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New white paper from CO-OP Financial Services offers guide for boosting credit card penetration, activation and usage

Paper explores credit card trends, optimization strategies for Credit union payments teams; CO-OP “How to Optimize Your Credit Portfolio” webinar scheduled for August 20

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA (July 25, 2019) — More than half of all credit cardholders use their card every day. This is just one of the many reasons it’s critical for credit union issuers to ensure members choose their credit card over the others in their physical and digital wallets. To help credit unions optimize their credit card programs within their overall payments portfolios, CO-OP Financial Services has issued a new white paper, “How to Succeed in the Credit Card Business: A Blueprint for Credit Unions.”

Credit union cards teams are encouraged to download the paper here.

“The paper outlines the revenue and growth potential credit cards represent for today’s credit unions,” said Deb Wieczorek, Vice President, Strategic Advisory and Portfolio Growth, for CO-OP. “And as it says on the opening page, ‘by all measures, credit cards present a promising growth opportunity for credit unions, and when managed strategically can become a highly profitable product line.’”

Taking into consideration several credit union trends, the paper provides valuable insights about a range of touchpoints across the cardmember journey. These include strategies for boosting a credit card program’s penetration, activation and usage (PAU) by engaging the member through targeted solutions like rewards, mobile and custom marketing campaigns.

Following is a brief look at a few of the best practices, which are explored in greater depth in the free guide:

Activate More Cardholders and Drive Engagement

  • Engage a new cardholder within the first 90 days following approval.
  • Offer fixed rates over variable rates to remain competitive and limit exposure to price compression.

Drive Loyalty through Rewards

  • Deploy seasonal offers, such as spend incentives based on specific holidays.
  • Establish a local rewards program that nurtures relationships with local businesses, showcases ties to the community and differentiates the card from big-bank competition.

Provide Highly Personalized and Mobile Experiences

  • Offer access to digital wallet solutions to achieve top-of-phone and default payment method positioning.
  • Provide human-centric, personalized service to prove members can trust the credit union with the appropriate use and protection of their personal data.

CO-OP will be exploring the findings of this white paper and pursue many other topics and issues related to credit programs in a free “How to Optimize Your Credit Portfolio” webinar scheduled for Tuesday, August 20, at 11 a.m. Pacific time. Participants will learn valuable insights from industry experts from CO-OP, including members of its SmartGrowth team, who offer specialized consulting engagements leveraging data analytics, marketing campaigns and ongoing optimization strategies to help credit unions reach their portfolio growth goals. To register, visit the webinar home page here.

And, for more information on CO-OP’s credit card programs for credit unions, visit https://www.co-opfs.org/Solutions/Pay/Credit.

About CO-OP Financial Services

CO-OP Financial Services is a payments and financial technology company whose mission is ensuring the success of the credit union movement. CO-OP payments solutions, engagement services and strategic counsel help credit unions optimize member experiences to consistently provide seamless, personalized multi-channel offerings, while delivering secure, sophisticated fraud mitigation service. For more information, visit www.co-opfs.org.

Contacts

Bill Prichard, APR
Director, Public Relations
CO-OP Financial Services
(909) 532-9416
Bill.Prichard@coop.org

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