SAN DIEGO — Mission Federal Credit Union says its "Mission Fed Money Match" program has been a great success and will be continued and expande d in 2014.
Money Match, as the name implies, matches the dollar amount of winning members' loan payments, debit or credit card purchases, or direct deposits, up to a certain amount per transaction type.
The program launched in January as part of $2.4 billion Mission Fed's 50th anniversary.
Rob Miller, SVP of operations, told Credit Union Journal by the end of 2013, Mission Fed will have matched slightly more than $1 million in transactions, and will have more than 13,500 winners.
Letter To Every Winner
"We send a letter to every winner, plus branches get a list of winners from their branch and make random calls," he said. "We have so many winners we do not call every one, but the feedback we get is members are really thankful that their transaction was matched. When people win they put it on their Facebook page and other social media outlets."
Miller came to Mission Federal from another credit union in June. When he learned about Money Match he said he was immediately impressed by the program.
After he had been with the credit union only one month he heard about a story where the member's grandfather had suffered a stroke. The family did not have a lot of money but went out to dinner one night and the member incurred a debit charge for $87.
When Mission Fed matched the charge, the member called to say it came at "just the right time," Miller reported.
"It was very touching. It is moments like that that make what we do so great."
Mission Fed randomly selects members for Money Match on a daily and monthly basis, depending on the category. Each day five members have a debit card purchase matched, up to $100, and another five will have a credit card purchase matched up to $250.
30 Drawings A Month
There are 30 drawings at the end of each month, with 20 members getting reimbursed for an auto loan payment up to $500, one member getting back up to $1,000 for a home equity loan payment, four members getting their direct deposit matched up to $2,000, and five members getting a refund for their first mortgage or first trust deed payment up to $2,500.
The CU even accounted for the possibility of a situation where a "winner" received a credit for a $3 Starbucks' debit while he or she had a $75 debit somewhere else, so the decision was made to choose a member and then pay that person's highest-value transaction of the day, up to the limits.
Mission Fed will continue Money Match next year because it has been "such a great success," Miller said. The CU anticipates 16,500 winners will share $1 million.
"In 2014 we will be more aggressive advertising externally," he said. "We have been telling our members about it, with a few radio ads, but next year we will do some television ads as well to get the word out."
