There are many things that come to mind when people hear the words “credit union.” Many of these things are either self-found ideas or are influenced by the general reputation surrounding credit unions. However, many of these ideas are simply not well understood, and as such, are misconceptions. Despite this, credit unions are on the road of change, and because of their small size, they are able to do things that larger banks find harder to achieve.
What comes to mind when you hear “credit union?”
When people hear these words there are a lot of predictable things that come to mind. The first thing that comes to my mind is limited ATM locations. I have family and friends that bank with credit unions for various reasons, but they do have to deal with limited locations. However, a lot of times, these credit unions also partner with other banking networks to negate this drawback.
Another top misconception, which is important in understanding why they are more mobile when it comes to change, is that they are not high-tech. This is not the case, for in a 2015 CFI satisfaction index, showed that credit union bankers were more satisfied with their financial institution’s technology than those that bank with traditional banks.
How they are changing for the better
Because credit unions are smaller, it is easier for them to stay up-to-date with the latest technologies. Within the current industry, according to Wisebread, there is a large push to introduce more customer-focused solutions. This includes the introduction of mobile apps to enable customers to do remote deposits and mobile payments.
Along with this push, credit unions are rethinking the customer experience by going digital. They want to create a digital-first platform that will heighten their customer’s experience and move toward the future of banking. And as such, their goal isn’t to do it in segments but rather take into consideration the full scope of going digital.
With these new pushes, industry leaders are staving off the idea that credit unions will lose their main function of serving their communities. The goal of developing more modern technologies is still in line with keeping the focus on their customers. This is one of the key takeaways that I have noticed when talking to friends and family about their credit union experience. They feel that their credit unions are putting people first rather than money or anything else, which the latter is often associated with big banks. Their feelings are well founded, for that is the whole premise of credit unions, to serve you. And with these new changes, they will be able to do that more effectively than ever before while redefining what it means to offer a very human “digital experience.”
