Encore Card Services a Year Into Helping CUs Take Cards For Their Members

WAKEFIELD, Mass. – Encore Merchant Services, a division of Primax Payment Systems, which is headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, and an affiliate of the Encore Cooperative, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, has now entered into its second year helping credit unions offer their members the ability to accept credit cards. “We have been using it for over a year now,” said John Rhodes, CEO of the $55 million Public Health Services FCU, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. “And it has helped us draw accounts that we might not have otherwise had and hold onto accounts that we might have lost,” Rhodes explained. Typically the members who use the service most actively are those with a small business on the side or associations of members who operate a business, Rhodes explained. For example, one of credit union’s members is a seamstress who sews dresses and tailors on the side. Others have lawn care businesses, and one association of members runs a cafeteria in the Parklawn building, the largest office building in Maryland in which the credit union has its offices. “We make a very small profit on the service,” Rhodes said, “but we don’t really anticipate it being a money maker for us. What we expect is that it will help us gain and keep members who will use more profitable products,” he added. “Overall its been a strong year and we look forward to continuing to expand the number of credit unions using the service,” explained Thomas Reed, CEO of the Encore Cooperative.