PAOLI, Ind. — Being a CU branch manager in this small, farming town means that many times it's your decisions — not so much the policies set by the home office — that impact members' lives.
It's a responsibility Tawnya Daugherty accepts and embraces, since it's that aspect of her job that led her to leave running a bank branch three years ago to join Hoosier Hills FCU.
"I was working for a small, locally owned bank in Paoli, and Integra Bank bought us," Daugherty explained. "Then they centralized most of the processes. Integra's main office was miles away in Evansville, and they took the small town decision-making away from the community bank. It really made it hard to give good service to customers. We couldn't make the decision in the branch, and customers often need a decision the same day. We had to take the app, send it away, and then maybe the next day we found out if we could help them or not."
The HHCU Paoli service center provides personalized service to about 2,000 middle-to-low-income members within this town of 4,000, Daugherty said. "Even for particularly difficult cases, if we can't make the decision right there, we can call the home office and find out, usually the same day, if we can do anything for them."
Daugherty believes that has led to successful branch operations during the recession. The branch of the $317-million, Chrisney, Ind.-based HHCU turned a profit last year and is ahead of growth plans in 2009, Daugherty said. "When you know your members and are able to look them in the eye and make a determination if they are going to pay you back, that means a lot to me, my staff, and our members," Daugherty said. "Of course we look at credit scores and their payment history with the credit union and so forth. But when you take away the one-to-one, personal decision-making from the equation, members just become a number. I think that's the way it is at most banks."
HHFCU's Paoli location is the only CU in town, and it competes with two other banks. The economy has reduced the number of local businesses, which has forced people to look outside of the community for jobs, which has made the economy even tougher in Paoli, Daugherty pointed out. "That's less gas purchased here, as well as fewer lunches and groceries. The town's neighborhood grocery recently had to shut down."
Given the hard times, Daugherty believes the credit union's personal decision-making is prompting members to pay the CU ahead of obligations they might have with other financials here.
"I think that member loyalty has kept our delinquencies at a manageable level," said Daugherty, who shared that she and her staff also take a personal approach with delinquent members. "We call them weekly, a couple of us are charged with doing that. We talk to them and if they are unemployed, we work with them. As long as they are paying something on their loan and keeping in touch with us, we are not going to take their car away from them if they are making an effort."
Daugherty instills in her staff of 12 the importance of treating each person who walks into the branch individually. "We watch, listen, and coach staff on how to treat members," said Daugherty, who believes that banks are providing a head start on her training for new hires. "Before many of our employees came here, most worked at a bank. So they know how hard it is for customers to get good service at a bank. We all know difference between a bank and a credit union and we make sure our members see that difference every day."
This special report on Branch Management is reported by Ray Birch.
