The $86 million Delta County Credit Union, headquartered in Escanaba, Michigan, recently learned how much rewards can boost a credit card program.

The credit union had offered members a classic card alone, with no incentives or rewards in place and the card program had stagnated.

Then in the fall of 2006, Delta introduced a platinum card program which offered members 5.9% and double points in the Scorecard rewards program for nine month. Scorecard is the rewards program offered by Delta's card processor, FIS.

Delta's card program responded rapidly, expanding by 32% in the numbers of cards and 61% in total credit card outstanding balances.

"We saw so much success by adding ScoreCard in 2006, that we figured why not add it to our classic and debit," said Lesa Martineau, Visa coordinator. "We've never had a more cost-effective program with such exceptional performance."

By 2009, Delta County had doubled their number of total cards and nearly tripled their outstanding balances.