3 reasons to put the power of financial management in members’ hands

Budgeting may not be the most exciting topic. But it is something that has a huge amount of value for credit unions and their members. Let’s break it down from a member’s perspective.

Advocacy

First of all, encouraging your members to use the Personal Financial Management (PFM) solutions you provide (whether you provide them in budgeting, aggregation, reporting or some other form) shows them that you’re on their side. You’ll probably never make financial management entertaining for most people, but most will appreciate your support of the cause. If you offer a PFM with a budgeting tool, all the better. Walk them through how it works. This can then help start new conversations about the other platforms and services you provide.

Relationships

Building a better relationship with your members is one of the most important goals credit unions can have. You can’t compete with big, national banks on features and branches, but you can run circles around them when it comes to member relations. Credit unions are built on a model to foster this aspect of the business.

Budgets are a great place to start this conversation. Members will reveal their goals for budgeting – saving for college, buying a house, buying a car, etc. – and that helps you understand how best to help them on an individual basis.

 

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