SANTA ROSA, Calif.—Redwood Credit Union, recently given the OK by Apple Pay to go live with the service, is seeing members get on board quickly with the new payments solution.
In less than one week, approximately 800 members have signed up. As many as 50,000 of the credit union’s 240,000 members have iPhones and could use the payments channel, according to Ron Felder, Redwood executive vice president and chief lending officer.
“Obviously, some of the big banks came out a bit earlier, but as far as community banks or credit unions in the North Bay, we’re the first to go live,” Felder told the Press Democrat.
The security aspect of Apple Pay, which relies on tokenization, has not gone unnoticed by members, the CU explained. “It’s super-simple and convenient,” Felder said. “And it’s something members have been asking for.”
To help members get up to speed and set up on Apple Pay, the $2.5-billion Redwood has created a series of tutorials to assist members.
Felder said the credit union will be looking in the future at payment apps for other phones, such as Google Wallet.
“The payments landscape is evolving at a fast pace,” Felder told the Press Democrat. “Making other options available will be a priority going forward.”