Even members of credit unions that don't even have mobile banking are able to access their CU accounts using a smart phone – provided their CUs participate in shared branching.

The new innovation, introduced thanks to a partnership between cuwireless and Financial Service Centers Cooperative Inc, allows members of shared branching credit unions to obtain their balance,transaction history, and balances with a simple text message. They will also be to transfer money in between their different credit union accounts, including making payments to loan accounts, FSCC said. But money transferred from savings to checking via text message would still be subject to the Regulation D limit of no more than six such transfers per month, the CUSO said.

The service is free to members of credit unions that a directly affiliated with FSCC, but members of credit unions which use shared branching through an "extended network" will face a charge of ten cents per text transaction.