LONGVIEW, Wash., and SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Red Canoe CU and Empower FCU may have started something when they joined forces for lending "co-opetition" earlier this year.
As featured in Credit Union Journal, representatives from Red Canoe CU, a $578-million institution located approximately 50 miles north of Portland, Ore., and $1.1-billion Empower FCU, in upstate New York, met at a conference last year and struck up a friendship. This led to the two credit unions expanding their existing loan transfer programs into a cross-country partnership/contest that saved their members more than $2.7 million during the second quarter of this year.
Results like that have earned the notice of other credit unions, which have contacted Red Canoe and Empower to learn how to pull off some of that same magic. According to Michelle Trekas, Red Canoe's sales and service training manager, and Justin Roth, director of cultural affairs for Empower, a California CU has contacted Empower regarding a possible collaboration in 2014, while an Illinois CU has inquired about a similar arrangement with Red Canoe.
How It Worked
The two CUs divided themselves into teams that included staff from both Red Canoe and Empower. With Washington being a major apple producer and Syracuse sharing a state with "the Big Apple," the decision was made to go with an apples theme. The contest was called "Apples2Apples," which also referred to the fact members would be able to compare their payments on their current loans with what they could pay by transferring to either Red Canoe or Empower.
Taking the apple theme one more step, the teams of 12 to 15 people adopted such names as, "South Ciders," "American Pickers" and "Jersey Core," and had their own stylized logos.
The two CUs had their respective IT departments create a loan calculator that could show members how much they would save by bringing over their loans.
The members benefitted by saving money on interest payments, while the CUs booked large numbers of loans. Empower said during the contest quarter almost 25% of its new loans were "buyouts," or loans captured from another lender.
CU Journal is not the only entity heaping honors on Apples2Apples. The campaign won "Best in Show" at CUNA's Operation, Sales and Service Council's 2013 Awards; it garnered a "WOW" Award at CUNA's "Experience Learning Live!" Awards; and, Trekas noted, it won the highly coveted "Catalyst Award" at CUNA's "Experience Learning Live!" Awards.
The Northwest CU Association has asked the Red Canoe team to share the details of the program at an upcoming NWCUA meeting, Trekas added.
"This collaboration has really opened the door to communication with credit unions across the U.S., and maybe beyond," Trekas said. "We all worked so hard on this exciting campaign and continued to be inspired and humbled by the interest and recognition from our peers."
Added Empower FCU's Roth, "It has been so interesting to see that our idea to do something fun for staff that also creates a benefit for members has been recognized by organizations within the credit union industry."
