Intelligence, revealed approximately 93% of Americans have one or more checking accounts, and 94% of those are free. When asked the big question, how important is free checking to you?, a whopping, but not surprising, 85% said free checking is critically or very important. What's more, 92% of female respondents, and 79% of the males said free checking is critically or very important.

Makes you think, doesn't it? 

Digging deeper into the report, one learns that affluence or lack thereof doesn't matter either. Americans have a deep love affair with free checking and they're not going to give it up quietly. Fifty-seven percent said they'd switch banks or credit unions if free checking was eliminated or if fees were imposed on previously free services. The respondents would be willing to modify some banking behaviors to keep free checking, but they're clearly stating they want the choice. 

Banks have revealed their Achilles heel once more, giving credit unions yet another chance to take market share. At least that's what we think. 

But we're wondering what your credit union is doing. Are you keeping free checking come heck or high water? How is your credit union planning to cope with the inevitable loss of debit card transaction fees? Help us understand the neighborhood perspective. Because that's really where it matters. Leave a comment, please. We look forward to hearing from you. 

"The mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work unless it’s open."