40% of Credit Union Members Are Interested in Real-Time Payments

Forty percent of credit union members are “very” or “extremely” interested in real-time payments, according to the “Credit Union Innovation Playbook,” a PYMNTS and PSCU collaboration based on a survey of 4,832 U.S. consumers, 101 credit union decision-makers and 51 FinTech executives.

Get the report: Credit Union Innovation Playbook

The demand is especially high among the three younger generations of credit union members, with 42% of Generation Z, 61% of millennials and 59% of bridge millennials saying they are “very” or “extremely” interested in real-time payments.

Credit union members’ primary reasons for being interested in real-time payments are that they’re easy and convenient to use and they offer instant availability of funds. Twenty-three percent and 22% of respondents, respectively, say those are their most important reasons for preferring real-time payments.

Other factors that draw credit union members to real-time payments include the ability to more easily track the money they send and receive; the always-on service, 24/7 year-round, and better protection of their personal data. Those factors are cited by 14%, 13% and 11% of credit union members, respectively.

To meet those needs, 99% of credit unions offer real-time payments, with 77% offering them to all members, and 22% offering them only to some members. Only 1% of credit unions do not offer real-time payments to any members.

There are several benefits that credit unions say real-time payments bring to their operations. Among those that offer them, 63% of credit unions say real-time payments allow them to reduce transaction errors, 57% say they allow them to reduce fraud, 56% say they allow them to gain new members and 50% say they enable them to meet the demands from existing members.