LAS VEGAS – Visitors to Las Vegas may associate the city withcasinos, glitzy shows and dancers, and a transient population. ButCommunity One FCU sees a fast-growing city and high profiled banks,and the credit union is focused on constantly evaluating itsproducts and services menu to make sure it keeps pace with thecompetitive financial services market there. Even though the $160million credit union converted to a community charter five yearsago – it was originally chartered in 1960 to serve nuclear testsite employees of EG&G and eventually expanded its FOM toinclude other select employee groups such as hotels – Sidra Kain,vp of corporate communications says the credit unions still has tocontinually educate Clarke County residents and make them aware ofthe fact that as a community-chartered credit union, they'reeligible to join. Community One FCU has more than 28,000 members.“It's important we make sure we have a proper diversity of productsfor our members. The two largest banks in our area are Wells Fargoand Bank of America, and we know many of our members have accountsat one or both of these banks. That encourages us to constantlyevaluate our product offering to assess what we should be offeringthem,” says Kain. Earlier this year, Community One came out with athree-tiered checking account program: Express Account is acompletely free account with no minimum balance, no monthly servicecharge, and a free VISA Debit/ATM card. If a member chooses toreceive e-statements rather than paper statements, Bill Payment isprovided at no charge; the Community One Account allows the accountholder not to keep a minimum balance but the member pays a nominalmonthly fee. A box of checks is included free, and a VISA PhotoDebit card and Bill Payment are provided at no cost; the PlatinumAccount is an intererst-bearing checking account offering checks,Travelers' Checks, a VISA Photo Debit card, Bill Payment, and otherbenefits at no cost. The member must maintain a $1,000 minimumaccount balance. The credit union also recently announced thecapability for its members to apply for auto loans, home equityline of credit and other consumer loans online 24/7. Community Oneconducts an annual member survey to ascertain member feedback onthe products and services the credit union offers, as well as thosethey want to be available from the credit union. VP of BranchOperations Fran Silverstein explained that in determining which newproduct or service to offer, Community One first considers how manymembers are interested in that product and then takes intoconsideration the cost of providing it. “We don't want to take onthe expense if only a handful of members want the product. Justbecause a relatively few members want a particular product doesn'tmean it will be good for the entire membership.” She cited byexample safety deposit boxes. Only a “minimal” number of membersindicated in a member survey they were interested in the creditunion offering this service, but Community One couldn't costjustify it. Feedback from member surveys has also given CommunityOne information that allowed it to decide to discontinue particularservices. In one case, the credit union ascertained its drive-uptellers were doing about a third of the transactions as branchtellers. Since the credit union determined they weren't costeffective, it discontinued the drive-up tellers and replaced themwith drive-up ATMs. “As a community charter serving one of thefastest growing counties in Nevada, we have to make sure ourproduct offering remains diverse, but also cost effective,” saysKain. -

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