The 9,400-member, $94 million Weber State Federal Credit Union has learned that even as the payment space is undergoing rapid change, basic rewards programs and options can still help drive card member behavior.
The Ogden, Utah, credit union has a card portfolio of roughly 1,400 accounts worth roughly $2.8 million as of end of last year, according to NCUA records.
The credit union reported that without having a rewards program available to cardholders, its card portfolio had more or less stagnated for the past couple of years and had not even managed to grow enough to keep up with normal card attrition.
So Weber State executives turned to Card Services for Credit Unions for help in both understanding what the portfolio needed and help in putting a better rewards program in place once that was the course of action they decided to take.
With the help of CSCU consultants, the credit union launched a three-month promotional rewards program. During those three months, Weber State's Platinum Rewards credit card program grew 7% in the number of open and active accounts, 3.2% in the loan balance, and 12.6% year over year in interchange income, the credit union said.
"The results of the ScoreCard promotion were eye opening as to the possibilities of using it on an ongoing basis, which based on the market research, will give us a significant competitive advantage," said Mark Chamberlain, member service manager for Weber State.
The promotional program offered rewards points for food and gas purchases; 10,000 bonus points for new cards opened during the promotion if the members spent at least $5000 and 5,000 bonus points if the members spent at least $2000.
"ScoreCard helped level the playing field for Weber State Credit Union and allows them to compete with big banks," added Joe Reid, regional account executive for CSCU. "It's important for credit unions to understand it's not an intimidating process to implement a promotional campaign; it's just a matter of minutes to sign up."
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