LIVONIA, Mich. — One of the most successful league initiatives in the country, Invest in America, is steering its way along a new course.
The national CU member discount program rebranded this month to become Love my Credit Union Rewards, and is expanding — something the program has steadily done since it was launched in late 2008 by the Michigan CU League.
Introduced to spark struggling CU auto lending and provide much-needed business to Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co., which were working their way through bankruptcy filings at the time, the program gives members of participating CUs special new car pricing below the manufacturer's suggested retail price. The partnership with Chrysler and GM put savings into the pockets of members and raised the visibility of CU's role in this country's financial system.
Early on, Invest In America played a part in CU's share of the auto-lending market, climbing to more than 20% in March 2009, up six percentage points from 2008.
That result convinced GM to take a more long-term interest in the program. Chrysler, however, eventually backed out.
Through last month, Invest in America had closed more than 330,000 GM auto loans at CUs with a loan value of more than $7 billion.
Since the early days when only the car-buying discount and a discount on Sprint contracts were available to CU members, Invest in America has added special CU savings from ADT, DirectTV, 1-800 Flowers, Intuit's TurboTax, TruStage and more.
The package of discounts has saved 3.6 million members more than $1 billion, said David Adams, chief executive of CU Solutions Group and chief executive of the Michigan Credit Union League.
Both are also based in Livonia.
Invest in America is run by CU Solutions, a credit union service organization of the league.
"Because of this program, CU Solutions Group has been able to give back more than $65 million to the credit union system," Adams said. "So, members benefit in multiple ways, through the discounts they receive on products they purchase every day and on large purchases like autos, and money going back into the system to support credit union initiatives to better serve their members."
So why tinker with something that is doing well and being leveraged by the majority of state associations, with more than 300 of the top 500 CUs on board?
Studies show Love My Credit Union Rewards has a stronger connection to CUs and resonates better with members, Adams said.
"And, since the launch of the program, we have used the URL LoveMyCreditUnion.org," he said. "It had a far better recall than Invest in America with members, so it just made sense that now was the time to rebrand."
A new, easier-to-navigate consumer website has been introduced. Shopping categories include: auto, finance, home, shopping, technology and entertainment, finance, and Invest in America, now a category within Love My Credit Union Rewards.
Love to Shop is a new platform within Love My Credit Union Rewards that provides members with cash-back discounts from online retailers and also delivers daily offers to bring members back more often, Adams said.
"We have been talking about this brand change for a long time since the breadth of our offerings has grown far beyond the original intent of Invest in America," he said.
Looking back, the GM member discount has tracked close to expectations, Adams said.
"We did not go into the arrangement thinking we would account for a substantial portion of GM new vehicle sales," said Adams, about the discount platform that received the 2012 Herb Wegner Memorial Award for Outstanding Program."The fact that we have been tracking from 3% to 5% of GM's overall U.S. volumes is darn significant."
Adams said in the early days of the program that he knew Invest in America had great potential and that its success is a testament to "how a good idea that put into practice by credit unions and associations can reach enormous scale. And I think the potential for this program is even much greater than what we have seen so far."
