GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.-Online members like the convenience of account-to-account (A2A) transfers. Bellco CU here likes A2A transfers because they reveal where members bank.
"When members transfer money in from third-party deposit accounts, we have their attention," said Ann Ungerland, web specialist at the $2-billion CU. "Then we definitely use marketing campaigns that encourage members to choose us as their primary financial institution and bring all their deposit funds here."
Members largely turn to online and mobile A2A to make payments on their Bellco auto loans: They transfer money from external bank accounts into a Bellco checking or savings account, and then into a Bellco loan account, Ungerland said. The service saves the member from having to mail payments, she added.
When members transfer money in from other institutions, Bellco promotes deposit accounts and "great rates" on additional loans, she explained. "We're trying to give members an easy way to pay their Bellco auto loans and an opportunity to bring all their deposits and loans to Bellco. We want them to take advantage of all the benefits of being a Bellco member."
Bellco was not able to provide conversion rates resulting from account transfer marketing.
A2A activity seems vigorous and could be fertile ground for the Bellco marketing team. With A2A, Bellco consistently sees more money transferred in than transferred out, Ungerland said. Inbound transfers outweighed outbound transfers by more than 50% in the second half of 2011-about $36 million came in, but less than $18 million went out.
Most Bellco transfer activity was associated with Wells Fargo, she said. More than $1 million of the outbound activity was associated with Denver-based CU of Colorado and Navy FCU in Vienna, Va.
The prevalence of inbound transfers at Bellco "speaks to the relationship impact of being in the middle of the money movement process," said Sam Kilmer, VP-market development at Harland Financial Solutions in Lake Mary, Fla., which provides Bellco's Direct Payment Exchange (DPXPay) transfer product. A2A inbound transfers are free to members, but the CU charges $2 per outbound transfer, Ungerland said. Nearly 50% of Bellco online bankers are registered to use A2A.
Each A2A transfer takes three to five days-"it's convenient, but not the quickest service," said Ungerland. When time is of the essence, Bellco encourages members to transfer money via wire, which takes three to four hours and is free with premium checking accounts.
Same-day DPXPay account transfers will be enabled by Harland Financial Solutions later this year, according to Kilmer. DPXPay is a person-to-person (P2P) money transfer product that also enables A2A transfers and is integrated with the provider's uBanking online banking product.
Nearly 25% of credit unions responding to a recent Callahan and Associates survey indicated they would begin offering A2A transfers to members this year. That's compared to about 40% that will begin offering P2P transfer capability in 2012, a service that typically draws significantly fewer users than A2A but is seen as a foothold into the emerging alternative payments market. Bellco does not yet offer P2P payments.
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