HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A revamped version of a credit card that gives back to the community is still not seeing the kind of numbers necessary to declare the refurbished card a success or failure.
The Hutch Card from Hutchinson Credit Union here gives the city $5 per active cardholder (paid for by the CU, not the member), as well as half a percent of interchange income on purchases made with the Visa card. The money goes to the city's parks and zoo, rather than the general budget.
Case Swarts, VP of marketing and remote delivery, told Credit Union Journal in an e-mail that the revamped card was rolled out in October, but HCU didn't begin to do much marketing or training for full implementation of the card until late 2012. The 18,000-member, $211 million credit union also introduced a new set of business credit cards at the same time.
Along with the Hutch Card, the credit union has a number of other Visa offerings, including an affinity card that benefits local schools, a more traditional rewards card, and more.
"The issue is that we released so many new programs at the same time, and it's going to take a while for everything to settle down before we have a great grasp on the numbers," said Swarts, adding that "I'm sure we'll also have to do a lot of fine tuning."
