[IMGCAP(1)]
Radford Pipe Shop Employees Federal Credit Union members no longer need to count out cash or write checks to pay for purchases.
Now they can swipe the point-of-sale terminal with their debit cards.
Radford Pipe Shop, which is based in Radford, Va., recently began issuing the first debit card in the credit union's history, Jettie Montgomery, the credit union's treasurer, tells ATM&Debit News.
The credit union began issuing a MasterCard-branded debit card to its 4,000 members Aug. 1, after members said they wanted one, Montgomery says.
"We survey members in our newsletter, and they told us that a debit card was the No. 1 item they wanted," he says. "We also heard by word-of-mouth."
The credit union, which was founded in 1937, long has offered checking accounts, but the number of accounts remained unchanged at 1,500 for the past two years, which Montgomery blamed on the lack of a debit card offering. With the debit card, more people are opening checking accounts, Montgomery says.
"The debit card has made us more competitive with other credit unions," he adds.
Radford Pipe Shop Federal Credit Union was founded in 1937 originally served employees of Radford Pipe Shop, which stopped making pipe in 1975. The steel company has been bought and sold several times. The credit union responded to the changes by expanding its charter to serve Radford city employees, school teachers and hospital workers, Montgomery says.
Radford Pipe Shop announced that it was issuing a debit card the same time it joined Credit Union 24, the Tallahasse, Fla., ATM and point-of-sale network. ATM
