TUKWILA, Wash.-Call them "Feeless In Seattle," the former bank customers who were flocking to BECU even before Wells Fargo and Bank of America announced a user charge for debit cards.
"Things are crazy," reported Todd Pietzsch, manager of public relations for the $9.5-billion credit union formerly known as Boeing Employees CU, which moved to a community charter in 2006.
In August BECU set a record for new memberships in a month: 8,700. Pietzsch said it topped that figure in September with 9,400. Beginning Sept. 30, when Bank of America announced its new $5-per-month debit card fee, new membership grew at 2.8 times the normal rate. From Sept. 30 through Oct. 12, BECU enrolled 6,900 new members combined online and in branches.
"We are hearing many of these new members are former Bank of America customers," he told Credit Union Journal.
According to Pietzsch, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, along with the new debit card fees at BofA, Chase and Wells Fargo, are causing many consumers to realize "there are other options out there, and credit unions are a great option. I think in many cases people have been thinking about it for a long time, but the recent events pushed them over the fence. It takes a lot of effort sometimes to switch, especially for those with online bill pay or automatic payments. But now I think it is worth the time to switch."
'Not My Bank Anymore'
Bounce Brewer, one of the newest members of BECU, certainly agrees with Pietzsch. She had been with Wells Fargo for more than 15 years before the bank's debit card fee brought her to BECU in early October.
"The convenience and service at Wells had been consistent the whole time," the Seattle resident told Credit Union Journal. "I was satisfied for the most part, but when the debit card fee was put in place they weren't my bank any more."
For several years Brewer had been thinking about switching to a community-minded CU because she saw it as "the right thing to do," but it came down to "practicality." She had several automatic payments linked to her checking account, and worried about the "risk" in converting to a credit union.
"There are disincentives to switching banks," she said. "The process is not easy, and I'm still worried there is going to be some automatic payment that I've missed changing."
Brewer's husband already was a BECU member and she asked him "a lot of questions" about his experience. He said BECU was "at least comparable with other commercial banks he has done business with."
In addition, she said BECU is "heavily branded in Seattle and I had seen many, many billboards. It helped that BECU has branches in grocery stores."
Pietzsch said the in-branch onboarding process also has done the job for BECU. He said when people sign up the staffer assesses the needs of the new member and makes the determination as to how the credit union can best serve that person beyond just a checking account, if that is what they came in for.
"If they have a credit card somewhere else we let them know if we have a better rate," he said. "Same with auto loans. Our mortgage rates are very low right now, so we ask them what they are paying for their home loan. We are going to assess their financial health overall and let them know if we can help, even on the deposit side. We are still competitive for our market on CDs and money market accounts."
