In 2013, Community Choice, a $532 million credit union headquartered in Farmington Hills, Mich., made the risky move of launching a totally revamped rewards program that ended up boosting product penetration, increasing loan volumes and giving over $1.5 million in cold, hard cash back to members last month. Now, Vice President of Retail Delivery Tracy Cameron is sharing her advice on what other credit unions can do to create more robust rewards programs, too.

The new program, dubbed "GetBigReward$," offers cash and loan-interest rebates based on how many products and services a member uses. There are four membership levels: Copper, silver, gold and emerald, ranked from lowest to highest. Members reach the gold level if they use six to seven Community Choice products and services; for example, the emerald level requires at least eight.

Things such as prime share and checking accounts qualify, as do IRAs, auto loans, Visa cards, debit cards, e-pay, mobile banking, mortgages, money market accounts and several other products and services. In redesigning the program, it was important to include products and services used in everyday banking, such as debit cards and e-statements, Cameron said. About 17% of eligible members fall into the emerald category, she added. Members can also qualify for up to 10% annual interest rebates on loans.