I've been reading a great deal of blog posts on credit unions who are charging fees for various reasons. Especially the Florida credit union who charges the $2.00 fee for not having your deposit slip ready.
The credit union faithful are up in arms about this. To those folks who have their feathers ruffled over this....lighten up. It's easy to make judgments from the cheap seats. Credit Unions need fee income so face it, get over it, and move on to something else. Also, give members credit. Members are people who have brains. If they don't like it they have the choice to move on. Some probably will.
The fact a fee is being charged because someone doesn't have the deposit slip ready is not the problem. Instead focusing on that CU faithful, why don't you do something more constructive like offer solutions. How about a post on how credit unions can find other sources of income to reduce dependency on fee income?
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3 comments:
Surely you won't be surprised that I disagree. The deposit slip fee is the sole problem.
The posts I've made haven't been railing against fee income. I'm not unenlightened enough to think fee income is evil. With SunSxxxx, I brought it up because of the brand damage associated with the local news coverage and the mentions on other blogs.
Making a post on my blog with ideas about fee income alternatives wouldn't be wise for me. I feel pretty qualified to talk, though, about brand. So here's an alternative there:
Print a sign that asks drive thru patrons to respect other members' time by having deposit slips ready before approaching window. If not, they should proceed to a waiting area or enter the lobby out of courtesy.
I doubt much of their fee income came from that one. Most tellers would probably be reasonable enough not to charge it unless it was an extreme violation of the rule. I doubt anyone who ever incurred that charge said, "Thanks - I deserved that."
When credit unions are spending so much per new member to recruit them (I've heard upward of $100.00 for many, although I won't swear to that stat), I wouldn't be surprised if that $2.00 had cost SunSxxxx many, many times the amount they earned every time it were charged. That doesn't include the brand damage that the local news coverage earned them.
A while back, I was at credit union who had this big sign as you approached the main entrance. It read...."PLEASE DON'T THROW YOUR CIGARETTE BUTTS IN THE BUSHES". I looked in the bushes and it was littered with cigarette butts.
I agree with you that they probably won't make much money from this. Our credit union has used fees in the past to change behavior. That was not working for us. Therefore, we decided to implement a rewards program that paid cash to our members for utilizing various services such as electronic statements. Not printing paper statements saves us money.
A timely story. This past weekend my father-in-law was over for dinner. He mentioned he rode his bicycle over to his credit union's drive thru lane. He has done this many times. On this day he explained to me that he waited in excess of 15 minutes while the car in front of him completed their transaction. The credit union was very polite to the member in front of him. He said it appeared to be a commercial transaction as he saw a stack of checks go in the tube and the tube went back and forth several times as the member was not prepared. Not a very good example of service from his viewpoint. He is not going to leave as he is loyal. I wonder how others would view this exceptionally long wait? Good, bad or indifferent service?
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