OGDEN, Utah — Pricing, both in the way it prices its loans and compensates its lenders, has been pivotal in keeping loan volume strong at Weber State CU.
"When this whole downturn started, we were doing well with lending," said Vickie van der Have, CEO of the $86-milion CU. "Our loan-to-share rate was well over 100%. It's now closer to 95%. Our delinquency is still around 26 basis points."
WSCU was rated among the top lenders in Callahan & Associates' Return to Borrower rankings for CUs between between $50 million and $100 million in assets. "I don't think we had the knee-jerk reaction others had when the economy started deteriorating," added van der Have. "With us, it was really business as usual."
Still, it has made some changes, including restructuring its loan department to improve turnaround time, and adding online applications and automated decisioning. Moreover, van der Have noted, Weber State CU also offers loan officers incentives. "If they are productive, they can be well compensated," she said.
Perhaps what attracts members most about the CU's lending, van der Have said, is the process itself. "Members tell me the process is so easy and fast," she said, adding it only adds to the kind of personal marketing that can't be replicated. "Work of mouth is powerful." van der Have noted WSCU recently wrote two loans within a few weeks for relatives of another member who had gotten a loan at the credit union and shared her easy experience.
"And certainly our pricing pays a key in our success," she added. "We compete with large credit unions here, as well as competing with some banks. We had a couple of loans we wound up doing within a week, after the people went to a bank and went through a three-month process, and still hadn't finished."
For other credit unions hoping to increase their lending portfolio, van der Have advised, "Remember what credit unions are all about. That is to connect with your member. You still have to make prudent loan decisions, but you also have to understand your members, and help your members."
