BRENTWOOD, Penn. - In an effort to draw new members, Clearview Federal Credit Union is offering an authorized payment location for Cricket Communications wireless service users.
Ray George, AVP Technology at Clearview, said the arrangement will allow Cricket customers to pay their monthly bills at the $557- million credit union's Brentwood branch for a $3 fee. The fee will be waived for those who join the credit union.
"Our main focus is to attract additional customers," said Lisa Weber, VP of Marketing at CFCU. She said the credit union plans to add Cricket payment centers in other branches in the coming months.
Combined marketing efforts in the works include T-shirts advertising CFCU's first Cricket bill pay center and a campaign that links CFCU's senior checking account services and Cricket's senior discount program.
Weber said she's also hoping that Cricket customers will be so impressed with the great customer service at CFCU that they will become members.
George said the partnership works because the two businesses share similar philosophies.
"They almost sound like a credit union in their mission," George said. "They don't require long contracts and they go for (smaller) markets."
George said that the community-chartered Clearview FCU-formerly a single-sponsor credit union that served U.S. Airways employees-is hoping to create more business relationships to help expand its membership base.
Cricket is headquartered in San Diego, Calif., and available in 40 markets across 20 states.
It reports that 26% of its 1.4 million customers use Cricket as their primary phone, making it the leader in a national trend of consumers shifting landline services to wireless phones.
George said he didn't have an exact number, but expected that "a lot of members" already use Cricket.
The credit union will track the success of the partnership through its in-house mapping technology.
