JEFFERSON, Mo. - Low fees are nice, but no fees are nicer.
Conservation Employees Credit Union charges only 25 cents to join and an insufficient funds fee of $15, but nothing else. That commitment to its membership has paid off for the better part of the last half-decade as it earned top billing on the return to member rankings for the fourth consecutive year.
"We don't have late fees, we don't have transfer fees-any other kind of fees-we just don't have them," said lending services manager Cathy Adams.
With a close tie-in to the state's Department of Conservation, the credit union is open only to department employees, commissioners and credit union office employees and their families. Though its membership is narrow, the credit union still boasts over 6,200 members and controls about $60 million in assets.
As is the case with many SEG-based credit unions, Conservation Employees does not have to spend much time or money on marketing its services. For the most part, members come to them for mortgage and auto loans with the credit union needing to say nary a word.
"It's word of mouth about how great the services are, how great the rates are," said Adams.
Still, the credit union works hard to take the dollars that don't have to go into overhead and put them towards delivering on the bottom line for the membership. Until the service was placed on hold, Conservation Employees was offering 4.5% 30-year mortgages. The program was so popular that the credit union quickly loaned out and had to shelve it temporarily.
With the housing market doing its part to keep the mortgage program on ice, Conservation Employees is turning towards other services to keep that segment growing.
"We did so much, it just makes it seems like it is a lot less," Adams said of this year's down lending numbers. "I think we're all in the same boat but we're not hurting as much as other financial institutions."
Car loans are now becoming a major focus for Conservation Employees, and even though consumer sentiment is tepid at best, many folks appear eager to take out loans for new or used automobiles as they try to quickly offload their gas guzzlers and snatch up more fuel-efficient vehicles. In the long run, the loan and new vehicle may be worth the cost to consumers, as gas prices will likely never return to $2 a gallon.
"The loans that we are doing are in smaller dollar amounts because the vehicles aren't the large SUVs," said Adams.
Members who have money to save also picked up new options this year at Conservation Employees as the credit union started up money market and IRA savings accounts, helping to boost that first quarter ranking.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com/ http://www.sourcemedia.com/
