ST. PAUL, Minn.-Six months after launching it's "Ditch Your Bank" campaign (
Since the campaign kicked off in April, new member growth month-over-month is up anywhere from 39% to 90% compared to 2010, said CEO Kyle Markland. In August the $1.3-billion, 131,000-member credit union opened nearly 2,000 new accounts-an 89% increase over last year. Through July the credit union averaged just under 1,300 new members per month; since BofA and others have announced new fees, that average has risen to just over 1,800.
"We are seeing that the uptick over the last quarter has been greater than the original uptick," said Markland. "The number of new members is increasing every month, as well as the number of new checking accounts we're opening every month, which is also at a record level."
About 75% of all new accounts open a checking account, he added, compared to a previous average of 53%.
Affinity Plus is bracing for more new memberships following the big banks' announcements of new debit fees. As such, APCU has augmented its "Ditch Your Bank" campaign to reflect that. One ad that adorns buses in the Twin Cities area notes that "the fees at your bank go round and round." Another refers to Wells Fargo's $3-per-month debit fee as "stagecoach robbery."
Tracking New Members
Affinity Plus tracks the source of new membership, and Markland said that even with the recent growth, 80% of all new members continue to be referred by existing members. "As people are talking, there's more breaking through the apathy of changing [financial institutions]," said Markland. "It's the water cooler conversation of people talking about what's going on in the banking industry and the fees. When every late night comedian is opening their monologue with a dig at Bank of America, people are talking about it. And as people are talking about it, we're finding that our members say 'My credit union doesn't do that; as a matter of fact, they've committed that checking will be free.' "
Members can join online or in-person, but the majority still come into the branch to make the switch. Affinity Plus has a "switch kit" to make the process easier for new members, and the CU handles bill payment, contacting payroll for direct deposits and more. "We work with our members hand-in-hand throughout the whole process," said Markland.
"Every new member that sits down with an employee essentially gets credit union 101," said Markland. "And, more importantly, they get Affinity Plus 101." Because of the time employees spend going through what the CU can offer, Markland said that new members generally leave with the same account relationship as that of a five-year member-about six products, including checking, savings, car loan, mortgage, credit card and a specialty certificate of some kind.
"Our whole strategy is about building relationships founded on trust with our members," said Markland. He added that neither new members nor employees are incented. The CU has set a goal to grow at least 6% this year and has already exceeded that number.
"We were already experiencing record growth prior to the Bank of America announcement," said Markland. "The only thing they did was give us a bit of a lift and an opportunity to get our name out a little quicker and in a broader sense. I'm not looking at this as a one-time event; I'm looking at this as just the beginning of the opportunity for us."
