CLEARWATER, Fla. — Membership in Card Services for Credit Unions, the association of credit unions that use the Fidelity National Information Systems card platform, has just made membership in the organization in 2006 free to its members.

The move came in the form of a patronage dividend equal to 100% of the organization's membership fees for that year.

CSCU President Bob Hackney said “CSCU had another successful year in 2006 and our Board of Directors wanted our members to benefit from our success. When you can say to your credit unions that their card processing association is distributing to them a cash dividend in 2007 equal to what they paid CSCU in 2006 membership fees-essentially making membership free for the year, that's demonstrating real value to our members.”

Hackney went on to say that in 2006, CSCU began offering free in-house portfolio consulting services and the response from member credit unions has been overwhelmingly positive. “We were able to staff this program with someone who has walked in their shoes and that has a lot to do with the program's success. Our consultant, came to us from a position where he was managing the credit and debit portfolios of a credit union, and so with his own experiences, he is able to easily relate to the various challenges of growing a portfolio.”