Editor's Note: This article is part 'Innovation Week,' a collaboration between CUToday.info and the Filene Research Institute.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Members of University of Michigan Credit Union will be getting their “dime’s” worth later this year when what began as a Filene i3 project comes to life as an in-market service offering.
Called “My Dime,” the service allows members to tailor a loan to their needs, using rate, term and payment variables to decide on how they want the financing to work. It was created to address a potential consumer pain-point in that lending is often perceived to be limited to a few options centered on inflexible loan terms.
At the time the project was conceived, “My Dime” was designed as a platform that would include information from numerous CU participants, but it will initially debut first at UMCU. It may then be introduced and marketed to other credit unions at a later date, according to Andrea Mosher, VP of lending at University of Michigan Credit Union, who was part of the i3 project team.
Other team members included Taylor Carstens of Peoples Trust FCU, Michael Spink of Local Government FCU, and Steve Webb of Neighbors FCU.
Introduction Later This Year
UMCU will be introducing the My Dime functionality as part of its mobile platform later this year, according to Mosher. The goal is to leverage the mobile experience, where users are accustomed to having much more information available to them in order to make their own decisions, rather than have decisions made for them.
“We want to make the process easier and speak to that experience of the mobile user,” said Mosher. “The mobile app allows them to do a little research in terms of what their payment will be.”
That reasoning is also behind the service’s name. Members of the i3 team polled their own credit union’s staff for suggestions and feedback. Distilling all of that into one message, what the team heard was, “It’s my money, my shopping experience, it’s my dime.”
Mosher, who said My Dime was selected as her team’s i3 project because she and another team member were lenders, cited one example for which her solution is particularly well suited.
“We understood that when people are car shopping, for instance, they want access now when they are thinking ‘I might buy this,’” she said. “This is not the old days where you looked at a car and then went back to your credit union to get a check. This is the Amazon model where you are able to look at several options.”
University of Michigan Credit Union is the first to roll out the My Dime service in part due to an advantage presented by its field of membership. A team of UM students was used to design and implement the new solution. Drawn from 45 applicants, the team included students in computer science, math and marketing. Mosher said there was a great deal of interaction with team members, some of whom also worked as interns at UMCU in various departments.
Grading The Work
The My Dime project was course work for the students, which Mosher said meant she had to grade some of their work.
The My Dime solution was built to work with UMCU’s core system, but Mosher said it does have the capacity to add other credit unions. Initial marketing will focus on UMCU members only, but it could market the product to other credit unions in the future, perhaps in partnership with the Michigan league, Mosher said.
Mosher, whose two-year i3 term has now expired, called the experience “fantastic,” praising the opportunity to work with so many people from different areas of credit unions. She also credited Filene for providing an “understanding of the innovation process from beginning to end.”
She added that the i3 experience is not over, noting she remains in constant contact with other i3ers.
A video presentation of the concept can be found here.
Note: Filene's Andrew Downin shares his thoughts on how credit unions can better work together here.