SAN DIEGO-San Diego County Credit Union combined Bank Transfer Day with a "Shred Your Big Bank Debit Card" promotion.
That promotion, which uses social media to show off new members shredding their big bank debit cards and posting photographs of themselves on SDCCU's Facebook page, has resulted in nearly twice the normal number of new members opening new checking accounts.
According to Teresa Halleck, president and CEO of the $5.3-billion credit union, more than 1,136 new SDCCU checking accounts were opened during the first week of November, including 362 new checking accounts on Nov. 5. The number of new checking accounts opened during the first week of November is 77.5% more than the per-day average of new accounts recorded during the month of October and almost three times the per-day average of new accounts for the entire year of 2010, she said.
SDCCU reported the increase in total membership growth in October was 62% higher than September. At the end of October, SDCCU reported 221,740 members.
"Our new members told us they attributed their switching because of dissatisfaction with high fees from Bank of America, followed by Chase and Wells Fargo," Halleck said in a statement. "We also were excited that the "ABC World News Tonight" national news program on Sunday night took note of our Bank Transfer Day promotion and aired a picture from our Facebook page."
