Hyper-competitive.
That’s how Scott Prior, vice president of marketing at Lacamas Community Credit Union, described Clark County’s financial market.
It’s about to get even more so, with two Portland-based credit unions moving into the region this spring.
OnPoint Community Credit Union, Oregon’s largest, is slated to open three new branches located in Safeway grocery stores in Vancouver and Unitus Community Credit Union is opening a new standalone branch. Although the county has seen numerous new banks, new credit unions are a rarity.
“I’ve been here 23 years and no new ones have started in that time,” said Roger Michaelis, president and chief executive officer of Vancouver-based iQ Credit Union.
Follow the members
With an established base of 6,500 members living in Clark County, OnPoint’s move last year to include Clark and Skamania counties in its charter makes good business sense, said Mary Jane Campbell, OnPoint’s senior vice president of marketing and consumer products.
“We’ve had members in Clark County for a long time,” Campbell said. “This is part of a planned expansion along the I-5 corridor and up through Washington.”
Unitus, too, has existing members here – almost 3,000. Results from a member survey supported Unitus expanding its charter to include Clark County, said Laurie Kresl, vice president of planning and business development.
“They were really hoping for a new (local) branch,” she said.
The two credit unions have chosen different models for moving into the Southwest Washington market.
OnPoint’s in-store branches offer a way to “serve more members and enter the market more quickly” than opening a single, stand-alone branch, Campbell said. Grand opening celebrations will be held June 14 at all three in-store locations – 6711 N.E. 63rd St., 2615 N.E. 112th Ave. and 13023 N.E Highway 99.
In contrast, Unitus is building a “signature” branch at the corner of Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard and Southeast 192nd Ave., which will open in July. The 4,500-square-foot facility will feature a “living room” ambience, with a coffee bar, plasma screen TV and comfy couches.
OnPoint also hopes to build a stand-alone branch, but is still looking for the “right opportunity,” Campbell said.
New region, new focus
Established Clark County credit unions such as iQ, Columbia Credit Union and Lacamas have offered business services for some time, but the service is a relatively new area for OnPoint and Unitus.
OnPoint has a new suite of business deposit services and hopes to add business loans to the mix soon, Cambell said.
“That’s at the top of our list,” she said.
Similarly, Unitus began offering business banking services about 18 months ago. Kresl said commercial clients make up about 5 percent of the credit union’s members, but Unitus leaders hope that figure will grow.
Unitus offers free seminars on credit repair and budgeting, and often presents those seminars to a business’ employees – whether the business is a member or not – and health savings accounts, which Kresl said, “allows businesses to cut health care costs without abandoning their employees.”
OnPoint has some specialties, as well, Campbell said. For example, ATMs at the new Safeway branches feature new technology that allows debit cards to be issued on the spot to new members.
OnPoint is the largest indirect auto lender in Oregon, and the credit union hopes to continue that focus in Clark County – something Columbia Credit Union may have to watch, as CCU touts itself as the largest auto lender in Clark County, according to the credit union website. Representatives of the company could not be reached for comment on this story.
Competition invites improvement
With these new players on the horizon, are the existing credit unions worried?
Not really, Michaelis said.
“Competition is good,” he said. “It makes everybody better.”
However, Michaelis said he foresees some consolidation in the local credit union market in the next few years.
And the more credit unions there are, the more people may recognize that credit unions are a viable financial alternative to banks, he said.
Kresl agreed, and said “our true competitors are the banks, not other credit unions.”
By marketing credit unions’ generally better rates and lower fees to bank clients, and by focusing on untapped markets such as “underbanked” people (those without any type of bank account), there should be plenty of pie to go around, Kresl said.
But to get that piece of pie, Prior said, each credit union must be creative to stand out from the crowd.
“It’s easy to get scared – but if you do that, you’re finished,” he said. “Just be on your toes more, identify strengths and market them.”
PUTTING A FACE TO A NAME
Columbia Credit Union was founded in 1952 as the SP&S Credit Union, then expanded its charter and changed its name in 1975. The credit union has grown to become the largest in Clark County, with 13 current locations and a new branch to open in June at Grand Central in Vancouver.
iQ Credit Union was officially incorporated in 1940, as the Clark County Teachers Credit Union. The name change came in 2004. With nine branches in the Vancouver area, including a new one in Camas and six high school campus branches, iQ is the second-largest credit union in Clark County.
Lacamas Community Credit Union was the first credit union chartered in Clark County, back in 1936. Originally, the Lacamas charter was limited to East County; in 2002 the charter was expanded to include all of Clark, Skamania and Cowlitz counties. Lacamas currently has five branches, and is “looking to expand,” said Scott Prior, vice president of marketing.
Originally chartered as the Portland Teachers Credit Union in 1932, OnPoint Community Credit Union changed its name and expanded its charter to include more Oregon counties in 2006, then to include Clark County in 2007. OnPoint has 11 branches in Oregon, and will open three in-store locations this spring in Clark County.
Unitus Community Credit Union started out as the Oregon TelCo Credit Union in 1937. It changed its name to Oregon TelCo Community Credit Union in 2001 (the first community charter in Oregon), then to Unitus in 2004. Unitus has seven branches in Oregon, and will open its first Washington branch this July.
Clark County also is home to eight other smaller credit unions.
Source: Company websites
CREDIT UNIONS REACHING OUT
Local credit unions have made it their business to be involved in the communities they serve. Some examples:
iQ Credit Union Distributes six $1,000 scholarships each year and supports the “Read With Me” program, which donates free books to local elementary school students.
Columbia Credit Union Supports the Loaves and Fishes program and accessibility to the performing arts in Southwest Washington and Oregon. It also donated 150 trees to the Vancouver Heights neighborhood.
Lacamas Community Credit Union Supports organizations such as the Camas-Washougal Community Chest, Share House, Evergreen and Skamania public schools and the Parks and Recreation Foundation.
Newcomers, Unitus and OnPoint community credit unions, also are getting involved.
Unitus For every new branch, Unitus identifies a nonprofit for that branch to support. The new Vancouver branch will support Share House.
OnPoint At grand opening celebrations on June 14, OnPoint will sponsor a “supermarket sweep” at each in-store branch. The winners can take home all of the groceries that can be loaded into a grocery cart in three minutes. OnPoint will then match the cash value for each “sweep” and present a check to a local food bank.
