What makes an innovative CU?-- ACUC&E coverage

LAS VEGAS (6/4/07)--Imagine sitting with members for hours in their homes, talking with them in detail about their financial habits and what brought them to your credit union.

During Monday's "Innovation and Your Credit Union" Thought Leaders Session at the America's Credit Union Conference & Expo (ACUC&E), researchers from Design Concepts, Madison, Wis., and Musette Bracher, vice president of marketing, GECU, El Paso, Texas, discussed what happened when they did just that.

ACUC&E, meeting in Las Vegas through Wednesday, is sponsored by the Credit Union National Association. Widespread innovation resulted from asking two key questions at GECU:

  1. Are we treading water?
  2. Is the "service" proposition status quo enough?

GECU sought answers as part of an in-depth, ethnographic research project of the Filene Research Institute, Madison, Wis., and Design Concepts, an industrial design firm. It's the largest research study Filene has conducted. Six other credit unions also participated.

Last year Design Concepts studied six GECU households, spending hours with family members in their homes discussing financial habits and life circumstances. During "wallet tours," researchers asked members to open their wallets to explore with them the contents, such as credit cards, said Julie Norvaisas, senior research specialist at Design Concepts.

Bracher says the research identified three new areas of focus for GECU:

    1. Enhancing membership benefits. GECU sought to provide "members only" benefits through selective vendor partnerships. It increased members' access to the political process by holding on-site early voting and will host town hall meetings at its branches. An online barter tree will be a place for members to exchange goods from trusted fellow members.

    2. Becoming members' trusted financial education source. GECU increased the topics, locations, and frequency of its seminars. "Financial Bliss for Newlyweds" is one of more than 70 sessions scheduled this year.

    3. Teaching members how to save. To fill this "extreme need" and engage members, the credit union launched its "Savings Revolution." It includes easy-entry products such as the No Excuse Savers Club and No Excuse individual retirement account certificate, intense financial education outreach, and GECU's Savings Challenge '07.

The study helped GECU and other credit unions understand why members join credit unions, why they join a particular credit union, and what credit unions can do to better attract new members.

Researchers took their findings back to the credit unions to discuss the results, their implications, and potential ways to use the information. The final report, "Why Choose a Credit Union?" by lead researcher Stefanie Norvaisas, is due in August.

print this story email this story
Resource Links
Filene Research Institute
ACUC&E Daily
Related stories from America's CU Conference & Expo


More CU/System

Copyright © 2012 Credit Union National Association