NORTH HIGHLANDS, Calif. - An online money manager is revealing secrets and "changing lives" for SAFE CU members, including the woman who was shocked to see a single picture of all of her card debt.
"It was the first time this woman had seen all of her credit card debt in one spot," Web Services Manager Tarrah Palomino-Prim explained. "It was uncomfortable, but she realized she could do something about it."
Then there was the SAFE supervisor who realized a magazine had been overcharging him for nearly one year, added David Pope, SVP-technology services at the $1.3-billion CU. "It's nice to get the endorsement at the board level that this tool actually works."
As part of its mission to help members improve their financial well-being and take onling banking to the "next level," SAFE went live in September with Personal FinanceWorks, said Palomino-Prim. FinanceWorks is an add-on financial management hub powered by Intuit's Quicken and delivered through SAFE's Digital Insight Internet banking platform. Intuit said it plans to make FinanceWorks available through any third-party Internet banking platform.
"I believe online banking should be an extremely personal experience that provides relevant content and solutions based on the member's unique circumstance or life stage," continued Palomino-Prim. "FinanceWorks is a differentiator that couldn't have come at a better time with the way the economy is going."
"In today's economy, tools like these have never been more important or timely," added Tony Rasmussen, SVP, e-services at $2.8-billion Mountain America Credit Union (MACU) in Ogden, Utah.
MACU is one of about 35 credit unions that is beta-testing FinanceWorks in hope of going live with it in January.
FinanceWorks will increase share deposit growth; the frequency and length of visits to the website; and loyalty as the economy wanes, according to Glenn Tom, senior vice president of consumer solutions at Digital Insight. Specifically, Tom said he believes that credit unions that offer a financial management tool with the ability to manage and pay all of their bills in one place will have a leg up on winning member trust.
"I like that this tool can help members find savings in their spending at a difficult time," said Palomino-Prim. "They can set spending goals and see their day-to-day spending in categories that are relevant to their lives."
In FinanceWorks, members get a graphic snapshot of all of their financial relationships and spending categories. They can track paid and pending bills and payments in real-time to get an accurate projected balance, as well.
In short, the tool is something like the Wesabe or Mint of the Internet-banking world. What's different, however, is that FinanceWorks is offered by two "trusted" heavy-hitters: Intuit and the member's own credit union, said Palomino-Prim.
"Our members have confidence in SAFE, and they don't necessarily feel that way about Mint or Wesabe because they don't have a relationship with them yet," she said.
"Intuit has been slugging it out day to day with people like Microsoft in the personal financial management market," said Pope. Intuit has proven itself with Financeworks, he said. For example, the platform launch has been remarkably smooth-out of 3,000 enrollments, only three have required support.
Members now have a way to easily reconcile their accounts every month, and, right off the bat, members can aggregate their financial data from more than 5,000 financial institutions, according to Pope.
"And it's a very simple back-end process to add more FIs, small or large," Palomino-Prim said.
By the end of this year, SAFE will transition from its soft-launch advertising on the home page to a full-blitz campaign on radio, billboards, print, online and guerrilla marketing, said Palomino-Prim. "We'll go out within a mile radius of some branches and have face-to-face conversations with people."
SAFE also built its own Adobe Flash demonstrations of FinanceWorks, which members can click to view at the credit union website, Palomino-Prim said. "We know from Intuit's research that you can engage people by showing off the tool."
So far, the tool seems to appeal heavily to Gen X and Y members, who currently comprise about 80% of the user base, said Palomino-Prim. "FinanceWorks will help us develop stronger relationships with this consumer base."
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CU-Owned MoneyTracker Beats Intuit's FinanceWorks CUs Use 'Quicken-lite' To Turn Average Members Into 'Financial Savants'
For info on this story:
www.safecu.org
www.macu.com
www.digitalinsight.com
