Amid the Bank Transfer Day marketing hype, credit unions seemwell on track in taking advantage of competitive opportunities butthe temptation to overreach by “bashing the banks” remains strong,according to the Raddon Financial Group, the Chicago consultancy.

“The challenge for credit unions is this,” maintained BillHandel, vice president-research/development: “If indeedconsumers do begin to migrate their accounts to credit unions, thecredit unions have to be willing to take the bad with thegood. Thebad is the single-service, low-balance checking accounts whichwill need to be subsidized by the rest of the membership.”

The good part, said Handel, “is the accounts where relationshipsare built, but if too many 'bad' checking accounts are attractedand the credit union is not successful in cross-selling, then atsome point I believe they will need to move away from free and movetowards a relationship-based pricing structure.”

Handel spoke out Monday on the latest CU tactics to ride theanti-bank wave spurred on by CU leaders who argue a consumer revoltand subsequent switch is under way with CUs needing to prepare their internal operations for depositinflows.

“What seems to be clear in the strategic picture is that the bigbanks have decided they can no longer support the consumer massmarket in a totally free environment,” observed Handel. “Reductions in debit card income, coupled with reductions in NSFincome, have reduced the viability of a free checking account on astand-alone basis.”

Research, said Handel, does show clearly that consumers detest additional fees but surveys also show that big banks “nolonger have as much of a concern with the mass market forchecking. They will not impose debit card fees on valuableaccounts.”

Handel urged strongly that CUs in their advertising shy awayfrom claims, statements or oaths that “we will never impose feesand never do evil.”

Statements like that “can come back to haunt us two or threeyears later,” he warned, adding that includes “throwing so muchmud” against big banks.

Meanwhile, the $859 million First Entertainment CU of Hollywood,Calif. maintained Monday that “one of the great things to come frommovements like Bank Transfer Day and Move Your Money is that morepeople are learning about the true differences between banks andcredit unions.”

“Old school credit union members know well the philosophicaldifference being part of a non-profit credit union but that messagehas been harder and harder to get across to individuals who are thenext generation of members during the past 20 years or so,” saidRoy MacKinnon, vice president of marketing.

“With actions like BTD, credit unions can seize the moment andreally educate people about how they do have options,” saidMacKinnon whose CU was initially listed as a recipient of fundstransfer from Bank of America by Kristen Christian, the Los Angeles art gallery owner whoseFacebook posting suggesting Nov. 5 as Bank Transfer Day ignited themovement.