4 minutes
Sponsored by CSCU.
Over the past five years, the payments landscape has rapidly evolved and many credit unions are now taking advantage of various initiatives and solutions to remain relevant and improve their business portfolios. One credit union in particular has experienced significant growth in business after partnering with CSCU. ProMedica Federal Credit Union’s Marketing/Business Development Director Chris Tarsha shares the experience of being a part of CSCU’s Optimize Program. He and his team used the Portfolio Growth Solutions product with expert guidance from their CSCU portfolio consultant.
There May Be Challenges but Opportunities Abound
ProMedica Hospital & Health Care is the largest employer in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan with over 17,000 employees, 2,300 physicians and more than 800 healthcare providers employed by ProMedica Physicians. Additionally, it offers a health plan, which serves over 300,000 members.
With Promedica Hospital’s system extending to such a large network, there is an opportunity for $53 million ProMedica FCU, Toledo, Ohio, which aims to serve ProMedica Hospital & Health Care employees, their immediate family and affiliates.
When Tarsha joined Promedica FCU about four years ago, he did an analysis of the credit card program. He quickly came to realize that ProMedica FCU’s card program was significantly underutilized. “ProMedica FCU’s card program was kind of stagnant. We were underperforming and significantly behind our peers in revenue, penetration and overall volume,” says Tarsha.
Having the Right Partner Makes all the Difference
Tarsha came across some marketing collateral from CSCU and recognized that they would be able to provide the solutions he needed to improve Promedica FCU’s card business. He asked his CSCU consultant, Ann Farrell, if they had any programs to help drive penetration, activation and utilization, and was introduced to CSCU’s PGS product. The strategies in the program targeted new and existing members in order to increase overall volume and revenue growth.
“With Ann’s help, we broke down our entire credit card portfolio to get an accurate analysis and found some holes. So we set some strategies to not only bring awareness to our program but to increase volume,” Tarsha says. This led to Promedica FCU’s first ever promotional rate and balance transfer campaign. They started with 0 percent interest for 6 months, then extended the campaign to 12 months at 3.99 percent. The balance transfer campaign was a successful start and prompted members to use their credit cards, and the campaign worked to attract new members.
Thereafter Promedica FCU added a rewards program with its “Bonus Points” campaign and internal contests to build awareness and get all employees involved. These strategies all assisted in driving volume, increasing penetration, outstanding balances and usage.
“We saw a significant lift in our volume, particularly in the balance transfer area and we reevaluated and decided to extend the offer and the volume continued to drive. We really saw some good results and wanted to get all our employees involved,” Tarsha explains.
The Numbers Speak for Themselves
With fewer than 25 employees, Promedica FCU has managed to put its credit card program at the forefront of revenue providers in its portfolio of business. More importantly, the credit union now stacks up favorably amongst its competitors in equal size and larger. There has been significant growth year-over-year as seen in the table below showing percentage increase in 2016 when compared to 2015.
|
ProMedica FCU |
Total Outstandings |
Total Credit Lines |
Total Net Sales |
Total Net Sales Volume |
Total Revenue |
|
Year-over-year growth 2015 - 2016 |
20% |
36% |
22% |
21.6% |
20.5% |
The Way Forward
Moving forward, Tarsha sees untapped opportunities to extend membership to more of ProMedica Hospital & Health Care’s diverse network. So, the CU has plans to incorporate more programs, with the assistance of CSCU, to maintain and drive even more growth in the near future. He envisions that the credit union’s major challenge will be offering credit card programs to satisfy the needs of all. Therefore, the programs may include more rewards campaigns and initiatives to offer different types of credit cards that meet the needs of varied demographics.
At CSCU, a leading provider of processing services to credit unions, we know about cards and payments. We deliver solutions to help simplify the increasingly complex world of payments. Through portfolio consulting, industry insights and thought leadership resources, our goal is to help credit unions not just survive, but thrive.
