CINCINNATI-CU Journal asked CUs at the Ohio CU League's annual meeting: "What's driving growth at your credit union?"
"We are facing double-digit unemployment in four of the five counties we operate in. So we have altered our business approach. We had been getting aggressive with indirect lending and really getting out in a bigger way within our communities. Now our perspective is that we really have to focus on organic growth. We are spending more marketing dollars on internal promotions and using that money for member incentives and growing relationships we already have. Until we are putting people back to work, it is going to be a struggle to grow. That's why we are focusing on organic growth-people who already have jobs and a relationship with us."
Kelly Schermerhorn
CEO, CES CU ($115M)
Mount Vernon, Ohio
"We didn't grow last year, but I think we will grow by 5% this year-and much of that has to do with auto refinancing and from helping members who are getting robbed by credit card companies. For members with credit card problems, we are putting them into closed-end loans to get their debt paid off. For auto refinancing we're telling members we'll beat their current loan rate by 1%, as long as we do not drop below our 4% floor. Our closed-end signature loans are risk priced at 8.24% for the best credit."
Lisa Collins
CEO, Atrium CU ($6M)
Franklin, Ohio
"Right now we have to get the most out of our existing members, cross selling and giving them the best service we possibly can. We have been beating the banks in that respect, and we are beating them by also being a stronger part of the community through outreach programs, telling the credit union story. From a product standpoint, we are leveraging auto loan recapture, debt restructuring, and checking."
Jane Schank
CEO, DayMet CU ($90M)
Dayton, Ohio
"I expect a lot of our growth will come from our existing members referring others to the credit union. About two years ago we realized we had just been taking orders. We were very good about saying, 'Yes, we can do that.' But now we have changed our approach and try to understand what members really need, challenging them on some of the things they are asking for and making recommendations that we feel meet their long-term objectives. The result is that we are getting many more referrals and members are telling us we helped them change their lives."
Karen Riel
VP-marketing and operations, Classic FCU ($30M)
Cincinnati
"We were growing deposits too fast due to our High Interest Checking account. We grew from $155 million in assets to $180 million in just the last two months. Our capital dropped about a point to 8.5%, so it was time to check that growth. We had been almost keeping up with deposit growth for a while by revamping our indirect loan program. But we have had to stop marketing (4.5% APY) High Interest Checking. We have not pulled the product, just the advertising."
John Bowen
CEO, River Valley CU ($180M)
Miamisburg, Ohio
