Commentary: Credit union membership can be workplace benefit

It?s a fact: Offering good benefits helps you attract and retain good employees. Here?s another fact: The cost of providing those benefits is rising ? in some cases, dramatically.
You may not know that you can offer your employees a benefit that could save them hundreds ? even thousands ? of dollars? a benefit that doesn?t cost your company anything. That no-cost benefit is credit union membership.
First, let?s go back to why benefits are important. A new study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (a nonprofit public policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.) says employers have found that providing good benefits ?is an important device to enhance employee recruitment, retention and productivity.?
That study focused on health benefits, but imagine if you could say to prospective or current employees that you also provide a benefit that can put a significant amount of money back into their wallets.
Membership in a credit union works like this (because credit unions vary, this doesn?t hold true for all credit unions): A company, association, or organization fills out an affidavit, applying for membership. Once accepted, the company?s employees can join for a one-time fee. They?re then able to take advantage of all the services from a financial institution that truly has their best interests in mind.
That?s because credit unions are not-for-profit financial institutions that exist solely to benefit their members. As such, we return profits to members in the form of lower loan rates, higher dividend rates, and lower service charges.
In my 26 years in the credit union industry, I?ve seen countless cases of members saving money, being able to get financial help after being refused by other institutions, and receiving constructive guidance. Here are a few recent examples from Norbel:
? A new member refinanced his car loan from another financial institution; by doing so, he?s saving $2,640 over the course of the four-year loan.
? One couple is saving $1,350 a year by getting a home equity line of credit from Norbel and using the money to pay off a higher-interest home equity line of credit from another financial institution.
? Taking out a personal loan to consolidate debt and pay off credit cards helped a young woman lower her interest rate by as much as 13 percent.
These could be your employees ? employees who could enjoy a substantial financial gain from your affiliation with a credit union. So tell your employees. Offer a benefit that helps them save money. And you may very well be able to watch your employee recruitment, retention, and productivity increase ? without costing your company one single penny.

Edwin R. Bigby, Jr. is president and general manager of Norbel Credit Union, a financial institution founded in 1940 with branches in Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Longmont, and Broomfield. He can be reached at (970) 209-9666.