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Credit union members are flocking to mobile apps to do their banking, but not all credit union mobile apps are created equal. And these days, subpar mobile apps can drive members away – or even deter them from becoming members in the first place.

That's why so many credit unions have prioritized and invested in their mobile apps. Some have done it so well, in fact, that their mobile apps have won awards. We spoke with three of those credit unions and uncovered a few things their award-winning mobile apps seem to have in common.

They Offer Certain High-Value Features

The mobile app for the Dallas, Texas-based Neighborhood Credit Union, for example, allows members to get a quick view of their account balances without having to log all the way in. They can also apply for loans and open deposit accounts via the mobile app, which also has a rewards program, biometric authentication and card management features, according to Carolyn Jordan, SVP of remote services and member development. Neighborhood, which won a Retail Mobile Banking Navigator award from FI Navigator, has $810 million in assets and about 56,000 members.

Carolyn Jordan

"Members can turn their debit cards on and off according to how they desire. So it's a nice fraud-management feature," she said.

Skip-payment features are also popular, she said. "We have the functionality inside of the app so that they can just go right in there and skip their loan payment if they're within the number of times that we allow it and it's the right type of loan," she said.

Bill pay, mobile deposit, personal financial management and P2P are "pretty standard these days" for mobile apps, she added.

E-statements via mobile and smartwatch pairing are newer features, Jordan added. Last year the credit union also rolled out what she called a "perpetual loan preapproval system" in its mobile app.

"So, members that qualified, they have an ongoing loan preapproval that they can access right in the app," she explained. "If they're going to buy a car or whatever, they can access that right in the app."

Dawn Brummett

Dawn Brummett, EVP and COO at ORNL Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, Tenn., said her credit union's mobile app provides statements and tax documents, among other features.

"Travel notifications have been in our app now for some time," she said. "Card controls is another example of something that we've put in our app that we feel is a differentiator." ORNL has $2.3 billion in assets and about 174,000 members.  It recently won a Kony Digital Innovation Award for its digital banking platform.

"Alerts are another thing that we brought forward in our app very early on," she added. The app offers threshold alerts, login alerts, password change alerts, transaction-type alerts and alerts for pending ACH deposits. "It's a great thing for us, as well, because those calls can easily be self-serve calls for the members who choose to do that," she said.