In this month’s Inside the PRO Studio webcast, CU Times Editor-in-Chief Michael Ogden spoke with Stacy Armijo, chief experience officer at the Austin, Texas-based Amplify Credit Union, about the credit union’s headline-making move to eliminate all consumer banking fees and its aggressive push into business deposits.
Armijo traced Amplify’s fee-free launch to Feb. 2, 2022 (“2-2-22”), saying research showed consumers view fees as unfair more than unaffordable. Because fees accounted for ~4% of Amplify’s revenue versus ~25% at many peers, the board approved the shift — backed by a business case, not a “heart play,” she noted. The results: Strong member and employee approval, fewer overdraft charge-offs in year one, and virtually unchanged overdraft usage (the monthly limit utilization is now ~0.25%–0.61% vs. ~0.22%–0.51% pre-change). “We stopped making members’ worst financial moments worse,” Armijo said.
To replace fee income, Amplify leaned on a lending model built over the last decade — heavy real estate, capped-out member business lending, and mortgage participations that generate gain-on-sale and servicing revenue. On deposits, a fee-free Treasury Management suite that soft-launched in June 2024 has been “transformational,” driving business balances; the commercial portfolio grew 44% year-over-year. The goal: Move from today’s 90/10 consumer-to-business deposit mix toward 50/50 while keeping consumer balances stable.
The urgency is in the demographics. “For every one member over 80 who closes, we need 23 Gen Z, 13 millennials or seven Gen X just to replace the dollars,” she said, adding that ~60% of deposits sit with members who are 60+. Her advice to credit unions weighing fee cuts: “Today is the easiest day.” Start by mapping fee sources, kill low-value charges and build “value-driven” income streams. She also pressed for “radical transparency” around how institutions make money: “If you’re not embarrassed by it, you should be willing to tell your members.”
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