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Relationship marketing is becoming a competitive necessity.
We've all seen the billboards: "Free Checking!!" "No Fees-Ever!!" While those offers may not be quite what they promise in many cases, they are usually about relationship banking, or the number of products or services a member uses. An essential part of bottom-line success in financial circles today, relationship banking was recently discussed on CUES Net(TM), the CUES-members-only, e-mail discussion forum,
Carolyn Drake, executive vice president of $433 million Fort Knox Federal Credit Union (www.fortknoxfcu.org), with 82,000 members, Radcliff, Ky., initiated the conversation. "We are starting to see a number of community banks offering 'freer than free' checking accounts. These offer no interest, but have no fees for ATM service anywhere, actually reimbursing foreign ATM fees. They also have no monthly fees, no minimum balances, free check orders for the life of the account, free Internet access, and free bill-pay.
"Has anyone in CUES land developed a similar type account? What type of account balances did your product attract? We're interested in determining if members who carry interest-earning balances would switch. If you...