LOS ANGELES -
"Offering bill pay for free isn't enough of an incentive anymore," said Bruce Lund, director of operations, marketing and business development at the $53-million Los Angeles Times FCU (LATFCU) here. "You need additional promotions."
Overall, larger credit unions are clobbering mid-size banks in bill pay adoption, with a median 15% of CU checking account users signed up for the service, according to "The Cornerstone Report: Benchmarks and Best Practices for Credit Unions 2006," released by Cornerstone Advisors of Scottsdale, Ariz. Banks are losing the fight with just 4% of checking accounts actively using bill pay.
Credit Union Journal recently asked several of these high-performance CUs to share their secrets for bolstering active bill pay usage. For one, LATFCU gave Apple iPod shuffle digital music players in June to new bill pay users who made three or more payments for three consecutive months, said Lund.
The result: bill pay adoption increased by 20%, he said. Now, about 5% of the checking accounts at LATFCU are enrolled in the service, which is provided by the FundsXpress Bill Pay and Presentment solution.
Premier America CU members who sign up for bill pay this month get to choose one of five "eMonster" stuffed animals.
With names such as "Chomper" and "Puckles," the tropical-colored toys have to be "chained down to the desk" because they are so popular, said Shelley Hawthorne, vice president, automated and remote services, at Chatworth, Calif.-based Premier America.
Bill pay users represent 18% of checking accounts at the CU, which has offered bill pay for more than seven years, she said.
Members should be kept aware of the built-in features of the service, suggested Jeremy Jacobs, vice president, operations, at $95-million CD FCU in Concord, Calif.
"The more we market bill pay, the more it is adopted," said Jacobs. "Overcoming concerns of electronic banking is the key."
To that end, CD FCU last quarter made sure that members know bill pay offers convenience, control, and security, Jacobs said.
"It was also our first advertising of free bill pay, although we weren't charging the fee previously," he said.
"Our ultimate goal would be to have every member on bill pay," Jacobs continued. Currently, more than 22% of the CU's checking account holders pay bills online through FundsXpress.
CD FCU employees also have their ears open to bill pay. Among a plethora of other incentive programs designed to help employees sell bill pay to members, the CU challenged employees to create a T-shirt with a bill-pay theme. The winning design was then produced for the staff to wear on Fridays.
Of course, marketing isn't everything. Members may also be attracted to the bill pay technology itself, according to Scott Post, senior vice president, strategy and delivery at $545-million Hanscom FCU near Boston.
Using the "Pay Date" feature, Hanscom FCU members can choose a single date on which funds will be debited from their checking accounts and received by the payee, "eliminating the uncertainty" inherent to other payment-date models, said Post.
More than 22% of members with checking accounts pays bills online using the CheckFree service, provided through PSCU Financial Services and Harland Financial Solutions. The CU has offered bill pay for 10 years.
The $1.2-billion Premier America has made the enrollment process easy and instant, added Hawthorne. Member service representatives register new members for bill pay when they open an account at the branch, going so far as to set up a first payee and payment.
In addition, the CU's Checkfree bill pay platform, provided through Digital Insight, has an advanced payment center page, one that will get even better this spring, Hawthorne continued.
"You'll be able to hover over one of the payees on your list and the page will dynamically change to show you an image of the biller information and payment history," she explained.
Nearly one-quarter of the members at Eli Lilly FCU (ELFCU) use bill pay, Schneider said.
ELFCU has offered the service for ten years and currently uses Paytraxx, a Fiserv bill pay solution provided through IntegraSys.
ELFCU members like that they can easily click back and forth from check images, e-statements and mortgage loans from the bill pay page, according to Gil Schneider, chief information officer at the $675-million Indianapolis, Ind.-based CU.
"The easier the process is made for the member, the more they eat it up," agreed Jacobs.
FOR MORE RESOURCES
Read more about bill pay adoption strategies at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
Afraid, But Not Too Afraid, for a story on how credit unions are increasing bill pay penetration despite reports of fear of online fraud
Coming Soon To Websites Near You, for a story on how AEA FCU is using short movies online to increase bill pay adoption
Delay In Bill Pay, for a story describing how direct-biller sites are stealing bill pay members from PSECU.
