BECU wants to make a WP app! Show your support!

[larspassic]

BECU (Boeing Employee's Credit Union) is a very popular not-for-profit, member-owned credit union open to all residents of Washington State. I have been a member for several years now, and can definitely say that they are great! They already have Android and iOS apps, and have mobile check deposit available on those platforms. They have a mobile site which works well on Windows Phone, but we all know that mobile banking apps are always easier to use and have more features than a mobile site!

I contacted BECU member services recently, asking them if a Windows Phone or Windows 8 app was in the works. Here was their response (emphasis is mine):

BECU Member Services
‎March‎ ‎13‎, ‎2013 ‎1‎:‎10‎ ‎PM
To: Lars Passic
RE: Contact Us

Hello Lars,

Thank you for contacting us again and expressing your insight on the benefits of supporting Windows Phone for the BECU Mobile App. To answer your last question, a large number of our members in the northwest are very loyal and very vocal Windows Phone users. We want to meet this need for our membership and while we don’t currently have an app in development, it is a goal of ours to find a way to offer one some time this year. We have obstacles with our current mobile app vendor to overcome first, but we are dedicated to finding a way to make it happen.

Again, I really appreciate your feedback about this issue, and I want to share it with leadership to reiterate how much Windows Phone support is needed for BECU. I would encourage you to share this email address with anyone else you know that wants to express feedback about this or any other BECU issue:

membersuggestions@becu.org

You may also leave comments and feedback through Facebook, Twitter, or Yelp!. BECU.org has links to each of our pages on these sites and all member feedback is monitored and responded to there by our Virtual Banking and Marketing teams. The links are located just underneath the Online Banking Login section of the home page.

We appreciate your time, and if you need any additional assistance, please let us know.

I think BECU is great for being so honest with it's members. Let's show BECU that we want a mobile app for our favorite platform! Here are the key points that I pointed out to member services in my original email:

• BECU's primary member audience is residents of Washington, which is home to Microsoft.
• BECU does not have traditional tellers for doing day-to-day banking transactions with. Having a strong mobile presence on all platforms will help to alleviate any inconveniences, especially for potential members who are accustomed to having tellers.
• Mobile check deposit (if made available through a Windows Phone app) would reduce the reliance on ATMs.
• Once BECU creates a mobile app for Windows Phone 8, creating a Windows 8 app will be less difficult.

Here is how you can get in touch with BECU and show your support!

I have personally tweeted them before about a Windows Phone app in the past, and they responded saying that they are observing the popularity, and collecting feedback for future plans. I have created a click to tweet so that you can show BECU some love!

Click to tweet: "#DearBECU I would love to see a @BECU mobile banking app for @WindowsPhone!"
http://clicktotweet.com/bW07o

Be sure to check out their web page, which has links to their Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube, and Pinterest presences, and show your love there too!

https://www.becu.org/

 

[waazzupppp]

Awesome! Would love to have this and the ability to do deposit by photos! I live in an area where we don't have a branch and the two cash machines are always out of deposit envelopes.

 

[ttsoldier]

Don't need the app, but hey, I'll tweet for support ,

 

[Stormageddon5]

Sounds encouraging. I emailed them a couple months ago and they said they were open to it and monitoring popularity. Sounds like they've been receiving more requests since.

 

[larspassic]

Thanks for tweeting / posting guys. Here is another encouraging quote from another BECU rep:

...We offer access to Windows phones through our mobile banking website at m.becu.org. At this time we do not have a Windows app in development for phones or PC's. However, I can appreciate that you would like to see one in future. I will be happy to pass your comments on.

At this time, there isn't enough demand for us to offer this kind of app. We do have people in our IT Department who are big fans of this device and are actively monitoring the numbers. However, BECU has to be careful that we are best spending our members funds to benefit all our members as a group. Sometimes this means that we have to wait on projects that don't have enough members using that particular technology.

BECU wants to make sure we are providing you the access you need. Our members have always been our best eyes and ears for what services they would like to have.

They are definitely optimistic! We just have to show them that we want it!

 

[zimmergt]

Great, I wish we get a BECU app for Windows Phone sometime soon! Let's all show our support.

 

[dasfoto]

Yeah, as long as Quicken isn't the vendor making the Apps. I've heard of another bank who won't be providing a Windows Phone App because Quicken handles their mobile banking and refuses to even consider making a Windows Phone App.

 

[rideboarder]

I contacted them about it a year ago...didnt seem to help much.

 

[Jesse Pearson]

I asked a couple months ago if they had any plans, it's great to see that their attitude changed

 

[larspassic]

Thanks for all of the support so far guys. Keep tweeting and showing love! Thanks, Rich, for posting on the front page.

 

[larspassic]

Update from becu:

hi lars,

thanks for contacting us and sharing your excitement for the works of possibly getting the mobile banking app for your windows phone.

That is awesome that they are spreading the word because we need to hear more from our windows phone community for us to make this change. Please continue to share through the social networks.

We look forward to future announcements regarding this. Have a great day!

 

[larspassic]

This is by no means any kind of announcement, but it looks like BECU knows that a Windows Phone app on a red Lumia 920 would be a great match!

I found this image on the BECU website.

 

[waazzupppp]

Can we get a bump on this one... I still can't believe that BECU doesn't think WP is getting popular enough at this point to port their Android App over!?

 

[BRIAU]

If you are a BECU member, log in on the website (on your PC) and go to the message center and contact BECU asking about the Windows Phone (and Windows 8.1?) app. This way they know you are a BECU member and you continue to apply pressure on them. I email them every few months about it and they acknowledge that lots of people want it and are still considering it. I'm about ready to bail to a competing credit union that does have a WP app, and I've been with BECU for over 10 years. It is SOO frustrating.

 

[JNaDa]

Not a member, but as more banks and CUs get on board, more will follow. Tweeted for support. Don't forget to add #MobileEquality

 

[larspassic]

Hey all,
Thanks for all of the support on this thread. I recently asked BECU again if they had an update on an app for Windows Phone 8 or Windows 8. Here was their response:

I was recently informed that we are working with our app developer on bringing the BECU Mobile app to Windows Phones. With that being said, it is a long range project (end of this year, next year type project) so we do not have any estimated timeframes when this may become available, although I can assure you that we are currently working on developing it.

So, no timeframe, but good news that they are working on it!

 

[larspassic]

Update 10/08/2015 12:43 PM PT - We have a Windows App!

BECU Money Mgr. App - Windows Store

Right now it looks like the store app only supports Windows 8.1... but if you look at the web page, you can see that there is a view for PCs as well. It would appear that they are definitely well on the way to turning it into a Windows 10 universal app. (No promises, though!)

Thanks to everyone who helped!