GREENWOOD, Colo.-Two credit unions looking for more life out of their debit card programs say they have had great success with CO-OP Total Revelation, a portfolio management solution from CO-OP Financial Services.
Andrew Kemper, card services manager for $1.9-billion Bellco Credit Union here, said it has been using Total Revelation for more than a year, meaning the CU witnessed first hand the changes when CO-OP updated the Web-based application in May.
"At first we used it mainly for determining sales activity and volumes on our debit cards," he recalled. "In addition, it helps out when we have to fill out the quarterly Visa reports. This year, we have taken a lot of our data gathering through Total Revelation, rather than going through manual reports. Statistics and graphs are already available to us for whatever need we have."
Bellco used the new incarnation of Total Revelation to assist on a marketing campaign earlier this year. The solution helped identify all members who had active debit cards but did not use those cards to pay their utilities: cable or satellite television, telephone, Internet, water, electricity and others. "We tried to market to those members to get them to use their cards for that purpose," he said. "It was very successful."
How successful? Bellco saw 89% sustained payment usage over a three-month period, mostly through members setting up reoccurring payments, he reported. Members spent an additional $252,000 on their debit cards for utilities in March compared to the previous month.
The original data mining identified 40,000 members who did not use debit cards for utilities payments. Bellco sent campaign collateral only to 10,000 members for stage one.
"We knew interchange was going to hit us, which is why we did this," Kemper explained. "If we can increase spending volume on debit cards, hopefully we can overcome the hit from Durbin. CO-OP is helping us prepare for round two-the next 15,000 members from the 40,000 we already identified. Postcards began going out Sept. 19."
As an incentive to switch their bills to their Bellco debit card, members can earn a certificate to diningdough.com depending on the number of utility transactions performed during the month of October. Diningdough.com certificates can be used for meals at a number of participating local restaurants.
• Pay one bill, earn a $25 certificate.
• Pay two or three bills, earn a $50 certificate.
• Pay four or more bills, earn a $100 certificate.
Better Understanding Cardholders
At Genisys CU, Auburn Hills, Mich., there were two separate cardholder bases following a merger of equals in 2008 between T&C FCU and USA CU, which created the fifth-largest credit union in Michigan. Darren Cameron, VP of marketing, said it has been using Total Revelation for two years.
"Initially we used it to better understand the cardholders," he said. "We wanted to concentrate our marketing efforts and wanted to target. After the merger we tracked the two different cardholder bases and were able to track the bins for behavior."
T&C FCU had a rewards program linked to its debit cards for several years. After the merger, debit rewards was introduced as a new program to USA CU members, Cameron continued. "Total Revelation is a very powerful tool, and it was very helpful in helping us track usage as we combined two different debit card usage groups. We like to identify, track and monitor PIN users versus signature users, and we set up groups to follow low users of signature-which we defined as one to five times per month-so we could target those people and increase signature use."
Similarly, Genisys used Total Revelation to address the problem of inactive cards. The CU targeted those members in an attempt to increase usage. In the case of members who used PIN debit only, the CU tried to encourage them to use signature debit. "Historically, signature transactions were almost two to one on generating interchange income for the credit union," Cameron reported. "This is currently under scrutiny after Durbin. There is a lot of speculation about what the future will hold."
As of June 30, Genisys had 68,687 debit card holders. Of those cards, 82% (56,310) are active cards.
Better Use of Data
Since May, Genisys has been establishing formal plans on how to use the increased information that is available from the upgraded version of Total Revelation. Cameron said management is particularly pleased to have the ability to identify both debit card usage and ATM usage. "This will allow us to open up the door and learn more about how members are purchasing items with their debit card and using ATMs. We are continuing to learn more about using Total Revelation for early signals of fraud. There is a lot that can be used for fraud prevention, and we are developing plans for 2012.
"It certainly has a lot more information than we've even been able to tap into," he added. "We are looking for ways to tap into it, and regardless of how things shake out with the industry we are putting things in place for the best interests of the members and the credit union."
Bellco CU's Kemper likewise said the addition of ATM transaction data is a welcome addition to the functionality of Total Revelation. "It already has put a lot of relevant data all in one spot in an easy-to-use point of access," he declared, noting the roll-out of ATM data will allow the CU to see who is using its ATMs, when and how much.
