ONTARIO, Calif.-Months after launching CO-OP Financial Services' virtual credit union branch, Sprig, Cal Center CU reports it has experienced increases in mobile-user transactions while adapting to a smartphone learning curve.
"This has represented a lot of possibilities and advantages to my credit union," said Linda Pettit, president of Cal Center CU. "But financial institutions really have to understand app banking-CUs need to have expertise on the member service level, not the IT level."
It's not surprising Cal Center CU would roll out the CO-OP Solution. With one branch and 1,700 members, Cal Tech is the primary credit union for CO-OP, servicing approximately 70% of its California-based employees. To this end, the $90-million credit union has long served as a beta-tester for CO-OP's new product lines, including Sprig.
Cal Center also serves employees of numerous other CU entities, including CUNA Mutual, California League Services Corp., the California league and CU Direct Lending. "[CO-OP] has been a great sponsor," said Pettit. "When they launched Sprig, they knew that the only way to test it was to use it. As beta-testers, we see what issues require attention and then you adapt and move forward."
CO-OP's President and CEO, Stan Hollen, explained that Sprig is the first step in CO-OP's multi-phase plan to expand its P2P features and network range into a true digital wallet. The initial launch, which Cal Center CU has undertaken, performs as a virtual credit union branch. The solution allows members to make transfers between, or payments to, any of their accounts, including savings, checking or loan accounts residing at any credit union participating in CO-OP shared branch or connected to CO-OP Connect, noted Hollen.
Sprig Is In The Air
While more than 200 members are now using Sprig, Pettit explained that there have been some adoption issues.
"The app worked well on the iPhone 5, but there were problems with certain compatibility with Android phones," she explained. "Credit unions can't make an assumption about smartphones. Employees have to understand how to deal with related hardware questions, because the IT department doesn't help members directly."
When Sprig was first introduced to Cal Center CU in November 2012, Pettit was a Blackberry user and quickly realized in order to better serve her employees and members, she would have to make a change. "I really liked my Blackberry but knew that once the iPhone 5 was released I had to convert to stay current. Once I downloaded the app from our website I couldn't believe how easy it was to use. It was fantastic."
Pettit next provided incentives to her three employees to upgrade to smart phones. "Some of my staff weren't app users, but in order to be able to help members they also had to upgrade so they could assist with Sprig-related questions."
While the iPhone adopters had an ease-of-use experience with Sprig, a couple of Android users had issues using the mobile wallet due to the number of different Androids on the market. Programming tweaks have resolved those issues.
"Every month we are seeing a few more users and mobile transactions have increased by 10% each month, and while I expect that to level off, it is a positive sign."
The goal for Cal Center CU is that members start using Sprig instead of visiting shared branches. "With shared banking, there is at least a $2 minimum per transaction that we pay," said Pettit. "With Sprig, each transaction is only 15 cents."
Pettit is excited to see where Sprig takes the credit union's members, but noted that it remains a "learning" experience. "We have yet to see if Sprig will lead to a drop in shared banking. So far we have seen members using both. It's a convenience ... but it is also just another item on the cafeteria tray."
