Jacqueline Mighty, newly appointed general manager of COK. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

COK Cooperative Credit Union in March executed a soft relaunch of its credit card - offered in partnership with RBTT bank - a product which COK says its membership of 213,000 has not taken up as enthusiastically as the company would like.

COK deputy general manager Michael Steele says the revamped product is now the cheapest card on the market at 39 per cent, add-on, having renegotiated the price down from 42 per cent.

"Not enough people were aware of the fact that we had one," said Steele, explaining the relaunch of the eight-year-old card.

"We launched a new campaign in early March and the response has been tremendous." COK offers the Visa branded card through commercial bank RBTT Jamaica as it does not have a clearing house for the facility.

number of issues not clear

Steele, who is in charge of marketing and product development at COK, says "a very small percentage of members" have the card.

But: "We are hoping that at least 100 per cent will have taken it when we are done."

COK is not the only credit union to offer credit card subscriptions but the Financial Gleaner did not get a precise reading on the number of such issues.

Churches Cooperative, which also has an arrangement with RBTT, says its card is issued at 48 per cent and has been on the market for several years.

The credit-card market has grown more robust in recent years, with 30 different products on the market - 24 consumer cards and six targeted at businesses.

Scotiabank Jamaica, one of seven commercial banks, claims 48 per cent of the multi-billion market, saying its assessment of market share is based on credit card receivables last reported by the central bank at $16.9 billion.

The receivables, which are reported on a monthly basis, count only the amount of credit consumed but not yet paid for, and as such represents only a portion of sales volumes.

Scotiabank, for example, on its MasterCard branded card products alone, did $21 billion of sales in 2008, up from $13 billion in 2006.

The credit limit available on COK's personal credit card ranges between $10,000 and $300,000, with the minimum salary required being $250,000 per annum.

To qualify for the card, COK members must have $2,000 in a share account and provide credit references or account information.

"We have had the card for about eight years, but now we are trying to bring it to the attention of customers who do not know about it," said COK general manager Jacqueline Mighty, whose appointment took effect just weeks ago on February 24.

"What we are seeing now is a number of members who want to consolidate debt because of high-rate credit cards. We are selling them ours which is 39 per cent."

COK repriced the credit card - which up late 2008 was offered at 42 per cent - in order to go after new market share.

"We negotiated late last year with RBTT and reduced the rate," said the new GM.

New loan product

Also in a push for revenue, Steele says COK will add another loan product this year, called 'Pay Day', priced at 35 per cent to 38 per cent, add-on.

"Other competitors are offering interest rates in region of 55 per cent to 60 per cent on such loans," he said.

The Pay Day loan will be for a maximum of five months with the maximum disbursed defined by salary.

"We will be offering 200 per cent of net salary," he said.

COK manages a portfolio of $5.24 billion in savings and $6.65 billion in assets on behalf of just over 213,000 clients and is said to be the largest credit union in Jamaica.

Based on preliminary reports from 46 of the credit unions across Jamaica, the credit union industry was valued at $50.6 billion by assets at the end of December 2008.

The financial institutions commanded $39.5 billion in savings, and $34.3 billion in loans, representing a fraction of the holdings of banks whose assets crested $556 billion and whose deposits hit $334 billion at the end of December.

avia.ustanny@gleanerjm.com