Community Choice Credit Union

• Assets: $1,300,000,000

• Members: 106,000

• Headquarters: Farmington Hills, MI

• Branches: 21

Negotiations resulted in 19% savings on existing credit and debit services, and an overall savings of 28% over the term.

The Debit Network evaluation led to total savings over the term of 38%.

HELPING NEIGHBORS ACHIEVE THE LIFE THEY DESIRE

In 1935, a group of neighbors came together, and each contributed $5 into a fund that any of those neighbors could borrow from in a time of need. Thus, Community Choice Credit Union came to be a staple in Redford Township, and eventually all across Michigan. Since their humble beginning, Community Choice Credit Union has grown to more than 107,000 members across the state.

Community Choice Credit Union is celebrating 86 years of dedicated service, more than 20,150 hours volunteered since 2008, and $1.3 million in scholarships awarded since 2009.

Community Choice Credit Union’s main goal is to help members achieve the life they desire. They do this by offering products and services designed to help them save time and money. In 2020 alone, the credit union returned a combined $2.9 million in rewards credits and loan interest rebates. Since 2013, Community Choice has refunded $17.5 million to its members. With a full suite of products, including savings options that help prepare members for every phase of their lives, from purchasing their first car to securing their retirement, members will have peace of mind knowing that Community Choice is their trusted financial partner.

The credit union is also dedicated to young members. With a youth account designed especially for youngsters 12 and under, and with yearly outreach, such as backpack drives, and a school meal bill payoff in 2020 that erased $43,000 in overdue bills, families can be confident in their commitment to helping all their members achieve their goals.

As youngsters become young adults, they can look forward to applying for one of the Community Choice Foundation scholarships. Each year, the Foundation awards a total of $100,000 in scholarships, 15 to high school seniors, six for continuing education, and four for skilled trade training. Since 2009, $1.3 million has been awarded to help students achieve their educational dreams.

SEARCHING FOR BEST OF BREED VENDOR PARTNERS

Community Choice Credit Union engaged in strategic projects for credit and debit, brand, network evaluation, and invoice analysis. Their team was looking for savings, best in breed for vendor partners, features and functions that would allow them to compete in the market, and validation that all incentives and billing were as expected. Engage fi was asked to come in to help the credit union meet their strategic goals, resulting in a consistently seamless experience across all channels, as well as ease of use in staff-facing systems in order to create efficiency.

Teams from Engage fi and Community Choice worked together to explore the existing relationships with vendors to ensure collaboration and meaningful significant investments were in place with those incumbent vendors. Together, they also explored possibilities with new vendors and compared benefits to both the credit union and the member in both the short and long term.

The Community Choice Credit Union team did a fantastic job handling several strategic projects that occurred simultaneously and juggled other competing priorities as well. The commitment they displayed to getting the best results that could also pass on to their membership was admirable. Any potential for delays in contract review were overcome, and a detailed and expeditious contract review was attained. Through the brand evaluation, Engage fi’s proven 4-step process provided the complete architecture of information needed to ensure the credit union team was able to make an informed decision on the best go-forward partner for the credit union and their members. The process supported the credit union’s needs at every step and allowed them the forum to make the necessary business decisions. The teamwork between Community Choice Credit Union and Engage fi resulted in an even stronger bond between the two teams built on member and employee focus, trust, and results.

MORE SAVED, MORE TO GIVE BIG

Community Choice Credit Union renewed their card processing relationship with their incumbent vendor while securing significant savings on existing and new services. They also resolved billing challenges and obtained missing credits. An assessment of current debit network providers and industry leaders led to partnering with a new vendor providing expense reductions and increased income to provide maximum benefit to their members.

Negotiations resulted in 19% savings on existing credit and debit services, and an overall savings of 28% over the term.

The Debit Network evaluation led to total savings over the term of 38%.

In addition to these changes, the credit union obtained funding from the vendors to assist in the implementation of new services with their third parties. However, improved vendor relationships are not the only result of these strategic projects.

Engage fi negotiated a 1,000% lift in value over a 10-year term agreement with the brand vendor compared to the credit union’s previous brand agreement, resulting in the credit union choosing to switch vendors.

After deducting the costs associated with the brand flip, the negotiated incentives and savings provided a multi-million dollar value to the credit union.

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