Alabama credit unions may certainly not be alone, but they are witnessing big gains in savings this spring due in part to all that good press lavished on the industry over the last few months, according to officials of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions.
The president/CEO of one Alabama CU, Bob Steensma of the $175 million Five Star CU of Dothan, said his CU experienced a 30% gain in savings during the first two months of 2010.
As Five Star's cost of funds has undergone an increase, “we now have to ratchet this down a bit,” said Steensma, a director of LSCU who attributed the increases to various factors including the debut of a rewards package and interest on checking.
Nonetheless, Five Star gained $9 million in February, an unusually high figure for one month. Overall, LSCU said the savings rate among Alabama CUs was up 12%, two times the national average. Meanwhile, Florida members' savings was 5% higher, “a00% improvement from 2008,” said the league.
Apart from new product offerings, Steensma attributed the savings increases to the flight to safety from banks as the public continues to direct favorable attention on CUs.
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