The lowest common denominator?
😎 No one has ever bought a box of Cracker Jacks as a health food, few care that much for the taste, but over decades millions of us have bought a box for that "free prize" inside! We don't like to admit it, but we're all suckers for a bargain - for a "free prize".
With credit cards these days, "rewards" (whether points, miles, or cash back) are the "free prize". We all (yep, me too!) have at least one rewards credit card, the national average is 2.3! If rewards are the "industry standard" and a rewards card is "the most requested member service", why the objection?
Three reasons: 1) SECU isn't offering a better "rewards" product, 2) the SECU rewards card will financially harm the majority of members who use it, and 3) with "rewards" SECU appears to have chosen being "an industry standard marketeer" over the best interests of the SECU membership.
Lets look at that last one first, because it sounds a little strange. Until the "new/new" arrived SECU rarely advertised - no newspaper ads, no radio spots, no TV commercials. Growth was not the goal; the CU was "promoted" by its members, through "word of mouth" recommendation.
What's wrong with commercial "marketeering"? The economist Thorstein Veblen, author of "The Theory of the Leisure Class", pointed out the problem in 1899! He foresaw that with marketing the logical "endgame" is a race to the bottom in a marketplace increasingly unrestrained by local accountability, uncertain ethical values, and flexible moral scruples.
Veblen predicted that marketing would eventually be "dumb-downed" to the following: an attention to overstatement; a low traffic in salesmanship; promising much, delivering the minimum; promising a margin of something for nothing; even going so far as to suppress the truth while implying the false.
Pretty harsh criticism... and that was in 1899! And what about in 2025 with fake news, internet fraud, phishing, pharming, smishing, spoofing and catfishing scams? Let alone robocalls, botnets... and did anyone mention AI?
✅ In such a world who do you trust?
😎 Is SECU choosing to be "an industry standard marketeer" over the best interests of the SECU membership?
... Are we there yet?
To #2 that’s just pure speculation and a prediction on you part. Obviously can’t be supported by data since the card is new, and you can’t infer Rewards behavior and outcomes from a traditional portfolio. You might consider that members have the ability to make the right choices for themselves. It’s insulting that you think we’re lemmings that can get easily steered into doing something.
ReplyDeleteSo you have a rewards card. Are you financially harmed by it? If not, why not? If you’re not, then why would the majority of our members be harmed by one?
ReplyDeleteWhole premise here is stupid. What is it about reward cards that is free?
ReplyDeleteMy go-to was Bazooka Joe .... oh and baseball cards ;)
ReplyDeleteDoubles of Mickey Mantle for the spokes .... UGH!
✅ In such a world who do you trust?
ReplyDeleteThe 64 million dollar question ... but finding out it is the 64 billion dollar question ... (profit ya know!)
I miss it when you got actual prizes in Cracker Jacks. Now you just get a sticker.
ReplyDeleteYou had the idea of just putting members into the rewards card. Some member feedback isn't positive that they have to re-apply for a new card. That is a barrier of entry in the members mind. If they want to take the time, get another inquiry it will make them
ReplyDeleteYou need to continue to try and understand that rewards card transactors are not the same as traditional revolvers.
ReplyDeleteI am clearly pro-rewards, but I do think a reasonable ask, if not resolution, is that the Board or ELT is transparent on the key assumptions that went into the decision to do rewards, how the success of the rewards program will be measured and how actuals lined up against the assumptions in the business case, how they are educating members who need more information to make the correct product choice for themselves. Specifically, part of the success measures are: how many members did lose, in particular any existing SECU card holders that switched, on how much they spend, what their utilization and balance behavior is, what the $ value of the rewards is that they generate, and whether that exceeds the amount of incremental interest they pay on any balance. All that data will be available and it should be monitored regularly by ELT and Board, and shared in the right detail and frequency with the membership.
ReplyDeleteWill they be transparent in this? one can only hope...
Delete7:21 5/19... that watchful eye should be the unicorn standard...when reviewing rewards card requests and monitoring program's success level. Diligence could thwart delinquencies which would help SECU and member-owners. From personal experience, it is difficult to pay off a large balance on a credit card with a low income. I carried a balance for years even with the amazing classic card rate. I see the prominence of the SECU rewards card promotions. Members like my younger self may be tempted. I sincerely hope SECU is keeping a watchful eye on card requests as well as usage as 7:21 describes.
DeleteIf you have a question, issue or concern with your rewards card, are you able to easily walk into a brick-and-mortar location to speak with someone face-to-face about it? In any one of NC’s 100 counties? I know I couldn’t do that with my old card - seems that SECU isn’t “industry standard” in bringing that value. But you and I see things differently.
ReplyDelete