Dallas-based TNB Card Services has purchased the credit card portfolios of York County Federal Credit Union of Sanford, Maine, and Tower Credit Union of Wausau, Wisconsin, adding $4.4 million in card balances to TNB’s own portfolio.
York County Federal Credit Union sold its card portfolio to TNB in order to offer a more comprehensive product offering, along with a rewards program, to its members. The 53-year old credit union, with total assets of $159 million, had been thinking about selling its card program for several years.
“It has become increasingly more challenging and costly to offer a product that appealed to our members,” said Jim Nelson, CEO of York County Federal. “By selling the portfolio, we can now offer a more attractive card product, including a Platinum card and rewards, which we don’t have today.”
He added that TNB’s credit union ownership was a key factor in deciding the buyer of its portfolio. “Because TNB is credit union owned, the company understands the importance of our membership and how we think. The change of ownership in the portfolio will also be fairly transparent to our members, which was important to us.”
Tower Credit Union of Wausau, Wisconsin, is a community chartered credit union serving seven counties in north central Wisconsin. With $45 million in total assets, the credit union has three locations and 11,000 members.
“When looking at the cost and staff required to grow the portfolio, we decided it would be more effective to sell it to a company that had the experience and resources to give it the attention it deserves,” explained Hal Osborn, CEO of Tower Credit Union.
Osborn added, “By selling the portfolio, we now have a more attractive product to offer our members, we’ve reduced our risk, and we’ve been able to reallocate staff resources to support more critical aspects of our operation.”
Tower Credit Union weighed the decision to sell its card portfolio for about a year. It selected TNB Card Services because of TNB’s experience in managing and growing card portfolios and because of the company’s credit union ownership.