DALLAS -
"It's sad to see so many credit unions that only care only about speed and efficiency," said Jack Coffey Jr., director of member services of City Credit Union here. "They're losing touch with their members."
Not to long ago, the $178-million CU was guilty of the same crime: all tech and no interaction when it came to applications and decisions, he continued.
"After a management change about six months ago, we decided to get back to our members," Coffey explained. "A survey told us we had overwhelmingly lost touch with our core membership, which for the most part is blue-collar and not as technically savvy. They really like to come into the branch or call to apply for consumer loans, but we were trying to drive them to the application online."
In response to its estranged members, City CU didn't ditch online loan applications or automated decisioning platforms, but it did reevaluate its obsession with speed and efficiency, said Coffey.
"We decided that for us to touch all of our members, we had to offer multiple channels," he said.
Enter Lending Solutions Inc. (LSI), which in December added what it calls "the human touch" to City CU's online lending program, according to Dave Brooke, executive vice president at the Elgin, Ill.-based lending-center services company.
The heart of the human touch is LSI's processing and underwriting center, which members can call around the clock to apply for credit union loans and get decisions.
That way, members not only get to talk to a human, but fewer applications are denied because of errors, Brooke said.
"Members make mistakes when they fill out applications, which can change the approval," he said.
The call center is complemented by other channels that feature humans.
"We use Web chat to make arrangements for closing online loans and to cross-sell other products," Brooke said. "We're also piloting a program where we call members back once they've applied."
City CU always calls members back to thank them for their applications, Coffey said.
The human touch doesn't sacrifice speed, Brooke said. "Speed is important whether a loan is approved by a human or automatically. Members can get their answers within minutes either way."
The human touch has been the magic touch for City CU's loan approval rate, Coffey said. About 80% of all consumer loan applications are approved. Of the applications originated online, nearly 25% are approved.
"That's an improvement from the previous Internet application service which struggled to reach 10% approvals," he said.
In all, about 70% of all approvals, regardless of channel, have benefited from some form of human intervention, Coffey said.
City CU's decisioning engine is particularly effective because LSI built in an additional level, said Coffey. The engine identifies applications taken from credit-challenged, existing members and-instead of flat-out turning them down-refers them to loan officers for specialized service.
That functionality has helped to increase City CU's approval rate by 50% since December, Coffey said.
How can other credit unions approximate the recent success at City CU? As a first step, do some research, said Brooke.
"City has its arms around the results it's getting," Brooke said. "They've done a good job of tracking approval rates."
"Members are much happier than they were before," Coffey said. "They like the speed and they like the fact that they can talk to somebody."
more
Read more about the human touch and technology at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
* Develop Right-Brain Abilities
* Take This Job And Love It
* The Most Overlooked Technology
For info on this story:
* City CU, www.citycu.org
* Lending Solutions, www.lendingsolutions.com
