Hashmi, who has worked for the cooperative since 2001, said he wasn't entirely certain why ORNL decided to return to card issuing, but understood that the credit union's leadership found the opportunities for new card issuing numbers compelling.

There were also some service issues with its agent partner, he said.

"I had the card myself during that time," Hashmi said. "And I could tell the service was not what it should have been."

However, once the credit union began reissuing its credit card, Hashmi explained, the portfolio grew slowly, which he attributed to the 2009 passage of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, and a lack of credit card promotion from the cooperative.

"I think the CARD Act and the new regulations confused how we viewed the portfolio and how we promoted it," he explained.

Facing a new compliance environment, ORNL FCU turned to PSCU's credit card consulting arm, Advisors Plus, for help.

The credit union also made Hashmi a single manager for the credit card program in 2012, which PSCU had advised.

"Empowered portfolio managers manage card portfolios by creating 360-degree visions for their credit unions that cut across departmental lines to break down organizational silos and allow for seamless collaboration across all functions and channels," PSCU wrote in a case study of ORNL FCU's success. "This approach results in product offerings that are uniquely personalized and aligned to meet member product and service needs."

Hashmi, who was previously an underwriter at the credit union, said while he lacked direct experience managing credit cards, he was familiar with credit card risk and had some very specific ideas for the kind of credit card he believed the cooperative's members would need.

"I had been a regular user of the credit card for some time, and I knew the kind of card I wanted to have and thought other members would want to have that too," he said.

Hashmi explained he favors a "no strings attached" credit card, meaning it wouldn't carry a variety of fees or high interest rates. So, despite offering a rewards program, the ORNL Visa Platinum does not include an annual fee or balance transfer fee, Hashmi explained.

In addition, because he believed credit union members wanted a credit card they would eventually pay off, ORNL increased the minimum payment for the card from 1.5% of the balance to 3% of the balance.

"I believed members would agree with me that they want to pay off the credit card one day and not just keep making payments forever," Hashmi said.

Hashmi worked with Advisors Plus to create a series of turnkey marketing programs in 2011 and 2012 that would help both promote and grow the card, and give him more experience in card marketing.

"I knew what I wanted to do, but I was not sure how to do it," he added.

The structured campaigns led to strong results, according to PSCU's data and Hashmi.

Four campaigns launched by the credit union in 2012 and 2013 saw an average response rate of 2.56%, far higher than the average response rate for PSCU campaigns and those launched by the industry as a whole.

In addition, the campaigns brought in an average of $507,000 each and generated accounts with average balances of $4,345, PSCU reported.

Hashmi continued the effort by launching similar but more customized promotions in 2013 and 2014.

Instead of marketing the card to the cooperative's entire membership, Hashmi and ORNL FCU used the credit union's data to target the campaign to members they believed would be clearly eligible for the card and then reached out to them personally, he explained.

"We did an outbound call campaign that I targeted to run a little bit ahead of when the card offers would drop," Hashmi said. "The customer service reps merely informed the member that there was a pre-approved credit card offer coming and asked them not to throw it away before looking at it."

Credit union employees also offered to answer any questions members had about the card offer once it arrived, he said.

Members of the credit union loved the extra attention, Hashmi noted, and ORNL FCU began collecting questions they had asked about the offer and credit card, and put them in an FAQ file on its website that now contains more than 80 answers.

Hashmi credited Advisors Plus for helping ORNL FCU with its marketing campaigns, but said the fact that one manager oversees the program has made the biggest impact on its success.

"It's not necessarily that I am so great," Hashmi said. "But I have seen my colleagues who often manage three or four different programs and each of those takes time. Managing the credit card program is all I do and it benefits from having all my attention."

Hashmi added that he often helps underwriters work through challenging credit card applications and tries to personally check each credit card application that comes in.

"It's the extra focus that helps bring the results," he said.