"Hubris is one of the great renewable resources."
😎 If your goal is to waste time and squander member resources, introducing an SECU rewards card is a pretty safe bet!
Why not just offer members flip phone specials, cable TV subscription deals, fax machine discounts, and Ukrainian travel points?
✅ The nagging unanswered questions about an SECU Rewards card remain:
1) What will the SECU Rewards card offer? We've heard "no annual fee, grace period and lower interest rate" !!! Got all those already with the current SECU credit card, nothing new there.
2) The value to the members of the SECU rewards card must be solely in the rewards - points, travel, cashback, right? Because it certainly isn't hard to find many other card programs with no annual fee and a grace period [link]. And low rates are also available depending on the specific card [link].
3) Not too hard to guess that at best an SECU Rewards card will not exceed the rewards of other cards and will be viewed as inferior by many SECU members, who will easily find a "better deal". Further tarnish on a stellar reputation?
4) Why is it taking so long to introduce a rewards card? SECU has been offering and servicing credit cards for several decades [servicing over 342,000 member cards as we speak!]. What's the "hold up"?
5) If the "new/new" believe rewards are such a good deal, why not just add them to the 342,000 existing, highly loyal SECU credit card holders? Why treat them as second class folks? Look after your current members first!
... another "Blockbuster" idea from the "new/new"?
5) Is this even a serious question? Satire, right? Some of the 342k will opt in for the card in lieu of their existing cards, some may want one in addition to their existing card. Rewards and non-rewards serve different needs. What you're suggesting is irresponsible to just change their card to rewards, and your second-class citizen comment is just stupid.
ReplyDelete1:56pm Sorry to offend your intelligence....
DeleteWhy is the idea "just stupid"? Adding rewards to the existing 342,000 loyal card holders would give them everything - no fee, low rate, grace period and rewards. How can that hurt them?
You won't have to keep paying the costs of trying to get the program up and running and 342,000 members wouldn't have to set up another account, which SECU will have to pay to maintain.
Don't see the problem...please explain to the rest of us that are stupid... Thank you!
fair question. to clarify - it's not the "rest of us" that are stupid. just your post.
Delete1.) standard and rewards cards serve different purposes, and they appeal to different segments of members and consumers, based on how they will be used. Some of the 342k may not want a rewards card and it may not be the right product fit for them.
2) Within the population of 2.5 million non SECU card holders, there are members who like, use and are fit for Rewards cards that have them somewhere else and they'd like to have their cards here.
Your idea provides no solution for our existing members that want their reward card with SECU.
3:53pm Thank you for the intriguing explanation. You seem to suggest that the rewards card would attract a separate set of members who are not being served. That sounds realistic.
DeleteBut not understanding why simply adding the rewards program to the existing 342,000 member cardholders is not the best solution?
If your logic is sound, you would attract the members interested in rewards and you would make 342,000 existing members happy too! Every member wins!
Would appear that you would then need only one card - with no annual fee, a grace period, low rate, and REWARDS! One card which meets the needs of all members!
Lower operating costs, no unnecessary duplication of processing, easier maintenance, single card solution for members, great PR... y'know burnish that reputation!
Know that a "one card, best card" solution is not "industry standard", so that may bother you deeply...
... but you might earn a reputation among the members for being different, better, forward looking... maybe even as a unicorn?
Sorry to be stuck on stupid, but don't see any downside for any SECU member and you can stop struggling to get the program started...
Can you help again with your thinking? Thank you.
Sincere question - in your scenario, who would pay for the extra cost of rewards?
DeleteI currently use my Amazon card for rewards and I always pay off my balance. I currently have a SECU credit card I very seldom use. If I like SECU awards better than Amazon I'm sure I'll get one and use it. So I'm a member that hopes they start issuing them
ReplyDeleteI am as well. If the reward is 2% cash back, I would switch.
Delete4:20 explains it well. Rewards do cost money, and its anticipated that the reward card will carry a higher rate than the classic card. The important point is that rewards and non-rewards meet different needs.
Delete8:15 pm Can you explain how the two cards "meet different needs"... doesn't seem to make sense. Thanks
Delete8:18pm Gets back to transactions vs. revolvers. It is a legit distinction based on usage and therefore product fit. Other commenters are explaining it, but here goes: 1) Revolvers tend to use cards for larger purchases or consistent spends, but carry sustained balances over time. When they do so, interest rates are important to them, and more important to them than what rewards yet may derive. 2) Transactors, who are higher utilizers of rewards programs, might use credit cards for as much of their spending as possible to generate rewards, but pay most or all of their balance off each month Naturally, if you don’t carry a sustained balance, you are less sensitive to the rate being charged on the card.
DeleteThose are pretty different needs/ wants / behaviors, right? Not sure if that makes sense to you or not, but it does to basically every card issuer on the planet.
One card, best card isn’t practical when you are giving benefits to people that neither need them or ask for them, and then have to pay for the cost
ReplyDelete9:29pm Can you explain the phrase giving benefits to people who don't need them? Didn't think people had to pay for rrewards.
DeletePretty simple. Try to follow. It does cost money to provide rewards. No one ever said they were free. You suggested we simply add rewards to the existing card. Not everyone wants a rewards card or would be willing to pay a higher cost for one. So the benefits aren’t free, so why make people pay for something they neither need nor asked for? I question whether you are serious about your statement of not knowing there is a cost for rewards, but the question to you stands: You suggested we just add rewards to the existing cards. Rewards would add incremental expense. Who do you think should pay for them?
Delete10:10pm Hang in. I'm getting there. Think a previous commenter has already stated that rewards cost money; that makes sense. Think the comment was "no free lunch"..
DeleteBut I thought you said transactors who want rewards cards don't generally carry balances over. How do they pay for the rewards?
Good question. 1) swipes. Incrementally higher Interchange income. 2) higher rates. Indeed, transactors tend to carry less balances. Not to say 100% of balances are paid off every day and perfectly timed so as not to ever accrue interest.
DeleteTranactors are going to transact a lot more and generate more interchange
Delete10:30/11:21pm Thanks that helps. So is the bottom line, the cost of the rewards program is recovered by SECU charging a higher interest rate to rewards card users?
DeleteSECU isn't about helping their member/owners, it's about making as much money as they can, 'I think 'they' call it profit' anyway they can whether it be fees, RBL or any other avenue available to them (open membership?) .,..
ReplyDeleteMany older member/owners are going through a grieving process right now. They are waking up to the reality that the people they trusted, the credit union they believed in, has betrayed them. It’s a painful realization...
ReplyDeletethe credit unions are now being designed not to serve members, but to extract from them...
ReplyDelete"the credit unions"? all 4,500 of them? the whole industry has turned into a model of extracting profit from members?
DeleteThere does appear to be an increasing emphasis - at least among the larger credit unions - upon growth and profit rather than on "cooperative principles". Interesting situation ... kinda understand how the Ukrainians are feeling!
Delete12:46 ... well there will always be unicorns, it's just getting harder to find them and once they're gone they ain't going back ...
Delete