Encouraging members to use their credit union as their primary financial institution has been a challenge for the industry since its origination. Unfortunately, to accomplish this credit unions have used the same solution that has been around for decades without much improvement. Now credit unions are turning to the advantages of the Internet to thoroughly improve the archaic process.
A switch kit refers to the process by which a member can switch all of their accounts (checking, direct deposits, etc) over to their credit union. The industry standard used to be an envelope of papers or a brochure. Each form had to be filled out and signed by the member and then processed by a credit union employee (a very labor intensive and time consuming process). The screenshot from BECU ($4b, Seattle, WA) below shows how much easier the process has become.