Virtually all of the credit unions in the U.S. are exempt from debit card fee regulation (with just a few exceptions) and at least for now, are holding the line on enacting new checking account fee schemes. Their primary concern –that the card networks will not support a two tier interchange fee structure– has been alleviated somewhat by the recent communications from both Visa and MasterCard, who are beginning to issue their new fee schedules that indicate exempt FIs should continue to earn interchange fee revenue at current levels.
With an anticipated boost in membership as a primary goal, credit unions have not been shy in promoting their free checking account services and who can blame them? At least in the near term, many account relationships will be in play and helping consumers understand the value of cooperative financial services should be a key activity for this segment.
“Mike Corwin, AVP/PR & Business Development at OSU Federal Credit Union ($695 million, Corvallis, OR) says, “We assume they (Wells Fargo) are responding to their business needs. Instead, we prefer to keep the focus on our membership and how we can best provide them unsurpassed service. Our goal is to maintain the free checking/debit accounts our member owners have come to expect as long as we are able to recoup our cost to facilitate such a staple and valued program.”
