Credit Unions As PaymentsPortals

NEW ORLEANS - (02/15/05) – Credit unions are being urgedto make their institution the payment portal of choice for membersas competition for depository funds proliferates from non-financialinstitutions. “You have to maximize how to get as much moneyas quickly as possible in that account from as many ways aspossible,” said George Danforth, vice president of PULSE EFTAssociation, during the Texas CU League’s TechMeccaConference Monday. Citing the emergence of Wal-Mart, check-casherslike ACE, and even Starbucks, in the deposit business via storedvalue cards, Danforth urged credit unions to maximize the use oftheir deposit relationships by helping members make payments asquickly and as easily as possible. “Why a paymentsportal?” he said. “Because payments is what generatesfee income.” “You can charge people to start solvingtheir problems,” he asserted. About 150 Texas credit unionexecutives mixed with a like number of Texas bankers during thefourth annual technology conference, jointly sponsored by the Texasleague, the Independent Bankers Association of Texas andPULSE.