Great Meadow FCU Leverages Existing Partnerships for High-Yield Checking

Boutique credit union outperforms peers in critical ratios

Great Meadow Federal Credit Union sought a high-interest account solution, but when the credit union couldn’t find the right one, CEO Ryan Roberts decided to work with its core and Your Marketing Co. to build and maintain its own.

“We truly believe in the mission of the credit union: We exist to strengthen our members’ financial lives by finding more ways to say, ‘yes,’” Roberts explained. “At the same time, we can’t be scared of talking about profitability, as long as we’re not hurting the members.”

Great Meadow says yes to member benefits like no monthly account fees, no ATM fees, and yes to earning interest on its two, no-minimum checking accounts: Roots and Sky. Sky has the greater benefits for members and is definitely the more popular choice for members, according to Roberts. The $60 million credit union, headquartered in Granville, N.Y. and serving six counties across New York and Vermont, began work on the custom accounts three years ago with its core processor, Prodigy.

Roots and Sky accounts comprise 70% of all new account openings, and the credit union studies the data with Your Marketing Co. to determine how to convert legacy basic accounts to one of these two. Why? In addition to earning members more with the money they already have (0.3% on Roots and 1.0% up to $25,000 deposited in Sky accounts), the credit union brings in great interchange income, saves with electronic statements and direct deposit, and more. 

Roots and Sky only cost the credit union about $3,500 in dividends last year, and Great Meadow’s overall achievements have been outstanding. Member growth concluded at 8.74% in 2021 compared to its peers’ negative growth. Shares grew more than 15%, but also loans increased 7.27%, both well above peer averages. Great Meadow’s ROA reached 1.18% last year – nearly double peer. 

“Great Meadow consistently models the credit union cooperative principles when creating products and services for its communities,” Amber Harsin, CEO of the core processing CUSO Prodigy, said. “Prodigy is extremely proud to be a partner to Great Meadow CU and Your Marketing Company as we all work to serve the credit union mission one member at a time.”

Every month, Your Marketing Co. sits down with Great Meadow’s team to pore through the new rewards checking accounts to ensure the credit union is meeting its goals and the marketing campaigns are effective. They also study the data to glean information on how to convert the remaining basic accounts into Roots and Sky accounts.

“Great Meadow Federal Credit Union is another amazing story of a boutique credit union succeeding through laser focus on member needs,” Your Marketing Co. CEO Bo McDonald said. “We love working with our clients that believe in credit unions’ and their credit union’s mission, hone their brand, and maintain member relevance for growth.”