BOISE, Idaho -
Figuring that teenagers live their lives through cell phone text-messages, the $5.5-million Saint Alphonsus Medical Credit Union (SAMCU) here offers text-based, Short Message Service (SMS) access to account balances and history, funds transfers, loan balances and payments, PIN changes and more from mobile phones, said Kathy McCarty, CEO.
This, despite the fact that the CU doesn't even offer audio banking, she added. "We have to attract younger members without putting out a $50,000 investment," McCarty said. SAMCU, whose members are an average age of about 40, gets text-banking for free as a pilot site from its homebanking provider, Database Management Services Inc. (DMS), of Boise, Idaho.
DMS will offer HomeCU TXT Banking by first quarter 2008 for a "reasonable" implementation fee to any credit union using the HomeCU homebanking product, said Jan Brinkerhoff, vice president, DMS. "All of our clients will be able to afford it."
The $47-million Natco CU of Richmond, Ind., is another pilot site for HomeCU TXT Banking, according to Cindy Gribben, CEO.
"We also need to attract a younger member, one that is at the borrowing age," Gribben explained. Natco's members are an average age of about 48, she said. "And if they don't get mobile banking from their credit union, it makes you wonder who they'll get it from," McCarty said.
PC-based banking certainly ISN'T where it's at for the 10-something crowd, Brinkerhoff suggested. "Teenagers don't use email -they don't even use Web browsers," he said. "Those are just too old-fashioned. But teens 'text' like crazy."
Asked why a credit union would opt for the simple, even barren, user interface that SMS offers, Brinkerhoff explained that the more sophisticated technologies, such as Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) and application-download, are in a continuous state of flux surrounding devices, applications and protocols.
Besides, the SMS interface is exactly what teens are used to, he said. "Younger members aren't afraid of SMS, and they know how to use it. I wouldn't advise a credit union to go out there and spend $10-million to deploy a WAP solution."
Even with this trendy approach, Natco and SAMCU said they aren't afraid of alienating older members. "I can use it and I'm not a teenager," Gribben said. "And if older members want to bank through the Internet but don't want to use a cell phone, they can use homebanking. It's their choice."
Through a simple homepage advertisement and word-of-mouth, Natco has signed up 22 of its 14,000 members for TXT Banking. The situation is similar at SAMCU, where 19 of the 2000 members are using TXT. Both credit unions said they passed recent state compliance reviews of the TXT Banking solution with flying colors.
To use TXT Banking to transfer funds, for example, a member is verified at log-in via two-factor authentication. Then, the member types into the cell phone or PDA a text-message request, such as "TRN," followed by a PIN, "from" and "to" account types and amount. The member sends the request to the credit union's "short code" mobile phone number. Seconds later, the CU responds with a text message, such as "Account Transfer from 3422 to 8870 for $1,000.00 completed. Reference No. 98765."
"It's just so fast, one little command and you get your balance without browsing around on the Net," McCarty said.
more
Read more about mobile banking in related stories in this issue at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
* Not Reinventing The Wheel, on Washington State Employees CU's practical approach to mobile banking that relies on the OFX standard for data transfers.
* CUs Hot And Cold On Mobile Banking, on CU successes and failures with mobile banking.
* Mobile-Device Access To Accounts Still Not Seen As Priority, on a study that shows consumers still see mobile banking as an "emergency application."
For info on this story:
* Natco CU, www.natcocu.org
* Saint Alphonsus Medical CU, www.samcu.org
* Database Management Services, www.homecu.com
