Stephen A. Smith, president/CEO of the $90 million FultonTeachers Credit Union, was surprised to learn his cooperativeranked ahead of several mid-size and billion dollar credit unionswhen it came to the most products issued to members.

The Hapeville, Ga.-based financial institution earned the topspot in that category, according to data analyzed by Callahan &Associates for CU Times.

Fulton Teachers boasted an impressive 6.58 products per membercompared to the top 20 credit unions that averaged 4.1 as of June30, 2014. The credit union serves 11,000 members.

Another aspect that made Fulton Teachers unusual was its mix ofloan accounts compared to share accounts. While the top 20 creditunions in terms of product penetration averaged about 20% loans and80% share accounts, Fulton Teachers had a much stronger lead on theloan side at 75% and 25% for share accounts.

Compared to other credit unions in the top 20, Fulton Teachersis also surprisingly small given its success. As a group, theothers in the category averaged about 35,000 members per creditunion and $500 million in assets.

With just two branches and no participation in any shared branchnetwork, Fulton Teachers was able to compete quite ably with otherlocal institutions in the area under Smith's guidance.

“We do a lot of new auto loans now, as well as a lot of swap-and-drops,” Smithsaid.

The exchange refers to a refinance program where Fulton Teachersswaps its loan for another financial institution's auto loan anddrops the member's interest rate. The credit union also offers acash incentive to members for taking advantage of such anoffer.

Smith started as a teller at Fulton Teachers more than 20 yearsago, and became its CEO around 2006. When he took the helm, he saidthe product mix at the credit union was not nearly as robust as itis today.

His intention was to makeFulton Teachers as competitive as any of the larger credit unionsin the area when it came to product offerings, Smith explained. Forexample, the cooperative's success in lending is due to itsmultiple loan programs.

“We're not a community charter, so we can't really do indirectauto lending, but we do have about $5 million out in auto loansthrough CULS,” he said.

CULS refers to The Credit Union Lending Source LLC, a CUSO thatprovides participation loan opportunities to Georgia's creditunions. The CUSO was founded and is owned by Delta Community Credit Union, Atlanta Postal Credit Union,Georgia's Own Credit Union and The Georgia Credit Union ServicesInc., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Georgia CreditUnion Affiliates.

According to Smith, Fulton Teachers has also seen success withits credit card program.

“We have a balance transfer program where we offer 5,000 extrareward points for bringing another card's balance over,” he said.“Our members seem to enjoy that.”

Fulton Teacher's lending department puts a considerable amountof effort into helping members refinance other types of loans theymay have with competing financial institutions, according to Smith.This clearly creates a win-win since the credit union grows it loanportfolio and members take advantage of a lower rate.

Smith has also increased Fulton Teachers' number of shareaccounts by putting an employee incentive program in place.

“We offer employees $15 for every new checking account they open,” he explained “That seems toprovide some good motivation.”

Employees have seized on opportunities to build long-termrelationships. For example, one employee asked for a list ofmembers who only had an auto loan with Fulton Teachers so that shecould cross-sell them on a checking account.

While Smith readily agrees that having a competitive product mixis essential, he claims that Fulton Teachers' real success is dueto its culture.

“We really feel like we're a family here and we truly believethat our members are an extension of that family,” he said.

It's not unusual for a member to drop by a branch to show offtheir vacation pictures, for instance. Smith said just recently,members invited him to their wedding, an event he was,unfortunately, unable to attend. The credit union also hosts abarbecue three times each year for employees of the schooldistrict.

“We've really built a great team here at Fulton Teachers CreditUnion,” Smith said. “If you can instill a great attitude in 95% ofyour employees, you're going to be successful. We've definitelydone that here.”