As far as Chris Blough is concerned, even a modest amount ofnoninterest income is welcome and there can be some additionalspinoff benefits.

Blough is CEO of Wayne County Community Federal Credit Union inSmithville, Ohio. Nearly year ago, the cooperative began using theSegmint program from Sharetec Systems, a core processing providerin Lino Lakes, Minn.

Segmint allows a credit union to market products specificallytargeted to the spending habits of each member. Part of thatincludes enlisting local businesses for advertising on the creditunion's website. Five months ago, WCCFCU rolled out Segmint'sadvertising portion.

Let's say a local auto dealer wants to boost its oil changebusiness. The dealer can display on the credit union website acoupon offering a discount on that service. The coupon only appearsto members who have an auto loan, so a member who doesn't own avehicle doesn't see the offer.

The $30 million credit union receives a small payment for theads, providing some noninterest income, according to Blough.

“It's a way for us to advertise to our members when they're onour website, based on their spending habits,” Blough explained.“For example, if someone is a golfer, we could show them a vacationloan or something like that. If they're a homeowner we may offerthem a home improvement loan.” 

Blough said Segment basically derives information from theWCCFCU's online banking program. It will show them advertisementsbased on what kind of transactions they're doing, which was thefirst area tested. Last October, the credit union introduced anadvertising platform that allows it to go out to local businessesand sell small spots in a column on WCCFCU's home page in theMember Rewards section.

The ads are designed and placed on the website through Segmint.Blough said the credit union reaps benefits not only by helpinglocal businesses and giving members a discount on products andservices they want, but also generating non-interest income fromthe sale of the ads.

“At this point, it hasn't been a lot of income, but as weincrease the number of advertisers and the frequency of the ads, wecould end up adding a little bit to the bottom line,” Blough said.“We're getting some benefit, local businesses are getting somebenefit, and members are getting some benefit.”

While advertisers were offered free space in November andDecember for joining during the rollout, the data is just coming inon how much the credit union is earning. Blough projects the incomemay not top $400 or $500 a month, but it's welcome dollarsgenerated without a lot of staff time or work. As far as Blough isconcerned, every little bit helps.

The list of current advertisers includes a car dealership,kitchen and cooking specialty store, gift shop, and a local YMCAoffering a free month of classes for buying one month. Bloughindicated there has been a very good response from local businessesas they've seen members bring in coupons printed out from theWCCFCU website.

The businesses basically pay a certain amount according to thenumber of impressions they receive on the website. For perhaps $25,they're guaranteed their ad will be seen 1,000 times. The actualidentity of the members who see the ad remains confidential becauseit's based on transaction codes that would, for example, be thesame for any member making an auto payment.

“We've done it in a way that doesn't make our website feel likejust a bunch of ads,” Blough noted. “It's actually in a small areathat rotates ads. It's even made our website a little morepopular.”