Stepping Stones Community FCU's Branch on Wheels. Stepping Stones Community FCU's Branch on Wheels. Photo credit: WITN 22

Credit union branches aren't going away, but they are changing – and some of them even travel around town.

Two Northeastern credit unions recently converted vehicles into mobile branches that staff members can take to Select Employer Group workplaces, community events and other locations to recruit new members and serve existing members who can't make it to a traditional branch. Stepping Stones Community Federal Credit Union ($4.2 million in assets, Wilmington, Del.) deployed a branch-in-a-van that led to a significant increase in membership and allowed the credit union to easily serve members during the pandemic. For the $451 million, Kensington, Md.-based Signal Financial Credit Union, a mobile branch provides a new way for employees to interact and build business with existing members.

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It's not a new concept for credit unions – in 2018, Municipal Credit Union ($4.1 billion, New York, N.Y.) created a customized van that hit the road to SEG workplaces and community events and offered a range of non-cash services to new and existing members.

That same year, the board of Stepping Stones conceptualized a Branch on Wheels project, which was originally intended as a marketing tool for the small credit union. Prior to rolling out the Branch on Wheels, 95% of Stepping Stones' members were clients of the Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council – a local nonprofit that birthed the credit union to serve limited income communities in Wilmington – and the remaining 5% learned of Stepping Stones via word of mouth, explained Blanche Jackson, the credit union's CEO.

Funded with help from Discover Bank and Barclays Bank, the Branch on Wheels van is equipped with the ability to perform transactions such as opening accounts for members and issuing ATM cards. One of the biggest challenges of getting it ready for the road was implementing a secure technology system, Jackson said.

Blanche Jackson Blanche Jackson

"We had to have wireless internet and a secure firewall, and then we had to make sure that the laptop and the card printer would communicate with the equipment that was in there and with each other," she said. "The vendor we used had never done it before, so for all of us it was a big learning experience because they tried different ways to get us connected. It probably took two to three months for us to get it up and running and know that we were secure enough to start doing transactions in it."

Pre-pandemic, a board member regularly took the van out to downtown Wilmington, as well as church events and a back-to-school workshop held annually at a low-income housing community located around the corner from the credit union.

"For the most part, the people we find in the community are either underbanked, using money orders or have a banking relationship where they're being feed," Jackson said. "We find that a lot where they're at big banks and being feed for almost everything. We don't fee – we're very fee averse. But mostly the unbanked or underbanked is what we find is our niche."

When the pandemic hit, the Branch on Wheels allowed the credit union to stay open continuously. From March to October 2020, before winter weather hit Wilmington, the van was parked across the street from the main office and provided walk-up teller services (only members requesting a cash withdrawal or printed check were required to enter the main office).

After a hiatus due to pandemic-related event restrictions, the van will begin to reappear at local events this fall. Jackson said the credit union has several partnerships in the works for which the van will be utilized, most notably one with a fintech that will help manage credit for Stepping Stones members. The back of the van will feature information about the partnership and a QR code that members can scan to sign up for the new credit management service.

The credit union's investment in the Branch on Wheels has paid off big time in the way of membership, asset and loan growth, according to Jackson. Before the van was put into use, Stepping Stones membership stood at 415; it's since nearly tripled to 1,068 (of the 774 members gained, 224 opened their first account at the van). Assets in 2018 totaled $1.7 million and grew to $4.2 million over three years, and in addition, the credit union had just 44 loans on the books totaling $155,122 versus 123 loans totaling $2,545,228 today (Jackson noted that 45 of those are Paycheck Protection Program loans, which represent the credit union's foray into business lending and total $2,257,223).

Francois Verleysen Francois Verleysen

Two and a half years ago, Signal Financial President/CEO Francois Verleysen came up with the idea – which his board originally considered "crazy," he said – of building a mobile branch to reach potential members in new areas without the cost burden of acquiring new real estate.

The Washington, D.C.-area, low-income designated credit union now takes its truck-turned-branch to local fairs, markets and SEG workplace events such as ice cream socials. It holds an ATM, internal office where staff can carry out a number of banking services including account openings and instant-issue debit cards, and interactive video game designed with financial wellness in mind.

Signal Financial's mobile branch. Signal Financial's mobile branch.

"It basically risk-rates you," Verleysen said of the interactive game. "It asks you several questions and it's really cool. It's like being on Star Trek. I'm a Trekkie. We created a program that asks you a whole bunch of questions and then it tells you what your profile is. And if you need more information, you can talk to our rep and then we do a follow-up with that person."

A major draw of Signal Financial's mobile branch is its eye-catching design – one side features a full-coverage mural of a young woman holding a handbag and a Yorkshire terrier in a bright pink living room. Written on the mural along with the Signal Financial logo is the phrase, "Everyone has an obsession. Ours just happens to be financials." The other side displays another full-coverage mural of a man surrounded by his obsession – plants – and the same catchphrase, which the credit union used in a recent marketing campaign.

The other side of Signal Financial's mobile branch. The other side of Signal Financial's mobile branch.

"It's really kind of cool because it's so different," Verleysen said. "People are like, 'What is this, sir?' And then we have a huge monitor on the top of the truck that we deploy and can use to play movies, or so people can watch the game."

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Natasha Chilingerian

Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.

Michael Ogden

Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.