Kinetic Credit Union Always in Motion
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014
Since its founding in 1956, Kinetic Credit Union has continually evolved to expand its membership and better meet member needs. From serving first civilians and then the military at Fort Benning, the credit union then known as TIC added companies in the early 1980s and the community in 2005. In early 2014, the name changed to Kinetic Credit Union.
"One component of our new name is very important and that's the TIC. TIC is still part of who we are. We're proud of our credit union and where we've been and we're most excited about where we're going," said President and CEO Janet Davis.
The credit union has approximately 40,000 members and $280 million in assets. It serves seven counties, three in Alabama and four in Georgia. With the expansion of its charter to include anyone who lives, works or worships in its service area, Kinetic can now serve more people.
"Prior to the change in our charter, we had to turn away some people who wanted to become members," Davis said.
"Now we have expansions plans to serve more people. We want to help our members afford life, whatever stage of life they are in – whether they are going to college, buying their first home or saving to retire."
Doing Banking Differently
Kinetic will grow not by building more branches but by doing banking differently – in ways that reduce costs and meet the needs of its members, according to Davis. Technology will play a big role.
"We're always looking at what technologies are out there and what will bring the most value and benefits to our members. Many want to use mobile banking and only come in when they have a problem," Davis said.
The credit union is also looking at lending differently to find ways to get loans to members who need them. In particular, the credit union wants to better serve members that lost their job in the recession and may have had to file for bankruptcy through no fault of their own.
"Most people with poor credit don't like sitting across a desk from a banker so we've changed to a call center approach and we've had an overwhelming response," Davis said.
"We also look at credit differently so that we can help a member buy a car to get to work, for example."
Kinetic has also expanded its small business services to fill a gap left by the big banks that are focused on repaying the money they received from the federal government during the financial crisis. Although still relatively small, the credit union is seeing a lot of repeat business from its small-business members, according to Davis.
Let's Talk
Members and prospective members who go in to a Kinetic branch location will notice immediately that they are not in a traditional bank environment. Gone are the teller windows, the roped-off lines and traditional offices.
"We moved to a dialogue environment in 2006. One of our employees greets each member at the door, talks with them to understand what they need and then hands them to the appropriate employee to meet their need," Davis said.
"We want our members to feel comfortable and feel like our branch is their place. In fact the complaints we got when we first made this change were mostly that our people were too friendly."
Each full-service Kinetic branch has a Tech Guide, an employee who works closely with less tech-savvy members to educate them on the credit union’s various technology services, such as mobile banking, mobile deposit, home banking, and online bill pay.
More information on Kinetic Credit Union is available at www.kineticcu.com.
