Credit unions typically treat card usage as a payment metric. More transactions produce more interchange revenue, more engagement and a greater return on the cost of issuing the card.
But new PYMNTS Intelligence data in the report “Consumers Trust Credit Unions but Don’t Always Reach for Their Cards,” a Velera collaboration, suggests that framing may be too narrow. Members who make their credit union card their first choice are also the members showing some of the strongest deposit growth, turning top-of-wallet status into a potential measure of the broader financial relationship.
After all, credit unions already have much of the relationship infrastructure in place. Six in 10 consumer members consider their credit union their primary financial institution, and satisfaction is high. Yet only 48% of credit union cardholders put that card at the top of their wallet, compared with 69% of national-bank cardholders. Credit unions, in other words, are often winning the account without winning the transaction.
Card Usage Is Becoming a Key Financial Services Relationship Signal
The report data establishes a strong association between card usage and an end result where deposits at credit unions increase. Members with growing balances may simply be more engaged across every product. But strategically, the distinction may matter less than the signal itself: top-of-wallet behavior appears to identify relationships that are becoming economically deeper.
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Among credit union members, consumers whose credit union card was top of wallet posted a 30% increase since 2024 in the share reporting greater deposits. Among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) whose credit union card was top of wallet, the corresponding increase was 28%. Those gains exceeded every other consumer and SMB segment measured.
That makes payments activity potentially useful beyond the card portfolio. A member repeatedly selecting the same institution at checkout is demonstrating a kind of behavioral primacy that a checking-account designation alone cannot capture.
Read the report: Consumers Trust Credit Unions but Don’t Always Reach for Their Cards
The harder problem is converting institutional loyalty into payment behavior. National banks turn card ownership into top-of-wallet status more effectively than local lenders. Their consumer conversion rate is 69%, compared with 48% for credit unions. Among SMBs, the gap widens: 75% for national banks versus 49% for credit unions.
But credit union members themselves are also unusually satisfied: 87% of consumers whose credit union is their primary institution report being very or extremely satisfied. Top-of-wallet cardholders report somewhat higher satisfaction than credit union cardholders who prefer another issuer’s card.
That reframes the economics of card competition. Winning a transaction does more than generate interchange. It may strengthen the frequency with which a member encounters the institution, reinforce primary-account behavior and ultimately coincide with greater wallet share across deposits and other financial products.
Credit unions already possess an asset national competitors spend heavily to manufacture: member trust. Their next challenge is converting that trust into everyday behavior.
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