PASADENA, Calif.-Credit unions are putting stock in an array of technologies-from collections tools to online member services-to stay strong even as the market teeters.
From $3.5-billion Wescom CU here to $47-million Employees CU in Dallas, four CUs told Credit Union Journal which technologies are saving their skin during the Dow Jones drama.
Wescom "substantially" boosted cure rates and "significantly" reduced potential charge-offs this year, thanks in part to half a dozen new or upgraded collections tools, according to Rob Guilford, EVP, technology and delivery.
The credit union can now post an immediate ACH debit from a member's checking account at another institution to a Wescom loan account, instead of waiting for a check, Guilford said.
"With ACH, we can post the debit to the loan for immediate credit and receive settlement within approximately 24 hours, at a fraction of the cost," said Guilford. "This has generated over 20,000 transactions for almost $9 million in debits and collected over $90,000 in fees since implementation earlier this year."
Collection agents can view all of a member's loan accounts on one screen, even if the loans are stored on different platforms. "This allows collectors to talk more intelligently about the member's entire collection and loan situation without having to view multiple platforms," Guilford explained.
The "CollectMe" screen is updated in real time and includes promises to pay, personal profiles, and collection comments, he added. Both the ACH debit and CollectMe products are available to other CUs through the Wescom Resources Group CUSO.
A new, "top-end" telephone dialer package allows Wescom to extract different targeted delinquent accounts and automatically design calling campaigns based on the severity of the accounts. Prior to the automatic dialer, collectors made about 20,000 calls per month, whereas now they can make an average of up to 500,000 contacts per month.
Credit analysis software helps the CU better evaluate the risk within its portfolios and more accurately forecast losses, while a workforce management platform and a call-recording system improves staff scheduling and quality control. At Employees CU, online member services have helped keep costs fixed for five years, according to Vonda Burkhart, VP and CFO. About 25% of the membership uses Internet banking and nearly 15 % uses bill pay.
"By offering Internet banking, bill pay, ACH origination, and all applications online for five years now, we have kept our costs fixed for all online services, marketing and operational costs." Burkhart said. "And we haven't required additional staff members. The only expenses we can't control are those caused by delinquent loans."
Employees CU hopes to add mobile banking to sweeten the mix, she said. Mountain America CU in West Jordan, Utah, is saving "six figures" every year from each of two technologies: an application delivery system and virtualization, said Alex Barker, CIO at the $2.8 billion-CU.
"MACU has over 100 software applications being delivered to our branches and corporate office computers through the delivery system," Barker continued. "This technology allows us to centrally manage nearly all of our software applications from our datacenters rather than managing each PC separately. Upgrades, patches, or other changes are immediate to our 1200-plus thin clients."
Virtualization has cut the costs of management, hardware, disaster recovery, and power usage, said Barker. As 120 Windows servers neared their sunset date two years ago, MACU decided to consolidate most of them into a virtual infrastructure that includes 12 blade servers tied to a Storage Area Network-saving $5000 per server and eliminating 15 storage racks. Frankenmuth CU in Frankenmuth, Mich., is finding strength in numbers, according Vickie Schmitzer, CEO of the $194-million CU. As part of a tech CUSO, the CU shares the costs of deploying new tools, she said.
"We don't need to directly invest significant capital in infrastructure and personnel to support data processing operations, Internet banking, phone banking, e-statements, member email communications and others," said Schmitzer.
Meanwhile, a suite of risk-management tools is "priceless" in laying out worst-case scenarios, while VoIP telephony makes it easier to change existing configurations or bring up new branches and has improved call center operations, Schmitzer said. An upgraded email server will allow the CU to communicate more effectively by integrating email, voicemail, faxes and phone calls; and an inexpensive, enhanced Intranet will allow employees to get relevant information to members, she said.
MORE@CUJOURNAL.COM
Read more about tek and the bottom line at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
Big Ticket ITem
IT Managers Discuss Their Strategies For Saving Their CUs Money
22 Tips, Ideas & Strategies
For info on this story:
www.ecudallas.org
www.frankenmuthcu.org
www.macu.com
www.wescom.org
