Amplify CU Eliminates All Fees: 'It Was Time to Change'
The credit union claims its fee-free approach will give back $2 million to members each year.
Executives at the Austin, Texas-based Amplify Credit Union have watched numerous credit unions and banks reduce and eliminate fees over the past several months. This week, Amplify officials announced it would take this trend a step further by eliminating all fees on all deposit accounts.
“For us, it’s not just about giving back. It’s about not taking in the first place,” Amplify Chief Experience Officer Stacy Armijo said.
According to a statement from Amplify ($1.3 billion in assets, 58,014 members), credit union members will not have fees on checking, savings and business banking accounts. “This includes no account maintenance fees (regardless of balance), no fees for overdraft protection and no wire transfer fees,” the statement read.
Amplify CEO Kendall Garrison said, “The banking industry is awash in half-measures around fees. At Amplify, we see things differently. You are trusting us with your money – not the other way around. If we really want to be a force for change in the banking industry, then not charging our members to access their own deposits was the obvious place to start.”
The credit union statement indicated that this move will put $2 million “back into the pockets of members annually.”
“There was a time when the ratio between interest rates and account fees made sense for customers, but that time has passed,” Armijo said. “When we realized our members pay an average of $33 per year in fees on deposit accounts – and yet the vast majority of them also earned less than $10 in interest over that same time – we realized it was time to change our business.”
In a video message to employees, Armijo explained the reason for the change to a zero-fee structure. “It’s a sad truth of the industry that banking fees hit vulnerable communities the hardest. As a member, even if your balances and behaviors help you avoid fees common elsewhere, you can now feel good knowing your deposits with Amplify help protect others from the vicious cycle bank fees can create.”
More than a dozen credit unions have announced fee eliminations and reductions over the past eight months.
The most recent example of this came in January when the Los Angeles-based University Credit Union ($954.5 million in assets, 46,081 members) stated it had eliminated its overdraft fees for all members.