PSCU: Providing Credit Unions With Data To Navigate The Pandemic

When the pandemic hit, PSCU recognized an opportunity to capture the data on digital shifts and trends, and to share the results with its credit unions and the market. "Keeping a pulse on all of these scenarios, types of payments, markets and regions has been critical for us, our credit unions and the industry," says PSCU, Glynn Frechette, senior vice president of Advisors Plus Consulting.

The following is an excerpt from What Did You Change?, contributed by Glynn Frechette, senior vice president of Advisors Plus Consulting.

PSCU is a cooperative that is built, owned and governed by credit unions (CUs). We have always been committed to the “people helping people” credit union philosophy, and we realized this philosophy is more important now than ever as CUs and their members across the country are feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For years, experts from PSCU’s Advisors Plus and Data & Analytics teams have analyzed consumer spending trends, including shopping events like Amazon Prime Day and the holiday season. We quickly realized that the COVID-19 pandemic would have dramatic impacts on the economy and the way in which consumers transact. As stay-at-home orders were implemented in states across the country, we also realized that many consumers would have to shift the way in which they make purchases and interact with their trusted financial partners. We saw an opportunity to capture these shifts and trends and began reporting them weekly — comparing year-over-year weekly transaction data on a same-store basis — and reporting the results to our credit unions and the market.

Since early March, PSCU has reported on a number of trends, including debit and credit card payment volume and spend; the increased usage of contactless, mobile wallets and card-not-present (CNP) alternatives; a decrease in cash withdrawals; and shifts within merchant categories. We also observed regional variations in data, which led to our creation of the weekly analysis that ranks U.S. states  and territories by year-over-year performance for debit purchases, credit purchases and ATM transactions.

These reports were intended to not only help our credit unions understand the current economic and social environment, but also to help them prepare for potential impacts on their members, CU operations, regional ramifications and more. It was important to provide this information to our credit unions in real time to allow them to make educated decisions to best position their operations and their members for financial success. This analysis has also enabled our team members at PSCU to provide the best possible counsel and to support our CUs during this time.

Throughout this pandemic, we have seen that virtually no aspect of the economy has remained untouched, showing the importance of measuring all sectors and variables when it comes to how consumers are transacting. It is key to always look at the big picture, then drill down where applicable to understand why certain trends are taking shape. From there, it is our job to distill this information and share it with relevant parties in order to help them make informed decisions. Keeping a pulse on all of these scenarios, types of payments, markets and regions has been critical for us, our credit unions and the industry.