Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union in Rocky Hill, Conn., is not only saving their members money, but is also saving them time.
Fueled by a partnership with the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles, the credit union
Between 150 to 175 people have frequented the Milford location per day since its opening with an average wait time of roughly four minutes. That is 91 percent faster compared to the national average DMV wait time of 44 minutes,
“After they get to the window, [members] are getting turned around within two to three minutes to go through an entire license renewal, a name change, an address change,” explained Nutmeg’s President and CEO John Holt. “When you compare that to some of the numbers we see in the DMV at Connecticut, it’s minutes versus, in some cases, hours.”
Both locations offer normal banking services, such as account transfers, loan payments and applications, check and cash deposits and withdrawals, and replacement debit or credit cards. That’s in addition to routine DMV services, such as license renewals.
Holt attributes the Milford branch’s fast turnaround to technology. DMV kiosks equipped with technology developed by Nutmeg allow consumers to set up appointments or hold their place in line. They can either wait until their scheduled time or leave the branch and come back later.
The North Haven location offers new features that aren’t currently available at the Milford branch. Consumers can schedule DMV Express appointments online up to two months in advance. It also offers business accounts on personal kiosks and the ability to open IRAs. The branch opens one hour earlier and closes one hour later compared to the first DMV Milford branch.
“The public has been so receptive to this because they like the fact that they can come into a branch and can do all these transactions through a self-service kiosk,” Holt said.
The partnership has driven traffic and noninterest income at Nutmeg. DMV services are available to everyone but nonmembers have to pay $8 convenience fee. They can get the charge waived by joining the credit union. Noninterest income has jumped almost 15 percent, to $5.5 million, for the first nine months of 2018 from a year earlier, according to call report data.
For advertising, Holt explains that word of mouth has worked well coupled with the press attention the credit union received from each branch opening. Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy kicked off the ribbon cutting and grand opening of the June branch opening. Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman did the same for the December branch opening.
The credit union is also able to advertise on the Connecticut DMV website, where it can list its locations and services offered.
As for the biggest takeaway, Holt says that the self-service kiosks are the future of banking because of how adaptable they are. For Nutmeg’s banking services, Holt and his team are looking to have the kiosk integrate customer-relationship management tools into the CU’s app such as with a chatbot or other artificial intelligence mechanisms.
“Everyone is going to technology and electronics and we said to ourselves, ‘We want to be in the community, and we really want to stay in the community,’” Holt said. “So we asked, ‘How can we keep building branches, while talking to people while getting them to use electronic services?’”
