CharterOne’s FYI Alerts

You need a program to keep up with Charter One’s (Cleveland, OH; $39 billion) innovations during the past few months. We will take a closer look at the company’s highly rated product offerings (#9 overall on Gomez) later this year. In the meantime, check out its most recent development, an alert service developed with the help of Chicago-based CenterPost www.centerpost.com  

Charter One calls its FYI Alerts, “state-of-the-art.” They certainly are. It’s by far the most comprehensive service available today, and the first U.S. retail bank offering voice messages as a delivery option. Users can choose balance or activity alerts and can schedule the delivery of mini-statements on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Each particular alert can be sent via email, wireless, fax, or voice message. The service was introduced in mid-August for consumers and the first week of September for businesses. The service is free for both consumers and small businesses, and that is unlikely to change according to Michael Dobbins, SVP of Direct Banking. The bank looks at it as a significant differentiator for picking up new checking accounts and increasing customer satisfaction. To a lesser extent, it also expects to reduce call center expenses with fewer customers jamming the phone lines on payday to check their balance. With no promotion beyond its Web site, the service picked up 3,500 users during the first few weeks. Marketing kicked off on Sept. 6 with an email to its 330,000 online banking customers. In-branch promotion and statement inserts were set for later in the month. To speed adoption, the bank will offer to enroll VRU customers immediately following a telephone balance inquiry.