The letter was jarring. Effective at the end of the month, my mortgage was being sold to Bank of America. How could this happen? How can I possibly stomach writing a share draft payable to Bank of America? I mean, it’s B of A, and I am a credit union guy.
As a credit union guy, I was sure my credit union would come racing to the rescue, help me avoid funneling any cash into bank coffers. To my surprise, my credit union missed a golden opportunity to deliver on this expectation. When I recently purchased a car, my loan application with the credit union was processed efficiently. An Internet application, new credit report, faxed documents, a call from the loan processor followed by a deposit in my account and viola, loan complete. But there was a problem. No one from the lending department called me to talk about the shocking information showing on my credit report.
I expected a call to go something like this: “Why Mr. Chatfield, as a credit union guy, we were surprised to find a trade-line showing a bank loan. We can do better for you, we have crafted an offer specifically for people in your situation. How about we go ahead, take your application and move that loan away from B of A? After all, we are your credit union and you are a credit union guy.”
But no call, no offer to remove the wart on my credit report. I had to write that share draft payable to B of A, and it was not pleasant.
Friends don’t let friends keep bank loans. Credit unions must do more to really connect with their members. We all preach member outreach, but few practice what should be a lucrative deepening relationship with your existing members. What are we waiting for? Get on the phone and talk with your members. Ask them why they have loans elsewhere, invite your members to move those expensive poor service instruments back into the credit union where they belong.
Phone conversations are a great way to accomplish this. Just ask for the business, it’s there for the taking. A well crafted phone campaign based on reviews of your member’s credit profile, will build deeper, more profitable, rewarding relations with your members. Don’t have the staff resources available to spend time talking with your members? Find a partner who does; a partner who understands what it means to ask members for the business already in place elsewhere. A partner like CO-OP Member Center. Call me to talk about how we can better serve your members – I can be reached at 888-869-5552, ext. 4954 or mark.chatfield@co-opfs.org.
I still get a nauseous writing that share draft, still waiting for the call.
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