The 220,000 member, $5.4 million San Diego County Credit Unionreported that a debit card promotion tied to Bank Transfer Day wound up doubling thenumber of accounts the CU usually opens.

“We saw an astonishing number of new customers open checkingaccounts throughout November and anticipate that additional bigbank customers will open new checking accounts through theremainder of the year,” said SDCCU CEO Teresa Halleck. “We are happy to welcome these new customers toSDCCU and to provide them with excellent customer service and lowfees. They are now member-owners of SDCCU which is so differentfrom the big bank mentality they are used to.”

In alignment with Bank Transfer Day, SDCCU launched “Shred YourBig Bank Debit Card,” a social media focused promotion. Thecampaign offered customers who opened a new SDCCU checking accountand posted a photo of themselves shredding their big bank debitcard a chance to win $1,000. Over 125 photo entries were receivedand SDCCU increased their Facebook likes by nearly 25% during thecampaign. Monica Padilla Marquez was selected as the grand prizewinner of $1,000, the credit union reported.

Halleck reported that the CU opened 4,049 new SDCCU checkingaccounts during the month-long campaign. The number of new checkingaccounts opened in November was 65% higher than SDCCU's average forthe first six months of 2011. The largest surge of new memberopened accounts during the first week of November; almost threetimes the per-day average of new accounts for the entire year of2010. The number of new checking accounts opened continued toremain well above average throughout November.

In addition, Halleck said the increase in total membershipgrowth in October and November 2011 was 235% higher than the sametime period the previous year.