RIVERDALE, Utah — With a technology-savvy membership, $6.3 billion America First CU lives on the cutting edge of financial products — and is willing to take the occasional swing and miss.
Brice Mindrum, mobile services manager, told Credit Union Journal it's important to have the right technology to reach the Millennial market.
"Most people don't compare applications between financial institutions, they compare a credit union to Google," Mindrum said. "It has to be as easy to use as Google. America First already has a younger member base than many credit unions, so the challenge is to convert them to more products."
AFCU's member base skews younger because it is the largest indirect auto dealer in Utah, Mindrum explained. He said many young members join the credit union when they are buying a car, "then we want to get the rest of their accounts."
"It is working for us," Mindrum said. "When we offer a product or service it is adopted quickly, starting with online banking. Our members have become accustomed to us being out front. When Apple Pay was announced, we had members calling us that day asking when they could get it. Of course, Apple limited who could get in the door."
Being "on the leading edge" can cost money, Mindrum acknowledged. He said being out front can lead to mistakes if the CU builds something that does not work, but the key is to have more hits than misses.
One element that helps: there is "great support" for technology leadership from AFCU's senior management and board. "They do not want us to miss, but they recognize being on the leading edge will lead to occasional misses."
Apple Pay
America First is a "huge fan" of Apple Pay, Mindrum said. The credit union is "very happy" to have been part of the program early on, he said, noting it was second in implementation among CUs only to Navy Federal. It went live Nov. 17.
"Electronic payments has been coming for some time now," said Mindrum. "Google Wallet has been around, and Salt Lake City was the pilot area for ISIS, which became Softcard and now is part of Google Wallet. At one point there was a higher concentration of NFC terminals in Salt Lake City than any area in the country."
Because of these factors, AFCU has a member base that has been "versed" in contactless payments for some time, he continued. "So when Apple Pay came along we knew our technology-savvy member base would be interested in adoption."
Senior management held discussions early on about America First's strategy with implementation of mobile payments. Mindrum said the assumption was Apple would get involved eventually, so the goal was to plan ahead.
According to Mindrum, AFCU "wants to support" whichever mobile payments methods members want to use — either Apple Pay or Google Wallet, or internal initiatives the credit union is developing. He noted Android phones will be pre-installed with Google Wallet going forward. Samsung Pay also will be a tokenized transaction.
"We want to drive the best user experience possible for members," he declared. "We use focus groups and studies to figure out the best design. Our future focus is the idea members should be able to choose and customize their experience. Instead of me saying how something looks, the members can pick it, which is a more delightful experience.
"At the end of the day, my goal is the delight of our members," he said.
