CHARLOTTE, N.C.-Count Carolina Postal Credit Union as among those seeing an increase in consumer inquiries and memberships-and not just due to the zombies.
"We've definitely seen a kick-up in new membership" based on the combination of the zombie promotion and new fees from the banks, said Marketing Director Deb McLean. "Overall our membership growth has been slow this year but steady. We've not lost members, which has been good, but our loan volume as also stayed steady."
McLean said she expects to have specific statistics about membership and loan growth from its "zombie" campaign (see related story) until the end of the month, but said that based on empirical evidence, things are picking up. As of its June 2011 Call Report, CPCU had 4,398 loans and leases on its books, totaling $53.5 million.
"I have seen more new checking accounts being opened from current members who maybe were always on the bubble about opening a checking account with us, and this final thing from Bank of America was the last straw," said McLean. CPCU allows members to join either online or in person, but face-to-face sign-ups are still the most common, said McLean.
When new members join, CPCU account managers review the member's loans and accounts at other FIs to see where the credit union might be able to save them money. Additionally, account managers audit each other's new account openings each month looking for relationships that might have been missed.
Carolina Postal's community-chartered branch in Hickory "has been inundated filling out applications and with people moving over their entire accounts," said McLean. Branch staff "aren't so busy that they're yelling at me yet, but they're busy. They're excited."
