Jax FCU’s Ourly Fills Banking Solution Gap for Local Teens

According to T. Rowe Price’s 2017 Parents, Kids & Money Survey, 55% of parents give their children an earned allowance. The survey also revealed 63% of kids keep their savings at their home.

Those figures remind me of a story that a friend of mine recently shared, which really encapsulates why we take teen accounts seriously at Jax Federal Credit Union.

It sounds like an excuse straight out of a middle school classroom: The family dog found her teenage son’s wallet, and within minutes, it was shredded to pieces. All the cash he had saved was ripped apart. Long story short, there were only so many bills that could be pieced together, and her son was not a happy camper. This story highlights why a more structured banking solution for teens was desperately needed at our credit union.

The Need

Jax FCU has always strived to incorporate children into the portfolio of accounts we offer. Our Coindexter Kids Club allows kids to start saving at a young age. For older teenagers, our free checking account is a popular product to match their increased responsibility, while the link to a personal debit card increases financial independence.

While both of those accounts are great tools for parents to teach their children about financial success, we realized there was a gap for members ages 13 to 16 – our Coindexter Kids Club ends at age 12, and our free checking account is available to members ages 16 and older.

We knew parents in our service area wanted an option to fill that gap. I did, too.

Just a few weeks ago, my oldest son was in the process of saving up for a video game that cost $80. He managed to put aside all he needed and pre-ordered it on his own – but, of course, when he purchased the game through an app, it charged my card because it was the payment method on file. He paid me back for the purchase, but I could have done without the panic of seeing an unexpected charge.

A small inconvenience like that is a prime example of how parents’ credit or debit card information can be used in many different circumstances when a teenager’s own form of payment doesn’t exist. Not only does that open up our cards to potential risks, such as fraud, but it also forces us to miss an opportunity to educate teens about the responsibilities associated with cards and how they spend money.

So, in February 2018, we began researching ways to better serve our members.

The Process

As the credit union’s vice president of payments and deposit operations (and as a mom), I took the lead on researching different platforms that would be the right fit for parents and teens alike. We didn’t want to launch a new product that only allowed parents to control their kids’ money. Our goal was to find a product that would integrate seamlessly with the way parents and teenagers already interact for financial matters. We wanted to offer a product that would afford teens multiple opportunities to deposit money into an account (to avoid situations like the dog-ate-my-wallet fiasco), and to learn how to responsibly manage it.

After exploring several third-party options, we ultimately decided on Ourly, a mobile money management platform for parents and their teens that enables parents to set allowances, assign chores, set goals and manage spending.

During the preliminary testing period, we distributed the app internally to gather feedback from employees and their families. We conducted a live launch with everyone in the credit union who had teen children. After a couple of weeks, we received an overwhelmingly positive response – especially from women. This insight helped us narrow our target marketing audience to Generation X moms, who were likely to have teens between the ages of 13 and 17 at home. Roughly one-third of our member base is part of the Gen X age group of 35 to 55, so we knew we were onto something great.

Because Ourly works on a task system (in which parents can set chores, household tasks and other expectations), the moms in our test group were thrilled. Ourly helped with simple things like getting their teens to take the trash out, wash the dishes and even make their bed each morning. (As a mom of two teenage boys, I know how difficult those tasks can be.) In return, the teens were happy that upon completion of their tasks, a deposit was transferred directly to their account.

After preliminary testing, we coordinated with Ourly to work out a few basic kinks. Their team was flexible and accommodating with every request. Once we felt the app was ready to share, we conducted a joint training with all of our staff members. It was then time to begin teasing the launch to our members.

The Delivery

We officially launched our teen accounts with Ourly on July 11, 2018. Our rollout plan included social media posts, a landing page with information about the product, in-branch signage, public relations outreach in our local market and emails to our targeted group of Gen X women.

I spoke with several parents who were simply blown away by this service. Many parents hadn’t thought about using an app to teach their teens about earning and managing money; they only thought about the banking side. Ourly helped connect the dots for many of our members.

Today, most of our new member accounts are opened online. However, we expanded the registration process for teen accounts to require a visit to one of our branches. We specifically made this step a requirement because we realized that many teens have never been to a financial institution and interacted with us directly. This requirement adds an extra teaching opportunity for parents and their teens, helps us connect with the teens in person to answer their questions about banking and reduces our members’ risk for friendly fraud.

Within a few weeks, we noticed that the majority of accountholders were at the prime age of 15 – a great age to engage teens in the credit union for a long-term relationship.

Room for Growth

Teens learn by doing, and that’s what makes Ourly a good fit for our members. We know other credit unions can learn from our experience, too.

In the future, we hope to incorporate more educational components into the program, which we’re currently supplementing through our website. Implementing tools directly into the app’s functionality will allow teens to learn day-to-day financial skills that will guide them toward a successful financial future.

Since implementing Ourly, we’ve opened 100 new teen checking accounts with over half being new members. Compared to the same four-month period in 2017, we’ve been able to more than triple our new teen memberships.

I could have never imagined something like Ourly becoming a vital part of my sons’ daily routines, but now I swear by it. I’ve been working in the credit union industry for 20 years and I’m so proud to have been a part of introducing this service for our members. More importantly, I’m excited that this product is empowering our members to teach their teens about earning money, saving for goals and spending responsibly.

Jill Thomas-Aviles is Vice President of Payments and Deposit Operations for Jax FCU. She can be reached at 904-475-8044 or jthomas@jaxfcu.org.