SAN DIEGO - At NAFCU’s recent Annual Conference here, Credit Union Journal asked: What is your credit union looking for to drive growth in the final two quarters of 2008?
We are going to try to do more lending. We also are trying to seek more members. To accomplish these goals, we are developing new products. Our membership is the first priority, and because it has been steady we are looking at making more small business loans, and possibly a few new types of mortgages–but not adjustable-rate mortgages...Our membership is very stable. We’ve had very few credit card defaults and no mortgage defaults.
We have opened branches in Wal-Mart, which is working very well. We also are targeting the younger generation–who don’t go to branches and then do things online–by enabling them to join the credit union online. We are looking at uMonitor, which provides tools to open accounts online.
We are looking for stable growth and long-term relationships. We want to maintain our relationship with the existing members by providing better service to them and giving value back. We are expanding our branch network to give us more exposure in the community. In those new facilities, we have strong employees with the ability to communicate with our members and let them know we appreciate their business. We also let members know we care about what is happening in their lives and talk to them about their families. Finally, we are trying to fulfill the technology demand from Generation Y.
We want more wallet and more members. To get those, we are aggressively marketing for more people to join the credit union. We have been in business for 40 years, so we are a stable, trusted community financial institution–even though we do not have a community charter. We serve a number of SEGs, and we are talking to many businesses and associations about adding them as a SEG.
We have a new member mystery shopper program getting underway. We got our baseline in April, May and June, and now we are going on to mystery shopping and coaching. The goal is improved member service and referrals. Chuck Baldwin, our CEO, came up with the idea. The shoppers–who are actual members–will come in and shop our various outlets: online, phone and in-branch. They will give feedback, and we will get the results each quarter and do coaching based on what the mystery shoppers say.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
