Strategic new checking product doubles account balances and increases debit card spend by 25%
Background
California-based CBC Credit Union, with approximately $500M assets and 30,000 members, wanted to revamp their existing checking product to become more competitive.
Solution
- A competitive analysis studied the checking products of other credit unions and banks in California.
- CU Rise tested cost-benefit scenarios around the most successful and innovative checking products in the market to create an ideal product with maximum member appeal.
- CU Rise analysed members’ transaction behavior and identified which members had the greatest propensity to adopt new checking products.
CU Rise helped the credit union develop a suite of checking products with three tiers– basic, epic, and epic premium. Each product unlocked more benefits for a nominal monthly fee. For $8 a month, the ‘Premium Checking’ product offered the following features:
- Extended protection on debit card purchases
- Five-cent rebate on all debit card swipes
- Higher interest rates than money market dividend rates
- Money-saving offers on Loan and Share Certificate rates
- Annual fee reimbursement for the rewards credit card
Approach
Results
- The average balance of premium checking accounts nearly doubled, increasing from $4k to $10.5k
- Debit card activity linked to these accounts increased by 25%, and overall transactions increased by approximately 18%.
- The total loan/deposit balance for premium members increased by 12%.