TMG Releases White Paper on Importance of Cardholder-Level Data Analysis

(Des Moines, Iowa – October 13, 2011) – For most credit and debit card issuers, generating reports on the health of their portfolios is relatively simple and yields comprehensive results. But depending on the questions facing the issuer, “comprehensive” may not be the best type of information.

So writes Brian Scott, vice president of sales for The Members Group (TMG), in a new white paper titled “The Whole Picture: How cardholder-level data is changing the way card managers make decisions.”

Rather than relying on aggregate data for examination of overall trends, Scott argues, card managers and executives teams should be drilling down to the cardholder level to get a true understanding of their customers’ purchase behavior. In doing so, decisions on everything from marketing to future products become much simpler.

“As the impact of the debit interchange cap on exempt financial institutions becomes clearer, you will undoubtedly develop a set of solutions to ease the pain of lower interchange revenue,” writes Scott. “Among the solutions predicted to be popular with credit unions and community banks is to incent cardholders away from debit and move them towards credit. If you know where individual cardholders are shopping, you can leverage that information to develop credit promotions with particular merchants to increase the chances of your cardholders choosing a credit card option.”

Scott provides several additional examples of decisions made easier with cardholder-level data. In addition, he talks through the importance of being able to access this information quickly and in an easy-to-decipher format using tools like TMG’s ClearTrend, a newly release data analysis solution.

The white paper can be downloaded at http://www.themembersgroup.com/PRdata.

About TMG

TMG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Affiliates Management Company, which is owned by Iowa credit unions and their members. As a financial and credit union service organization (CUSO), TMG is dedicated to providing innovative and flexible card processing and payment solutions to credit unions and financial institutions across North America. TMG’s core products include credit, debit, ATM and a variety of ATIRA-branded prepaid solutions, as well as online reporting, ACH and ALM services. For more information, visit www.TheMembersGroup.com.

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