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News Release
ding free® summer road trip shows Canadians how to
avoid ATM surcharges
National campaign promotes the credit union difference
For immediate release
VICTORIA, BC, 6 August 2013 — The ding free® sea-to-sea road trip that is showing Canadians the
benefits of banking with a credit union and saving on ATM surcharge fees kicked off in Victoria last
week.
Spearheaded by an alliance of Canadian credit unions, the road trip will stop in 32 communities in an
effort to spare more people from the millions of dollars lost each year to ATM surcharge fees.
Driving a special ding free van kitted out with a surcharge-free ATM, seasoned improv actors Tegan
and Kyle, along with a video crew, will stop at some of Canada’s most iconic roadside attractions. With
the typical ATM surcharge costing a toonie, they’ll be encouraging Canadians to share their ideas
about just how far those toonies they keep can be stretched.
The team will explore various ‘out of the ordinary’ attractions and conduct interviews to reveal the
unheralded and wonderfully bizarre stuff that can be found in Canada’s backyard. They’ll chronicle
their travels through online videos and images at ding-free.ca and on Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram.
Canadians can follow along with the route on the ding free site and are encouraged to give a shout out
on social media if they see van on their travels.
“The summer road trip is a quintessential Canadian tradition,” said David Phillips, president and CEO
at Credit Union Central of Canada. “With the ding free sea-to-sea road trip, we’re taking Canadians on
a journey across this great land, in an effort to show how easy it is for credit union members to bank
ding free – wherever they are.”
Credit union members have access to at least 1,800 ding free credit union ATMs across Canada. For
members whose credit unions are on both ACCULINK® and THE EXCHANGE® ATM networks, the
number of ding free ATMs grows to more than 3,200 — a bigger network than most banks.
ding free credit union ATMs are identifiable by their bright green ding free decals and can be found
using the ding free ATM locator app for smartphones.
For every credit union member who downloads the ding free smartphone app from ding-free.ca,
Canada’s credit unions will donate a toonie (up to $25,000 in total) to their choice of three charities:
the Terry Fox Foundation, the Rick Hansen Foundation or the Trans Canada Trail Foundation. To
date, almost $5,000 has been raised for these causes.
151 Yonge Street, Suite 1000, Toronto, ON M5C 2W7
Tel: (416) 232-1262 Fax: (416) 232-9196 www.cucentral.ca
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Last year, Credit Union Central of Canada (Canadian Central) launched the National ATM
Accessibility Project, led by a national credit union committee and developed by Central 1 Credit
Union’s marketing team and their creative agency Dead Famous. The campaign promotes surchargefree ATM access for credit union members under the ding free banner. Several initiatives have
launched since then, from various social media initiatives to local street team activations.
“In April, we handed out over $25,000 worth of toonies in nine cities across Canada as part of our firstever ‘ding free day,’ giving Canadians back some of the money they lost to ATM surcharge fees,” said
Martin Reed, AVP of Marketing at Central 1. “Now, we’re taking our message across the country to
introduce even more Canadians to ding free – not with ads, but with laughter. Because if we can’t
poke a little fun at ourselves, how Canadian are we really?”
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Note to editors
Video and photos of each day’s activities are available at:
http://ding-free.ca/
Follow the tour:
http://ding-free.ca/follow-the-tour/
See the van:
Additional content can be found at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dingfreeATMs
Twitter (ding free): https://twitter.com/dingfree
Twitter (Tegan & Kyle ding free tour): https://twitter.com/dingfreecanada
Instagram: http://instagram.com/dingfree
Media contacts:
Art Chamberlain
Media Relations Manager
Central 1 Credit Union
achamberlain@central1.com
Tel: 905.282.8534 or 1.800.661.6813 ext. 8534
Janet Gibson Eichner
Manager, E-Communications
Credit Union Central of Canada
Gibson-eichnerj@cucentral.com
Tel: 416.232.3458
151 Yonge Street, Suite 1000, Toronto, ON M5C 2W7
Tel: (416) 232-1262 Fax: (416) 232-9196 www.cucentral.ca
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About Credit Union Central of Canada
Credit Union Central of Canada (Canadian Central) is the national trade association for the Canadian
credit union system. Canadian Central represents five provincial/regional Centrals and one Federation
representing 339 credit unions with more than $154.2 billion in assets and serving 5.3 million
members, outside of Quebec. For more information about Canada’s credit union system and
Canadian Central, visit www.cucentral.ca.
About Central 1
Central 1 is the central financial facility and trade association for the B.C. and Ontario credit union
systems. Central 1 represents a consumer-oriented, full-service retail financial system that serves 2.9
million members and holds $86.2 billion in assets and is owned primarily by its member credit unions,
44 in B.C. and 99 in Ontario. With offices in Vancouver, Mississauga, and Toronto, Central 1 provides
a wide range of services such as liquidity management, direct banking, and payment service solutions.
Visit www.central1.com.
Canada’s credit unions
For the eighth consecutive year, Canadians ranked credit unions first in overall Customer Service
Excellence among all financial institutions, surpassing all Canadian banks in Ipsos 2012 Best Banking
Awards. Credit unions also took sole honours in the Values My Business and Branch Service
Excellence categories. Credit unions tied for first among all financial institutions for Financial Planning
and Advice and Telephone Banking Excellence.
151 Yonge Street, Suite 1000, Toronto, ON M5C 2W7
Tel: (416) 232-1262 Fax: (416) 232-9196 www.cucentral.ca