CU Cooperative Systems Inc., an automated teller machine network for more than 300 credit unions in the West and Southwest, has begun offering home banking services to members through Online Resources and Communications Corp.
The agreement between CU Cooperative, Pomona, Calif., and Online Resources, McLean, Va., lets credit unions offer their members bill payment and other services through personal computers, screen phones, and the Internet.
Irene Whitcomb, vice president of membership and marketing for CU Cooperative, said the partnership is the beginning of her organization's effort to give its credit unions access to "the full range" of technology channels.
"That would include telephones, screen phones, PCs, interactive television, and whatever else comes up in the next number of years," she said.
Only a minority of CU Cooperative's 300 members now offer home banking products. For them, "this will be another option," Ms. Whitcomb said.
CU Cooperative's shared network has 1,175 ATMs and 2.8 million cardholders in California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Texas, and New Mexico.
More than 30 member credit unions have signed up for the Online Resources program, Ms. Whitcomb said.
"We will be providing the remote access service with Online Resources first," she said, "and we will be working with other organizations in the months ahead."
"Our real goal is to be device-independent and program-independent so that our credit unions can select whatever they want for their members," she added.
Online Resources, founded in 1989, has recently begun forming partnerships with banks and networks, including the MOST network of Reston, Va.
