The head of the $1.3 billion University of Iowa Community Credit Union, basking in Callahan & Associates performance honors, said Monday his CU will have no qualms about being an also-ran when it comes to interchange pricing.
Whatever final rule the Federal Reserve issues implementing a debit card cap, “we don’t expect to be first on the block” in product repricing, declared Jeff Disterhoft, the president/CEO of Iowa’s second-largest CU.
UICCU is fortunate, Disterhoft said of his Iowa City institution, in compiling an enviable operating and earnings record giving it leverage to forestall any large fee increases should the Fed interchange action coming possibly this Wednesday bring the anticipated financial harm to the industry.
“Knock on wood, we’ve been able to withstand the storm,” observed Disterhoft, whose CU was recognized by Callahan last week as first in the nation for its “Return of the Member” category.
The Callahan ROM index measures the value CUs provide to their members in three components: return to savers, borrowers and member service usage.
“The leaders in this category are those credit unions that have a high number of core account relationships,” boasted UICCU. UICCU noted it has been in the top ranks of that category but this is the first time it ranked first out of 7,441 CUs.
In the past five years, said UICCU, it has been “consistently ranked in the top 1% nationally, but never first overall. “In times like these when many financial institutions are raising fees and tightening lending, it’s nice to be recognized as a leader in giving back,” the CU said.
