LAS VEGAS-Just two days after Bank Transfer Day, Credit Union Journal asked attendees of the Credit Union Executives Society's CEO/Executive Team Network conference how much activity their credit unions saw?
Diann Owen-Gaines, president and CEO
Clackamas Community FCU, Oregon City, Ore.
We are in a suburban area so we did not get a large surge of activity in our branches. In Portland, which is about 20 miles away, there was a lot more. We had staffed up at our branches on Saturday, just in case.
We have seen our volume increase steadily over the last three weeks, so it appears people did not wait for Bank Transfer Day itself. The other thing we have seen is existing members are bringing over their deposits and loans from other institutions, which is very encouraging.
Rick Schmidt, president and CEO
WestStar CU, Las Vegas
We opened on Saturday because we had had some inquiries here and in Reno. We had $110,000 in new deposits and 30 loan applications. Our branch managers want to do more promotions going forward to keep the momentum.
In October we had a 65% increase in new members and a 100% increase in checking accounts. We like the momentum and want to keep it going. Saturday was symbolic, but more importantly we received eight online membership applications just this morning [Nov. 7]. The numbers over time are what is important, not just one day. The next three to six months are as good an opportunity as credit unions have had. We need to translate these new accounts into loans.
Mark Hawkins, president and CEO
Altura CU, Riverside, Calif.
Our new member growth really accelerated in October after BofA made its debit card fee announcement. We went from 795 members in the previous month to 1,150, or about a 45% increase. I don't have the dollar figures yet, but the most important issue is not just drawing in balances but building relationships. There was an uptick on Nov. 5 compared to previous Saturdays, but we are looking at the broader trend and that is many of these new people are opening checking accounts.
November is the start of our five slowest lending months, so it might take some time to see these new members translate into more consumer lending.
Vicki Hawkins, president and CEO
Dort FCU, Flint, Mich.
We are trying to control our growth, so we did not have a special promotion on Saturday. We have had promotions running for months, and we have a promotion in place for November. We have had a 20%-plus increase in new memberships this year.
