Apple Federal Credit Union

In 1956, a group of educators working within the Fairfax County Public School system in Virginia came together to form a credit union in the spirit of cooperation. Today, Apple Federal Credit Union (Apple FCU) has grown to over 100,000 members and continues this tradition of cooperation and service by offering a full-range of high-quality, low-cost financial products and services designed to help their members achieve their financial goals. Like credit union members everywhere, Apple’s members are increasingly turning to electronic transactions over cash and check payments. To meet this growing need for ATM, debit and credit cards, Apple FCU has turned to one of the few turnkey suppliers of these cards in the industry: Shoreline Business Solutions, Inc.

Dana Blanton, Card Services Manager at Apple Federal Credit Union, is tasked with running the credit union’s complex card operations. Fortunately, she is very well qualified – she has worked in a wide variety of positions at the credit union since 1994, and in Card Services for the past 11 years. Blanton recalls, that “for various reasons, we switched from another vendor to Shoreline in 1998 and we have been very pleased with their service ever since. The transition went smoothly and they can readily support all components of card issuance.”

Apple’s members like the convenience of using plastic over cash, as evidenced by their usage numbers:

• 22,000 credit card accounts
• 30,000 active users of debit cards per month
• 3,000 active users of ATM cards per month

Shoreline Business Solutions, Inc., which was established in 1987 and works with hundreds of financial institutions across the country, is well equipped to handle any volumes that Apple may serve up. Along with their ATM card services, Shoreline is MasterCard®, Visa® and Discover Card® certified, and is dedicated to helping credit unions grow new accounts, increase interchange revenue and have a more competitive offering in the marketplace. Blanton confirms that Shoreline has the resources that they need to support their members: “We can always count on Shoreline to ship out new cards to members – they are extremely reliable.”

Not only does Shoreline quickly deliver cards to members via the mail, but they assist the credit union with their instant issue cards at a handful of their 18 branches by providing card stock. They also worked closely with Apple FCU to roll out one of the hottest new trends in cards: personalization. The credit union’s fully customizable card program was launched in the summer of 2009 in conjunction with Shoreline Business Solutions, Inc. Shoreline’s ‘MakeItMine™’ process combines the ever increasing popularity of digital photography with the usage of plastic cards. The result is a full color, custom card, produced in high resolution, printed edge to edge.

Apple FCU’s "Xpress Yourself" card has been popular with members; Blanton notes that “our members that use this online service really like it. And our staff has also been pleased with the process since it is completely automated and has generated very little work for us.”

With their card operations running smoothly, Apple’s card services team can focus on new projects, and staying abreast of ever-changing credit and debit card regulations. Blanton says that “it was a really good move for us to work with Shoreline. Their employees are helpful, friendly and reliable.” She concludes that “we would highly recommend Shoreline Business Solutions, Inc. to any credit union that offers any kind of plastic cards to their members.”