TIGARD, Ore. – NW Preferred Federal Credit Union is helpingmembers trim their rates while fitting in some time for summer funwith a new low carb promotion. Playing off the popularity of lowcarb diets, this credit union's CARB stands for Certified AnnualRate Benefit. “We are simply repositioning a rate discount programwe already had in place for members that take advantage of othercredit union programs, such as automatic loan payments and directdeposit,” said NWPFCU Vice President of Marketing Jim Hier. “Wethought we would have some fun and jump on the low carb bandwagon.It seems everywhere you turn these days people are offering a lowcarb version of something, so we figured why not loans?” Membersare able to “trim” stated rates on credit union loans under the LowCARB program. The promotion, which will run through the summer,although not necessarily Atkins approved even offers a special LowCARB Loan, which is an 18-month unsecured personal loan that allowsmembers to borrow up to $10,000. “We usually try to have some funwith at least one campaign and we've always offered a vacation loanproduct so this seemed like a great way to get members involved,”said Hier. “We had all sorts of puns and word plays- Rate Watcher,Trim the Fat, Skinny Rates, but in the end we decided it was bestnot to be too cheesy with our copy.” Designed in-house, the lowcarb promo also went easy on the wallet at a price tag of $4,000for direct mail, branch posters and Web site [email protected]