Brighter Than A Bank
By Joyce Moed, Reporter

CHARLOTTE, N.C.–One credit union wants its members to know just how smart they can be, through its new campaign "Brighter than a Bank."

Carolina Postal Credit Union is telling its members that despite the high gas prices and unsteady economy, now is a great time to save money.

"As United States’ consumers and citizens, we are one of the richest nations in the world and yet we are the worst at saving our money," said Joy Watts, CEO of the $60-million CU.
After researching a number of banks’ new "spend and save" debit card accounts, the credit union came to the conclusion that although these new accounts sound impressive, the actual numbers don’t add up, said Deb McLean, vice president of marketing and business development for the 9,000-member CU.

"The whole idea is to encourage people to save, and they weren’t very impressive," McLean said. "They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good. We took some average members debit card monthly spending habits and did a cross-comparison against that old-fashioned old-school credit union staple–good ole payroll deduction. We found that banks’ ‘spend and save’ accounts essentially are nickel and diming the consumer. When I calculated it, it’s really pennies a day. You don’t get any substantial savings built up from it."

McLean said that if members would put $25 per week in a payroll-deduction plan, they would end up with $1,300 per year.

The message from bank’s "spend and save" accounts gets confused, Watts said.
"What we did was point out the discrepancies," McLean said. "They’re saying you spend to save. You don’t spend to save."

Members need to put their savings aside first, and then live off the rest of their paycheck, Watts explained.

"With the banks’ ‘spend and save’ accounts it sounds so easy," she said. "They claim that every time you use their debit card you are saving and it’s not true. You do not save by spending, period. Additionally, the general idea promoted at the retailers, and now some banks, is that you are saving if you are spending. We believe that is not only misleading information but unethical and does not serve our members well."

To promote their campaign to the membership, Carolina Postal CU is using direct mail, e-mail, banners, Web-banners, squishy light bulbs and a new blog–www.brighterthanabank.blogspot.com. The blog is researched and written by blog author "Savvy Saver."

The credit union is also relying on their staff to promote the campaign.
"We’re just saying ‘you’re smarter than this. You’re bright than a bank.’ Just put the money away," McLean said. "It’s really up to our staff, encouraging the dialogue. The biggest push is word of mouth. We’re going out to the postal meetings. We’re telling them that even though times are tough, now’s the best time. If they can make it now, hopefully they’ll continue and increase savings."