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Great Lakes Credit Union in Bannockburn, Ill., has restructured its product and service fees to help save its members more than $1 million each year – a move that the credit union said it believes will assist members who want to build or rebuild their poor or limited financial history.
On Tuesday, GLCU ($1.2 billion in assets, 78,517 members) released a list of fee changes including the elimination of out-of-network ATM withdrawal fees, overdraft protection transfer fees, monthly Fresh Checking fees and issuance fees for replacement debit/ATM cards.
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According to a statement from GLCU, the timing of the changes ensures "that its members have a little more money in their pockets each month, funds that are needed now more than ever as inflation surges to its highest rate in three decades."
GLCU President/CEO Steve Bugg said, "At GLCU, we regularly review our fee structure and update our fee schedule accordingly. As part of our ongoing commitment to financially empower our members, especially those who are perpetually underserved in today's financial landscape, we are removing and reducing a number of fees typically charged by other financial institutions as a way to invest back into our loyal members.
"We recognize that banking fees deal the strongest blow to vulnerable communities. In addition, many of these fees were utilized to offset the manual processing of the transactions and with our recent investments in technology and process improvements, we no longer need to charge fees for those items and in many cases, we also credited back the fees to members."
Bugg added, "Ultimately, these fee changes will save our members a collective total of $1,103,414 each year."
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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.
