RDC Program Builds Business Deposits at CU: Onsite at CUBG

SAVANNAH, Ga. – About five years ago, Wright-Patt Credit Union Treasury Services Manager Leah Greene faced the daunting and important task of growing business deposits to back her credit union’s loans. The secret, as she explained to attendees in a breakout session at the 2018 CUBG National Business Conference Tuesday, was implementing a successful remote deposit capture program as part of an overall strategy to develop full banking relationships with business members and increase efficiencies at the credit union.

The journey began with the creation of a five-year member business services strategy plan, which included shifting to a new loan origination system with a ton of reporting capabilities, making policy and practice revisions, and raising more awareness about the credit union’s business service offerings to members who visit a branch. It now has about $300 million in total deposits, has seen a jump in new business accounts (primarily operating and money market) as well as a reduction in the number of in-branch transactions thanks to the RDC program, and holds 39% of its deposits from business members. About 100 business members use RDC.

Here are six strategies that helped Wright-Patt ($4.3 billion, Beavercreek, Ohio) grow its business deposits.

Make business services simple, transparent and low-cost. Greene said Wright-Patt’s business statements are easy to understand, fees are very minimal and the credit union even loans business members on RDC their check scanner for free. “We don’t charge a lot for our services, but we see benefits in other ways,” she said. “We’re getting the business member’s loan relationship.”

Don’t give business members any reason to go elsewhere. It’s critical to offer all of the same business services a big bank would offer, Greene said. When a new business member arrives at Wright-Patt, employees review the accounts and services they have with other institutions and see if any of them can be moved over to the credit union.

Spend time with the member in person. Greene said Wright-Patt’s member business services department (which consists of her and one other person) trains each new user of the business RDC tool onsite at their business. “This is important to me because we’re providing the member service and we get to be one-on-one, but we’re also getting to do an audit,” she said. “We’ll get to see for ourselves – is this a real business? Do they have a real computer?”

Get employees excited about business services credit union-wide. Wright-Patt offers incentives for branch employees who open business accounts and recognizes those who go the extra mile. There are also opportunities for employees on the consumer side to learn about the credit union’s business services, and vice versa.

Find a niche. In addition to two tiers of business checking accounts, SimpleChoice Checking and DividendChoice Checking, the credit union offers a Mission-Based Checking account specifically for nonprofit organizations, and has seen growth in the nonprofit space as a result.

Ensure all your vendors are in alignment. Wright-Patt chose an RDC vendor that had already aligned with its online banking provider, and both consumer and business members with RDC use the same platform. It also utilizes a single sign-on system, which helps create consistency and ease of use for members.