USB Enhances Account Offerings

Union State Bank ended their six-year partnership with checking account provider KASASA in July. Bank officials are using this transition as an opportunity to streamline offerings while enhancing product features.

“KASASA has been a good partner for us over the years,” said Mike McWhirt, Union State Bank’s Chief Operations Officer. “But we are continuously looking for better ways to serve our customers, and changes are occasionally made to the products and services we offer.”

The transition away from KASASA has placed a new emphasis on USB’s eVantage checking product. First introduced in 2010, the popular checking option earns customers a higher interest rate on their balances when they meet monthly requirements, such as enrolling in electronic statements, completing an ACH debit, ACH credit or electronic credit, and making a minimum number of purchases with the account’s debit card.

KASASA customers were notified in early May that their accounts would be transitioned to eVantage checking on July 7th.

“eVantage is our flagship checking product. We have hundreds of customers who consider it their primary checking account,” said Sue Schultz, Ark City Retail Market Coordinator of USB. “With the recent updates to the account features, we are confident that our current KASASA customers will be equally satisfied with their new eVantage accounts.”  

To further enhance their consumer checking products, USB has recently launched “Round Up”. The new feature can be added to any USB non-commercial checking account as an easy way for customers to save. Once enrolled, USB will round up customers’ debit card purchase transactions to the nearest whole dollar and transfer the amount in excess of the purchase amounts from their checking account to a designated deposit account at the end of each business day.

One example of Round Up in action is provided on the bank’s website, “Complete a purchase for $1.72 with your USB debit card. Once the transaction posts and clears your checking account, the purchase amount automatically “rounds up” to $2.00 and transfers $0.28 into your designated USB (checking or savings) account at the end of the business day.”

Along with the change in checking products, USB has launched a new savings account. eVantage Save works similarly to eVantage checking by offering a higher interest rate when monthly qualifications are met. However, a customer does not have to have the eVantage checking account to open an eVantage Save account.

“While eVantage Save does fall under the eVantage family of products, it is it’s own unique account,” said Schultz. “It’s a great option for customers wanting to earn a higher interest rate while not having the withdrawal restrictions of traditional savings accounts.”

An additional account feature that was launched this Spring is Early Pay. Customers who are enrolled in Early Pay may receive eligible payments up to two days earlier, depending upon the payor’s submission timing. Payments that can be received through Early Pay include direct deposits from employers, government benefits like social security, recurring pension payments and tax refunds.

“We have devoted a considerable amount of time and effort into enhancing our product offerings. I’m confident that our customers will find USB’s new accounts and features to be convenient and a noticeable improvement to their banking experience,” said McWhirt.