For some credit-union members in the United States, a third balance appears alongside their debit and credit banking balances: CashBack+
“It’s easy,” said Lori Holmes, marketing vice-president of 27,000-member-strong Bellwether Community Credit Union in New Hampshire, one of 25 credit unions serviced by Prizeout, which powers the white-label CashBack+ experience for them.
That ease of use, she says, is one of the draws of the white-label treatment.
“It’s basically a menu item … it’s just one click, then you see all the offerings,” Holmes said.
CashBack+ is a suite of products letting shoppers earn money back on their purchases.
It is the latest offering from New York-based Prizeout, whose technology integrates with credit unions’ online banking systems.
Integrates seamlessly into banking systems
CashBack+ appears as an option for members when they log into their banking app which presents gift-card offers from more than 450 national and 1,000-plus local ones.
The money members receive back is instantly deposited into their CashBack+ balance, where they can use it on more gift cards or transfer it to another account as cash.
Putting the idea of adding more value for members to work was a core concept that David Metz, Prizeout’s chief executive officer and founder, says his firm and their partner credit unions honed during their collaborations resulting in CashBack+.
“There are a lot of emotional connections with credit unions, a lot of them started from what they call SEGs (select employee groups) — teachers or government employees or IBM workers, whoever they might be — that’s a unique advantage that (credit unions) have,” Metz said.
“But as technology advances, one of the questions is ‘How do we compete with our offerings? How do we prove to our members the value from a monetary standpoint?'”
That answer was the white-label offering.
“We’ve created a suite of tools that the members can earn cash back that goes right into that balance,” Metz said.
“Every time they log on to their online banking, they see that balance that, because they’re a member, they’re increasing it because of the tools that (credit unions have) provided, and ultimately, that we’ve built.”
More choice for users
For the Manchester, N.H.-based Bellwether Community Credit Union, a major reason to introduce CashBack+ was to offer more choice to its members.
“It really is a differentiator for us to offer such a service, having digital gift cards through online banking,” Holmes said.
“In the financial services industry, we seem to offer the same products and services with just maybe slight differences from our competitors, but this was something that really set us up to offer something different to our credit union members, plus it’s a safe, secure way to purchase gift cards.”
Beyond offering new ways for people to choose how to allocate their money, Metz said the option for users to receive bonuses in cash is a plus given the uncertain economy.
“We spent a lot of time talking to members, and what we found out is that it’s nice to get a bonus on a gift card to a merchant, but to get that bonus in form of cash is really impactful, especially given the economic climate, because they can use that money maybe to pay down debt or to buy their kids new sneakers for their sports team or whatever it might be,” he said.
“Having that ability to put that cash back into their pocket has been impactful.”
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