RALEIGH, N.C.-ElecTel Cooperative FCU has booked more than $1.7 million this year as part of one-day-only loan promotions, including $74,000 in a "Green Wednesday" promo the day before Thanksgiving.
Because ElecTel Cooperative was not open on Black Friday, it offered loans on what it called "Green Wednesday" so that the funds would be in members' accounts by the time they were ready to hit the stores for shopping deals the day after Thanksgiving.
That special loan promotion was the latest in a year that has seen the 7,000-member, $40-million credit union offer one-day-only loans for Leap Day, St. Patrick's Day and other one-off events.
"They're quick, one-day promotions building on anything we can find with a theme," explained CEO Nancy Long.
The credit union kicked it off with a Leap Day promo offering an unsecured loan at 1% for up to 12 months, and brought in $465,000 in loans in one day. "It's short-term, low risk and we have money to loan, so we just wanted to get it out there and create excitement, create awareness and have fun with it."
ElecTel Cooperative also held a "Friday the 13th" special in July, offering loans on a 13-month term at 1.3%. That offer drew $325,000 in one day.
The biggest success, however, was a St. Patrick's Day promotion that ran for two days, offering loans for two years at 2%. "We can't get 2% on our investments, so why not get it out in loans?" said Long. "Wow-we did $890,000 in that loan promotion. That was very, very popular because the term was a little bit longer, so it was easier to get a payment that you could afford."
Long said that ElecTel does not change its underwriting for these promotions. "We're very fortunate that the majority of our membership is probably close to A&B paper, so we were getting very good loan applications in," she said.
At 5% APR, Green Wednesday loans were priced higher than the other one-day specials. "They're paying a higher rate because they need the money, versus the other loan promos we ran," expalined Long.
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ElecTel booked 57 loans that day for a total of $74,000. The credit union currently has just over 4,000 loans on its books totaling more than $27 million, with a heavy concentration in used car lending.
The credit union worked with marketer Bo McDonald on the "Green Wednesday" promo. McDonald works regularly with many other CUs in the area and helped Columbia, S.C.'s Carolina Collegiate FCU successfully market a similar Leap Day promotion earlier this year. ElecTel members receive e-mails about the one-day events about two weeks in advance, and the CU pushes the promotions on its website and social media pages, as well as via in-store signage.
Long said that the ElecTel is most likely finished with the one-day promos for this year-she had hoped to tie something into 12/12/12, but said it probably won't happen-but the themed lending events will definitely continue in 2013.
"We've had the best loan year we've ever had-our loans are up about 10% for the year," she said. "We'll continue it and tweak it, and our members love it."
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