TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-Other findings in the CU24 survey:
• 56% of CUs reported an increase in membership. The new issue? Retention. "Again, credit unions have to prove their value and educate members as to what they have," EVP/COO Jim Gowan said. "Many credit unions have picked up member growth, but the average number of relationships per member is only two. If credit unions educate members with the goal of increasing share of wallet, perhaps they can get that number to four or six."
• Gowan and CU24 see a potential boon for CUs in debit card usage. Debit transactions have continued to grow, he noted, and many credit unions are working to move members to use signature debit over PIN/POS debit, even though the latter generates interchange income. The study found 89% of CU execs said their members use POS debit, which is growing faster nationally.
"Credit unions are asking us to help educate members to get cash back at the point of sale, such as buying groceries, rather than taking out money at an ATM," he said. "The ATM is an expense to the credit union if it doesn't own the machine. If the member gets cash back at a store the member gets money surcharge-free and the credit union generates interchange income. It may seem this is not good for Credit Union 24's ATM network, but the majority of our business is point of sales and it creates a better value proposition for our member credit unions.
