Comments on: Is Discover more thrift oriented than credit unions?

By: Brad Garland

Brad Garland — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:42:55 +0000

My thought is that most CUs don’t have the experience to develop things like this internally. They barely can staff someone comparable to run their IT systems. CUs are at the mercy of their vendors and considering most of their vendors don’t innovate like members need, it puts them in what programmers like to call a ‘DO loop’.

By: Jennifer Davis

Jennifer Davis — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:17:28 +0000

I must say, watchting the demo, this is a great concept by Discover — they are not only helping you pay off your card, but helping you spend on it at the same time! How do they do that?
I personally feel we do not promote thrift enough. Time to take action!

By: jodie

jodie — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:16:55 +0000

I work for a credit union in Pennsylvania in the indirect lending department and I am in connection with someone who
developed an indirect lending blog in order to find
feedback from other people in the program. The blog
deals with pertinant information and up to date news
on the automobile industry. You can find it at
http://www.cuindirectlending.org/
We would like to invite you and any others in the indirect lending program to take a look and perhaps leave feedback on some of the topics. Thank you for your consideration.

Jodie Zeigenfuss

By: Louis Morton

Louis Morton — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:00:32 +0000

Thanks for posting this item, I think it’s definitely something CU’s should be looking at. While Direct ROI obviously isn’t Discover’s main focus, it’s an idea that will make them stand out in the marketplace.

I think the alcohol company analogy is spot on in this case, but that just means to me that CU’s can do it much better. It’s a lot easier for us to claim that we are trying to help people manage their finances, and this could be a great way to do so.

Imagine a member thinking that their CU really does know how to help them plan for the future.

By: Denise Wymore

Denise Wymore — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:25:49 +0000

Bank of America’s keep the change program and Discover both make me sad…..if our values were truly practiced, and well, VALUED, we would’ve been doing this constantly. Not just when the country’s economy (and American households) are in crisis.

It’s time to at the very least BALANCE our promoting debt with promoting thrift.

Great post.

By: Lisa Hochgraf

Lisa Hochgraf — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:23:36 +0000

Makes me think of Arkadi Kuhlman’s CUES Experience keynote, his determination to help people of modest means save, pay off their mortgages, etc. SO CU-like, but ING DIRECT is an S&L!

By: Robbie Wright

Robbie Wright — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:29:01 +0000

I can’t imagine the expense associated with that program being extreme. The actual ROI probably wouldn’t be that bad. And I agree with Ron, the differentiation aspect of the program is the most important. It makes them look a little more human. But you can take that with a grain of salt. As Ginny said, it is exactly like the alcohol companies and their drink responsibly campaigns.

By: Ginny Brady

Ginny Brady — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:45:52 +0000

Rob, I have to say that I haven’t seen this Discover campaign but it reminds me a little of the tobacco and beer sellers who launch campaigns which encourage “responsible” drinking and smoking.