ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — PSCU Financial Services is driving homethe point that rewards programs are not just for credit cards.

The payments CUSO for more than 500 credit unions that use theFirst Data Corp. card platform pointed to the recent success of oneof its member CUs.

The $454 million Y-12 Federal Credit Union, headquartered in OakRidge, Tenn., using a PSCU rewards program on its cards, boostedits percentage of active debit accounts from 60% in March 2007 to74% in March 2008. The average number of debit transactions peraccount per month also rose, advancing from 22.9 averagetransactions per card per month to 24.4.

The change has had a marked impact on the debit program. The CUreported that posted 566,000 debit transaction in March 2008,12,000 debit transactions more than its previous record fromDecember 2007.

“We have been extremely pleased with the results of the debitpromotions. In the fall campaign, we had more than 450 accounts gofrom completely inactive to an average of 24 transactions a month.We have found that once cardholders make your debit card theirprimary choice, activity and transaction volumes remain high,” saidJohn Stegner, vice president and chief financial officer atY-12.

The CU's fall campaign offered rewards points or cash toqualified cardholders making 10 debit purchase transactions duringthe tracking period. Y-12 Federal Credit Union is alsoparticipating in a spring debit promotion that targets accountsthat post less than 10 transactions a month. Cardholders with atleast 15 transactions receive a $10 prepaid gas card.

Other credit unions that are promoting their debit cards arealso seeing excellent results. PSCU Financial Services topped 500million transactions in 2007 due to its member-owners' activationcampaigns, a 117% increase over 2003 transaction volume, the CUSOreported.

PSCU Financial Services has a dedicated debit product andmarketing team that focuses on helping member-owners stimulategrowth within the debit portfolio. “Credit unions need to remainactively engaged in marketing their debit portfolios in order toparticipate fully in the expansion of debit card use. Ourcooperative's debit campaigns help credit unions achievebest-in-class benchmarks for penetration, activation and usage,”said Gina Pask, manager of debit program development for PSCU.

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