Saving people by helping them save

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Welcome to everyone who is new to The Hero's Voice, our way of using the metaphor of our strategic brand process, The Hero's Quest, to explore how organizations can do more for their members or customers and stand out from the crowd. The Hero's Voice is typically published every few weeks -- the recent "gap" was due to speaking at a conference in Las Vegas, then a much-needed vacation. I hope you have been enjoying your summer too!

Today's column is about being a hero by helping people save. The personal savings rate throughout the United States today is at the lowest level since the Great Depression. People are spending more money than they're making at a time when 78 million Americans are on the verge of retirement.It's not that people don't want to save, but more people than ever are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Our client, Wright-Patt CU, has introduced two new programs to help make it easy to save: the EasySaver Debit Card Round-up program, and the TrueSaver program.

EasySaver Debit Card Round-up Program

Have you ever heard that small change can add up? Have you ever heard it's easier to spend than to save? The EasySaver program combines these two principles to help members save. The EasySaver debit card works by rounding up the purchase amount to the nearest whole dollar, and depositing the difference into an EasySaver account. So if a member purchases something on their debit card for $19.05, Wright-Patt debits the account a total of $20.00 and transfers the 95 cents to the EasySaver account. To encourage this method of saving, Wright-Patt CU matches 50% of the EasySaver deposits for the first 30 days a member has the account, and then matches 5% of the deposits thereafter. By providing a mechanism that makes putting a little extra away almost automatic, it can result in hundreds (and over time maybe even thousands) of dollars being saved. In the first six months of offering the EasySaver program, Wright-Patt members accumulated over $218,000, of which $41,000 was a match from WPCU.

TrueSaver Program

Basic savings accounts typically earn a miniscule annual percentage yield, making it hard to earn significant interest. But to get the higher savings rate of a money market or certificate of deposit, you have to already have a higher amount saved up -- usually $500 or more. Wright-Patt's TrueSaver program offers members the opportunity to earn their highest savings rate from the very first penny saved, by paying 7% APY on the first $500 a member has in their primary savings account. After that, it reverts to a more traditional savings account rate, but by having $500 accumulated a member now has greater savings options. In this way, the program helps the first-time saver who needs the most incentive to get started with a savings plan.

By understanding and responding to the needs of their members, we think Wright-Patt has been heroic. If your company is doing something unique to be a hero to your customers, we'd love to hear it. Just click on the "Share Your Story" link at the top of this page to submit it.

After all, saving people are what heroes are all about.

Lisa and the Creative Abandon team