Friday, March 7, 2008

MatriMoney...how do you want it??

We are looking at two ways to get MatriMoney to the members?



Again I want to know what you prefer, and which your CU is more likely to grab onto. There are two ideas behind MatriMoney and what it can/should look like.



The first: Is the traditional CU implementation of MatriMoney. The CU will pick it up, they will use the established brand name and maybe even some consistent collateral, but how it will be handled will be based solely on the discretion of the CU. Have a look at North Island CU and Mountain America CU, they have both established some excellent MatriMoney wedding registry programs. Both are prime examples of an example implementation of MatriMoney at a CU. It certainly serves the purpose of the member, and that is the ultimate goal.

But here is a little bit bigger idea. Lets say that a a CUSO or some other CU oriented organization wanted to pick up and develop MatriMoney into a very in depth online registry. The members can establish goals, they will receive common collateral, and this will allow for online deposits to the account via Credit/Debit Card, ACH, and auto-drafts. So potentially Aunt Suzie in Germany who can't fly in for the wedding, can go online and deposit a gift without leaving home. You are thinking, well that is cool, but where is the CU involved?? The idea is that any and all CUs that want to participate will be able to "link up" with the MatriMoney website. The CU will actually be the account custodian, not the website, the website just provide a detailed online tool, to gather deposits for the account. So the individuals would be required to be members of a participating CUs to use the product. This would allow members who go to their CU to get the account and individuals that just heard about it and want to get it, can join a CU locally that they qualify for. (New member acquisition)

So that wasn't exactly easy to put in type, but I think you should be able to grasp the concept. In respect to what we are doing, we will continue to find and help CUs implement MatriMoney on a CU level, but we are also exploring the idea of finding a partner to develop the project to meet a much larger potential.

So I want your thoughts!!! As a CU rep, do you think that your CU would be more likely to take this develop and implement it themselves? OR Would they choose the other path, that is likely quicker, with less required development and join in on the much larger scale? What fits your CU best? What do you think is the potential for MatriMoney?

I look forward to your feedback it will be very useful moving forward. Thanks!!!

2 comments:

Ben said...

Acknowledging unabashadely that I've never actually drawn a paycheck at a credit union, here are my 2 cents. Before a CUSO is viable, individual credit unions have to show there's a market. If Mountain America and others are demonstrably reeling in deposits and establishing deeper relationships, then this could go to a CUSO model. If it's mainly an add-on for a particular market (the Wasatch front runs a huge wedding industry) then it'll have to be CU-by-CU for a while.

Josh Jones said...

I wonder how the corporate credit union network could help broaden the scope of the MatriMoney idea...