Interest buy downs take flight at Wings Financial
The Twin Cities cooperative is giving card users the option to reduce auto loan interest rates as a points redemption.
Wings Financial Credit Union ($7.3B, Apple Valley, MN) received inspiration from a hometown retail giant to ramp up its rewards game.
The Twin Cities cooperative is offering members the ability to use their points to lower their rate on Wings Financial auto loans by 50 basis points. The credit union launched the program in May as a two-month pilot and decided to continue it because of positive response.
“Target is headquartered here, and we were impressed with the loyalty to their Red Card,” says Mike Sahr, vice president of payment systems at Wings Financial for the past six years. “Target rewards shoppers with a generous sales discount when the Red Card is used. They’re cutting into their own sales margins to generate loyalty. It’s a unique reward that only Target can offer. We brainstormed internally on how we can do something similar and came up with the loan interest buy down option.”
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