For many in the credit union community, it's the "Holy Grail" of auto lending: turning indirect customers into CU members.
"We have several ways to make this happen," said Michael Kramer, VP of indirect lending at $1.6 billion TTCU The Credit Union in Tulsa, Okla. "Digital marketing is important, as is the outbound call center. You have to get everyone at the credit union buying in, especially the branch managers. Those leads matter and they need to be followed."
At Alliance Credit Union, which operates in California and North Carolina, Consumer Lending Manager Laurie Agustin said the $384 million institution makes "calls in the first 48 hours after booking a loan. Then we go into our pre-approval campaign. We send letters spotlighting our other products. The first-time car buyers are excited they got a loan, and many of them do not know what a credit union is. We have offers that drop their rate a quarter-percent if they make a certain number of payments on time."
Offering potential new members credit cards with cash back has worked for Security Service FCU. "We reach out based on geographical locations," said Mark Wild, SVP of lending "We let them know when they are within 5 miles of a branch, and all of them get welcome letters and phone calls."
