Recently, CUNA CPD had the pleasure of having three guest panelists attend our department-wide staff meeting. The guests represented various aspects of the credit union system and included Jim Drogue, VP of Credit Union Development at the Wisconsin Credit Union League, Fritz Shunke, Director at Summit Credit Union and Mike Long, Executive VP at UW Credit Union.

Each of the panelists spent a few minutes talking about their role within the credit union system, and the challenges they face…the common concern for all three? Growing membership! It is a problem they face, and a problem that many of you likely face.

In 2009, when many credit unions were struggling to keep up with changes in regulations and the overarching challenges brought on by the recession, UWCU added 28,000 new members! Considering that their total membership is more than 145,000, this statistic is pretty impressive (that translates to nearly 20% growth).

How did UWCU do it? And in 2009 nonetheless? They did it by being who they say they are: People Helping People. 

They let current events do the talking. In the past two years, banks, in general, have gotten a bad rap. Of course, bad news for banks= good news for credit unions. News outlets such as the Today Show, CBSNews, MSNMoney, CNN, and Newsweek encouraged consumers who were dismayed by the “big bank bailouts” to entrust their money with credit unions. Movements such as Move Your Money popped up… inviting the general public to do just that. (Check out comments posted by “movers” on the Testimonials page. Your credit union might even be one mentioned!)

My Favorite Bumper Sticker

They send the right messages to existing and future members. For UWCU, this includes member surveys and other correspondence that say:  “Our members’ interest always comes first.”  Billboards around town are simple, yet honest: “We are always looking out for members.” Simple, yet powerful.

They show the credit union difference.  UWCU cares about their members. This means they want to provide members with good value, built on a foundation of service excellence. How do they do this? Through conversations and caring.

UWCU empowers its employees to find out what challenges individual members are facing and how the credit union might help them with those challenges. They encourage staff to cultivate meaningful relationships with members and tailor their service to fit the members’ needs, circumstances and financial goals.

 This involves:

• Offering an array of reasonably priced and well-designed products and services;
• Delivering technology systems that provide members a high level of convenience and control; and
• Providing people with the information and understanding they need to make good financial decisions.

They attract “Members for Life.” This is actually the name of their internal training program and it is a name that fits. The goal of the program is to provide a service experience for members that exceeds their expectations, provides value and unbiased advice, and is consistent across the company. How do they fare? According to Rob Van Nevel, Assistant Vice President of Member Services, “more than 98% of our members say we meet or exceed their expectations.” I am one of those members.

I became a member of UWCU when I was still in high school. (Luckily, my mother steered me in the right direction at a very early age…thanks Mom!) More than fifteen years later, I can honestly say that I LOVE MY CREDIT UNION.

My first auto loan in 2003...for this Nissan Altima!

I love Cory Poole, who helped me with my first car loan. Not only did Cory explain the loan process carefully and answer all of my questions, once the deal was sealed he walked me out to the parking lot to check out my “new” used Altima. It took just a few minutes out of his day but with that one act, Cory made me a Member for Life. He was the first person I called when my husband and I began “condo shopping” and he made the mortgage loan process a lot less scary.

I love Beth Grosskopf, who helped me lock in an amazing rate on my most recent car loan. As if that weren’t enough, she helped my husband and I consolidate some other loans so we could pay them off faster, and at a special rate.  

In addition to the people, I LOVE UW Web Branch—in fact, I might have a problem. I am on Web Branch every day, managing my money and watching my savings grow. I love the new incorporation of Money Management Tools and I secretly hope that it was the suggestion I submitted in 2009, that brought this amazing tool to life. Why? Because I know UWCU actually listens to their members. For that, and so many other reasons, I LOVE MY CREDIT UNION! And I’ve never heard anyone say that about their bank. 

What about you? What is your credit union doing to grow membership and retain members for life?

>Well it is more than a week since the YES Summit and I am still reveling in what a wonderful experience it was! As a first time moderator of this conference, I had a lot of fun getting to know many of you, listening to the diverse group of speakers, and seeing the results of the interactive sessions. Simply awesome!

I have been involved with many conferences throughout my years at CUNA, but I have to say that this conference was different. Not only were there amazing ideas tossed around, not only were we all invited to participate in a social community that is groundbreaking (in my eyes) but we had fun doing it! The conference was a great mix of information AND interaction. The passion that you have for credit unions is amazing. The enthusiasm that you have to reach young members is stunning. Thank you for your energy! (And I thought trainers were an excitable bunch… I hadn’t met the ‘marketers’ yet.)

As others before me have pointed out, the hard part is implementing what you learned. I have faith in you, in the credit union movement and in the YES community that awesome things will result from our 3 days together in Austin. Know that we are here for you- to help you along the way, to answer questions and just to facilitate discussion. You knocked our socks off last week with your innovative and insightful approaches to the challenges we gave you.
We can’t wait to see what you come up with in the coming year!

Happy Holidays Everyone!
Courtney

>Hi all!
My name is Courtney Cantwell and I am an Instructional Designer at the Credit Union National Association. My job at CUNA is to work with writers, content experts and web designers to create online, interactive courses for credit union staff. Throughout my tenure at CUNA I have had many wonderful opportunities to work at national conferences and events.

This winter I will be co-moderating CUNA’s 2007 YES Summit in Austin, Texas. I am thrilled about this opportunity because I finally get to meet folks from the Gen X/Gen Y demographic who know the history of the credit union movement and why cooperatives are so important.

CUNA is based in Madison, WI which is a fairly liberal college-based town. Credit unions are very prevalent here but even some of my friends didn’t know the difference between a cu and a bank until I explained it to them. It is my job to explain the merits of belonging to a credit union to those who don’t know. There are many clueless people out there. They don’t realize that they are throwing money away- they are paying higher fees for withdrawing money from ATMs, higher rates on loans and they are fattening some big CEOs’ wallets by belonging to banks.

We need to get the message out! We need to steer our friends, family and acquaintances in the direction of the nearest credit union. With credit unions declining so rapidly, it is up to us- to the younger generations- to save the movement. We need to come up with alternative methods for reaching new members, and we need to start reaching them at an early age.

I became a member of UW Credit Union when I was 16. I wanted a checking account and my mom took me to the credit union (she also happened to worked in the cu industry). I have never left UW and wouldn’t consider doing so for a number of reasons:
1) their online web branch (I check my account daily),
2) the low rates they offer on loans,
3) the friendliness of the staff and
4) the accessibility of ATMs throughout town.
They also took a chance on my fiance and I and helped us purchase our first home.

The key to reaching new members is to find out what is important to them, to figure out a way to accomodate their needs and then to get the message out that their local credit union has solutions that are in their best interests. Let’s do our part to get the word out.

Courtney