Credit Unions Partner With Prizeout to Offer Value-Added Gift Cards

Nine credit unions have partnered with Prizeout to offer their members value-added gift cards.

With access to the Prizeout program, the credit unions’ members will receive, on average, a 12% bonus when they purchase gift cards, according to a Tuesday (Feb. 21) press release.

“We believe in Prizeout’s technology and see it as a huge value-add for financial institutions in helping them grow, scale and provide more benefits for their members and communities,” Interra Credit Union CEO Amy Sink said in the release.

Interra is one of nine credit unions that have joined a credit union service organization (CUSO) called Prizeout Partners to team up with the AdTech company and access its technology, according to the press release.

In addition to giving their members more purchasing power at a time of inflation and economic uncertainty, the credit unions will use the Prizeout gift card program to engage with members, offer innovative products, increase their non-interest income and build relationship with local merchants.

“Credit unions are all about their community,” Prizeout CEO David Metz said in the release. “This offering ties into their larger ethos of supporting their members and taking care of them. Additionally, it’s a model where everyone wins — the members, the community and the institution.”

Prizeout’s AdTech platform connects partner firms with consumers who are typically looking to “cash out” and gives them access to bonus offers through gift cards and other rewards, Metz told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview posted in March 2022.

Those brand-related bonus incentives are worth more than a simple cash out and the gift cards can be redeemed at several retailers and local merchants, Metz said at the time.

“We’re disrupting the traditional ‘funds out’ process,” Metz said.

With the Prizeout Partners CUSO, credit unions can offer value-added offerings without having to implement the technology themselves, according to the press release.

The announcement comes at a time when credit unions members’ loyalty may be tested over innovation while credit unions’ R&D budgets may not go as far as they once did — or may have been slashed.

Nearly half of credit union executives have said that a lack of resources prevents them from bringing innovations to market, according to “Credit Union Innovation: Product Development Slowdown Tests Member Loyalty,” a PYMNTS and PSCU collaboration.