Can credit cards put the glue in your member relationships?

Visa reported on February 8 that credit card usage rose 10 percent in the first quarter of 2012 – a possible sign that the economy is warming, along with consumer interest in spending with plastic.

Better yet, credit cards are profitable. Just ask Visa: They reported a 16 percent increase in profits to go along with the boost in card usage. Credit cards are among the most profitable products that credit unions offer. Yet, profits may not be the best reason to reconsider building (or rebuilding) your card portfolio. Continue reading →

…and still sleep at night?

As car sales appear to be heating up in 2012, credit unions face a key service challenge. Car buyers and dealers demand on-the-spot decisions on financing, and most of those decisions need to take place after normal business hours.

Increasingly, stopgap measures aren’t getting the job done. “In early 2009, I instituted Saturday hours for our loan officers, “says Roger Douville, Vice President of Credit/Business Lending at A+ Federal Credit Union in Austin, Texas. “But, because our credit union hours were limited, we were losing out on a lot of indirect auto loan business. In the automotive dealer world, if you’re not handing over a quick loan decision to dealers, you’re pretty much losing the deal.” Continue reading →