Helping Members Find All Those ATMs & Branches

CU: Delta Community

Category: Member Convenience

With a national membership and limited branch presence, the newly renamed Delta Community Credit Union relies on shared branching and surcharge-free ATM networks to provide its members better access to funds.

The problem, said Carol Sundberg, SVP of eCommerce at DCCU, is that its 163,000 members-mostly Delta employees and their families-don't always know how to find the more than 1,850 shared branches and more than 50,000 ATMs nationwide available to them.

While the CU's website had website search tools to help them, it required links to four separate sites to locate the various options, she said.

"We used to provide links to each resource but determined that our members would further benefit from the convenience of a one-stop approach," she said. "We needed to implement a solution where our members could conduct one search to all locations to access their funds, instead of conducting multiple queries on multiple sites."

They found that solution through LocatorSearch, an aggregated, online branch-ATM-shared service center locator search engine. Its consolidated engine allows DCCU to provide its members with a seamless, one-stop approach to finding convenient locations nationwide.

"It aggregated all of our remote delivery options into one search engine," Sundberg said. "It's a really great tool."

Specifically, DCCU's new web-based locator- available through www.locatorsearch.com or www.decu.org-allows members to search for all locations, all ATMs (DCCU-owned, CO-OP, All-Point and deposit-taking only), and all service center locations simply by inputting an address, city, state or ZIP code. The member can also select a five-10-15-20-or 50-mile radius in which they want the search conducted. Any DCCU-owned ATMs or branches located within 10 miles are always displayed first.

The tool also provides view and print driving directions for each location.

Delta implemented LocatorSearch's web-based service locator in April 2005, followed by its wireless locator in July 2005.

The latter works similarly to the web-based service. However, because of the limited screen capability, searches are conducted using only zip code and desired radius. Each location displays an address and summary of services. This unique service is available through DCCU's wireless websites, www.dccu.org/WAP for web-enabled phones, and www.decu.org/PDA for portable digital assistants (PDAs).

"DCCU benefits from this service because it effectively promotes to our members the convenience of DCCU and shows them the many ways they can access their funds regardless of where they are in the United States," Sundberg said. "When a service such as LocatorSearch provides our members with value-added service and convenience, DCCU benefits."

Chris Danvers, technology specialist at DCCU, said the CU pays a minimal monthly administrative fee-"a couple hundred dollars" -for access to this service.

He said he considered it a "best practice" because it gives the perception of convenience.

"While we have members across the United States, we don't have branches or ATMs on every street corner," he said. "This gives us one aggregate place where members can see all the access points."

Sundberg said the membership ultimately benefits by gaining a better understanding of how accessible their funds are with DCCU.

"Although we do not have our own ATMs or branches on every street corner, our participation in CO-OP, AllPoint, and the CU Service Center program means our members will also always have access to a surcharge-free ATM to conduct their business," Sundberg said.

Because of the simple scope of the service, Sundberg said, there have been no problems.

"We've had to refine and make changes as participation in networks change, but there have not been any problems reported to me."

Danvers said minor "technical bugs" occurred, but were immediately resolved. He added that tracking records indicate that members are utilizing the service.

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