Downey S&L; Adds Internet to Its Portfolio
Like any financial institution, Newport Beach-based Downey Savings & Loan offers the usual mix of savings and checking accounts, car loans and home mortgages. But customers might be scratching their heads over Downey Savings’ latest offering: Internet access.
As part of an effort to distinguish itself as a savings and loan for the technologically inclined, Downey Savings two weeks ago began offering Internet access to its customers through a partnership with Pacific Bell.
“We want people to know we are out there technologically,” said Gary Knutson, who administers the Downey Savings World Wide Web site.
Large banks, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America, have already introduced online banking services that allow customers to transfer funds and manage their accounts from their home computers. Downey Savings hopes to introduce similar services, although it probably won’t happen soon, Knutson said.
So for now, Downey Savings is trying to appeal to the Internet set for several reasons, including the appealing demographics found in cyberspace. Internet users tend to be well-educated with upper-middle incomes, the “type of people who would be purchasing a home, need a car loan, or would have money to place in a CD,” Knutson said. “That’s a segment of the market we’d like to get additional accounts with.”
But even if the deal with Pacific Bell doesn’t generate a lot of new business for Downey Savings, Knutson said it will at least boost traffic at the company’s Web site, which is listed on a home page Pacific Bell Internet customers see. Downey Savings’ address on the Web is https://www.downeysavings.com
“We want our customers to have another means of getting information on our products and services,” Knutson said. The Internet is a “good marketing channel and cheap distribution channel.”
The savings and loan’s Web site does have some clever touches. In addition to offering up-to-date interest rate information, the site features tables that allow users to plug in a few numbers to calculate how much they can afford to spend on a home and what their monthly mortgage payments might be.
Through the Internet offer, Downey Savings’ 200,000 customers and 1,100 employees can get unlimited Internet access from Pacific Bell for about $20 a month or 10 hours per month for about $10, both fairly standard fee structures.
Downey Savings gets a referral fee for every one of its customers who sign up with Pacific Bell’s Internet service. Knutson declined to discuss the size of the fee or say how many customers have signed up for Internet accounts so far.
