Credit union sending payments FedNow® Service sees quick member buy-in
3/26/2025
GESB Sheet Metal Workers Federal Credit Union (Off-site), headquartered in Portage, Indiana, primarily serves members of SMART Local 20, a trade union representing sheet metal workers across Indiana and surrounding states.
For our latest profile, we spoke with GESB’s manager, Michele Mihal, about newly offering instant payment services to their members and how they leverage the FedNow Service to find efficiencies for their small team.
Q: What helped you realize the potential value of the FedNow Service and the impact it could have for your members?
A: “Ultimately our decision to adopt the FedNow Service came out of an understanding of who our members are and what they need from us. Our members are trade-based and they travel often for work, going to and from job sites far beyond our local area. A portion of our members’ paychecks deposits automatically into their GESB account, and many of our transactions involve moving that money to an account at another financial institution. As our members travel, as they send funds home to their families, the ability to access that portion of their paychecks instantly, from anywhere, is paramount. At the same time, we’re a small credit union with only one branch. As soon as we began learning about instant payments, we knew there would be a lot of value there for our members.”
Q: What early use cases did you target for your initial instant payment transactions? How are those use cases working for your members now?
A: “Given our member base, we looked to instant payments to give our members access to their earned funds instantly, wherever they’re located. Those earned wage access use cases and account-to-account transfers have been our most common transactions so far. Whether our members are using their funds right away through GESB or transferring them to an account at another financial institution, they want and need those funds quickly, and that’s also been our priority.
“There have also been some surprising use cases underscoring the potential for instant payments beyond the day-to-day. Recently we had a member whose debit card was compromised. With his card unusable, this member didn’t have access to any of his funds and — with no credit card or additional account — that lack of access was panic-inducing. Through our access to the FedNow Service, he was able to transfer some of his funds to a family member’s account instantly, and he was able to make his necessary purchases that day. We were thrilled to provide him with an immediate solution, rather than having him wait up to 10 days for a new card to arrive. That’s the level of service we aim to provide, and the FedNow Service made it happen.”
Q: Many FedNow participants have joined the service in “receive-first” mode. What made GESB decide to jump into sending payments with the FedNow Service? How did you strategize for this capability given your small team?
A: “We knew, given our members’ needs, that we wanted to enable send right away. Because we’re just a team of three and new to instant payments, we decided to start by implementing send capabilities with GESB initiating instant payments on their behalf. Now that we’ve gotten to know how the service works, we’re working to integrate instant payments into our online banking platform and enable our members to initiate instant transactions themselves. Keeping us in the driver’s seat has helped us get comfortable with the FedNow Service at our own speed and closely manage transactions from a risk perspective. Now we’re confident we can scale up in the near future.”
Q: What feedback have you gotten from your members who have begun using instant payments?
A: “So far, our feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Our members are really pleased that we’re offering this capability and many of them are ramping up to use instant payments regularly. As a telling example, one of our earliest send transactions was on behalf of a member who called in to request an instant payment, then signed the required authorization to have us send the funds. When I called him back to confirm that I was sending the money right away, I heard the notification on his phone alerting him that the money was already in his account and ready to use. His response was, ‘Oh, that’s really cool. I got it already.’ And then, immediately, ‘I’ll call you again next week,’ because he knew firsthand the difference that instant transaction could make.”
Q: From an operational perspective, has the FedNow Service led to any backend efficiencies or process improvements?
A: “For many use cases, like account closures, there’s both a cost and efficiency benefit. We had a member, for example, who was leaving the trade and wanted to close his account with us. At the time, his balance was about $5. Because we were able to send an instant payment, we didn’t have to issue a check, mail it out, wait for him to cash it, void the old check if it didn’t clear in time, issue a new check, etc. An instant payment makes this relatively simple transaction much easier for us, especially as a small team. We need solutions that both meet our members’ needs and are quick and easy operationally. The FedNow Service enables us to do just that.”
Q: What’s one surprising lesson or takeaway from your first months of sending and receiving instant payments?
A: “First and foremost, I’d say the process was a lot simpler than I thought it would be. With any new capability or technology, I have reservations because of our limited resources. But everything was more straightforward than we assumed, and we felt in control throughout the process — from onboarding through our first transactions.
“I’d also encourage other credit unions to think about ways that instant payments can help put you in the driver’s seat for transactions and find those crucial operational efficiencies. The FedNow Service is flexible, so make it work for you.”
Want to learn more about the real-world impact of instant payments? Read more FedNow Q&As here.