BURNSVILLE, Minn. -- The $700 million US Federal Credit Union has rolled out a rewards program giving cash back on debit transactions. The program automatically deposits 0.25% of a card member's debit card spending back into their checking accounts at the end of each quarter.

The CU has inaugurated a "take your piece" advertising campaign to alert members to the new program. The campaign features large pictures of cherry pie and asks members to take their piece of their transactions with the program. "This new product is a win-win," said Marty Kelly, a vice president with USFCU, "members can enjoy the convenience of their check card while earning cash-back in the process. We are utilizing the new option [and it] is a great selling point for both our debit card and checking account services." Kelly said the CU had come up with the program in-house by working with its processor and was particularly proud that it had managed to come up with a rewards program that will help both increase the penetration of its checking accounts and increase the number of checking accounts that have debit cards attached. Roughly 45% of the CU's members have checking accounts, Kelly explained, and not all of those have debit accounts.

"We have some members who have not been as eager to jump on the debit card bandwagon," Kelly said. He explained that the CU had recently arranged with Liberty, its check supplier, to stitch a reminder note into each new checkbook as a cue to members that if they used a debit card for that transaction it would put more money back into their accounts. "We hope that will give some of our veteran check writers something to think about," Kelly chuckled.

The CU began the new program in early August of 2006 and said that, so far, about 3,500 of its members have signed up. The CU has made signing up for the program relatively easy, requiring only a phone call from members to get started.

"This is a feature that is typically only offered on credit cards, added USFCU CEO Bill Raker. "As usual we are continually looking for new ways to better serve our membership and I am proud to say we are one of only a few financial institutions in the metro area to offer this perk on debit cards."