SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -
"Our membership is very spread out," explained Katie Keith, assistant manager, consumer lending, at the $860-million CU. "We only have branches on the east side, but a huge percentage of our members lives on the west side. We wanted to reach out to them without forcing them to travel to our branches."
That's why TruWest CU here recently made sure that its west-enders could stay home and use the Web to sign electronic loan documents.
TruWest one year ago added TotaleAtlasWeb software to securely send electronic documents to members and then capture their digital signatures via the Internet. The product is part of Linden, N.J.-based the Integrated Media Management (IMM) TotaleWorks suite of products for electronic document output.
For TruWest, the addition of digital signatures put the icing on a consumer loan process that is now entirely electronic, Keith said. That's especially exciting to members in the 30- and 40-something age group.
"Generation X doesn't ever want to see us-ever," she said. "They want to do everything online."
But absence makes the heart grow fonder to more than the X crowd: digital signatures will help these credit unions close more loans across the board.
"A lot of people don't bank with us because they think they have to come in to the branch," explained Laura Thompson, chief information officer at Santa Ana, Calif.-based Orange County's Credit Union, which made digital signatures available through TotaleAtlasWeb in January.
Just about everyone who works is a prime target for digital signatures, continued Thompson. "Members don't want to leave work to sign loan documents. They want to apply and finish online."
The $870-million CU can securely email links to documents to several email addresses on the same loan. Thus, joint applicants who work in different places can follow the e-mail link, log in and sign online anytime.
TruWest has found that digital signatures will even help retain members who move out of the area, Keith said.
"We have about 8% of our membership that has moved out of state but retained their accounts," she said.
Digital signatures also help keep members from bailing on loan applications, said Chuck Klein, CEO of IMM.
"Because the documents can be executed immediately, the member doesn't have to wait for the courier to deliver them for signature or go out and get them notarized," Klein explained. "They don't have to find a fax machine or worry about fax security or clarity.
"That means there's no time to search the Web for a better deal," he claimed. "Digital signatures get the member to make the decision then and there."
The $1.2-billion Veridian Credit Union in Waterloo, Iowa, found that digital signatures come in handy for the call center, as well.
"Approximately 25% to 30% of our booked loans are applied for through our call center," said Tina Hogan, call center manager at Veridian. "After the loan is prepared and signed electronically, we send it as an indexed PDF directly to our imaging system. Throughout the process, an employee has only touched that loan one time, and that's when the member called in to apply."
The credit unions have launched electronic signatures with a hush. Currently, about 20% of all consumer loans are now signed remotely using TotaleAtlasWeb at TruWest, whereas only about 5% are signed remotely at Veridian and Orange County's CUs.
That should change, said Thompson: "Once we start advertising the service, we know we'll get more business because we're more convenient."
TotaleWorks is an integrated suite of browser-based document presentment, digital receipts, checks and signatures, and secure document delivery.
The digital signature is not a replica of the member's handwritten signature; rather, it is a process of identity authentication that symbolizes the member's intent to sign.
For More Information
Read more about electronic signature technology at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
Streamline Documents for more on how TotaleAtlasWeb works.
Help CUs Be More Eco-Friendly, for one vendor's perspective on how electronic documents and signatures are better for the environment.
'Sign & Drive' A Reality for a story on how a $64-million CU uses electronic signatures for auto loans.
For more info on this story:
* Orange County's CU, www.orangecountyscu.org
* TruWest CU, www.truwest.org
* Veridian CU, www.veridiancu.org
* IMM, www.immonline.com
