Credit unions of many different asset sizes have been provingthey can market and manage credit card programs successfully. Andsome of them that have done particularly well have been recognizedby Card Services for Credit Unions, the association of creditunions that process their card transactions with FIS.

The association named the CUs in this year's CAMEO awards camefrom all asset sizes and were recognized for achievements with bothcredit and debit programs.

“In the face of looming changes in the industry, especially theDurbin amendment, these credit unions found creative ways topromote their card programs,” said Bill Lehman, vice president ofportfolio consulting at CSCU. “Our CAMEO winners seized an opportunity to continueto make their card programs an important asset for their creditunions.”

By highlighting these winners and the results of their effectivecampaigns, the CAMEO awards provide an opportunity for other membercredit unions to learn industry best practices, the associationadded.

Karen Dahl's Northern United Federal Credit Union won a firstplace CAMEO in the under $99 million asset category for the strongcard results it got without spending a lot of money.

The 3,500 member, $20 million asset credit union, headquarteredin Escanaba, Mich., spent $2,200 on a print and radio campaign thatgrew the number of accounts and increased the portfoliosoutstanding balances by $100,000.

President/CEO Dahl said the CU had linked the campaign, which ran from September through Octoberof last year, to Halloween and the popular legacy televisionprogram “The Addams Family.” The print ad depicted CU staff dressedas Gomez and Morticia Addams and other CU staff voices on the radioas the character Lurch and a generic vampire voice.

“We often run Fall card promotion campaigns,” explained Dahl,adding that the CU took advantage of both the run up to theDecember holidays and the often reduced advertising rates at thattime.

The campaign also served the important purpose of helpingNorthern United stand out, Dahl said. Northern United is thesmallest of five credit unions in a very small area and likes doingthings to draw attention, she added.

“We have five credit unions within three blocks here,” she said.“Not three miles, three blocks, and we are the smallest of thefive. We like doing things that help people notice us.”

The 8,000 member, $29 million Piedmont Hospitals Federal CreditUnion, headquartered in Atlanta, spent even less money promotingthe CU's brand new card program, according to CEO Cindy Owens.

“We are sponsored by five hospitals so have branches actually intwo of those hospitals and ATMs in others,” she said. “That meanswe are always in there and, at least for now, we haven't had to payfor something like printing.”

Owens said the 27-year-old-credit union never had a credit cardprogram before, and there was a lot of excitement from the staffand some members about offering one. The CU built on thatexcitement by printing flyers and other materials that asked, “Canyou guess what's coming?”and then posting them around.

Owens said she brought up the idea of the credit card, bringingthe idea with her from her last credit union where she had seenwhat a good credit card program can do. Piedmont Hospitals launchedthe program with interest rates running from 8.9% for cardholderswith the best credit scores to up to 17.99% for cardholders withthe worst, she said. The CU also did not charge for balancetransfers and kept its fees low, she added.

The results were striking. After only a little more than a year,the CU's card program gained 300 accounts and about $1 million inoutstanding balances, Owens said, and card's acceptance among theCUs members had been extremely encouraging. Unlike the usualmembership progression in which new members open savings accountsfirst, then checking accounts, then  an auto-loan ormortgage and only later come to the credit card, Owens said thatthe CU had gained members who joined the credit union to get accessto the card.

“A lot of them brought balances to us,” she said, “and most ofthem liked that we were so local and said they wanted to dobusiness with us and not with a bank somewhere else.”

The 134,000 member University Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Austin,Texas, won its CAMEO award more for improved card management thanfor promotion, according to Lee Thorsness, credit card programmanager for the CU.

Thorsness explained that the CU had a large number of studentsamong its members for some time and that students tended to followa different progression into the CU. Where most nonstudent membersstart with a savings account and then move to a checking account,then a fixed-asset loan and then the credit card, students wouldoften open a savings account because they had to as a condition ofmembership, skip the checking account and get a student loan and acredit card.

The result, she said, was a credit card portfolio with manycardholders having less of a connection to the credit union thanthe CU liked and a delinquency rate that, while not high by creditunion industry standards, was still too high for the CU.

“We did some research and found out that cardholders without achecking account were among the most likely to be delinquent,” sheexplained as well with those who have a checking account but kept abalance of less than $50 in it month to month.

To fight the problem, the CU started offering credit cards onlyto members with checking accounts and started making checkingaccounts a condition of getting a credit limit increase on anexisting card.

The CU also increased its late payment fee, cut over limitallowance from 10% to 5% of the credit limit, modified and expandedits collections program and approached some former members andoffered to settle their previous card debts.

Thorsness reported the results were better than had beenanticipated, with the CU taking on more than 2,700 new accountsafter changing the checking account policy and seeing many memberschoose to apply for a credit limit increase instead of routinelygoing over limit.

CAMEO Winners

Overall Credit Campaign (assets more than $1 billion) First –Eastman Credit Union (Kingsport, TN) Second – Randolph BrooksFederal Credit Union (Live Oak, TX) Third – University FederalCredit Union (Austin, TX)

Overall Credit Campaign (assets $376-$999 million) First –Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union (Lowell, MA) Second – MaPS Credit Union(Salem, OR) Third – MECU (Schaumburg, IL)

Overall Credit Campaign (assets $300-375 million) First – FirstCommunity Credit Union (Jamestown, ND) Second – CP Federal CreditUnion (Jackson, MI) Third – Erie Federal Credit Union (Erie,PA)

Overall Credit Campaign (assets $176-$299 million) First – U ofI Employees Credit Union (Champaign, IL) Second – OMNI CommunityCredit Union (Battle Creek, MI) Third – Bayer Heritage FCU(Proctor, WV)

Overall Credit Campaign (assets $100 – $175 million) First – CSEFederal Credit Union (Canton, OH) Second – American 1 FederalCredit Union (Jackson, MI) Third – Bellco Federal Credit Union(Wyomissing, PA)

Overall Credit Campaign (assets less than $99 million) First –Community Alliance Credit Union (Dearborn, MI) Second – DeltaCounty Credit Union (Escanaba, MI) Third – Unified CommunitiesFederal Credit Union (Canton, MI)

Overall Debit Card Campaign First – BrightStar Credit Union(Sunrise, FL) Second – Ledge Light FCU (Groton, CT) Third –Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union (Tampa, FL)