Faced with literally thousands of new student members each Fall, Notre Dame FCU officials needed to speed up applications and reduce paperwork.
Not surprisingly, Notre Dame FCU has turned to technology to speed the process of signing up students as members. The $350-million credit union has implemented several of Linden, N.J.-based Integrated Media Management's TotaleWorks applications to capture at sign-up everything needed for membership, including a signature. Among the solutions being employed are TotaleReceipts, TotaleAtlas and TotaleChecks.
At a new branch located on Notre Dame campus, students register for new accounts by having their driver's license scanned and their signature captured electronically on a signature pad. Instead of writing member information on an application form and then manually reentering the information, IMM's Total eAtlas compiles the new information and the captured signature automatically on screen that can then be printed out for the new member. Applications can be printed on any printer, at another branch location, or sent to a fax server.
"This is all done in real time," noted Notre Dame FCU Vice President Skip Yoder.
Previously, new students and their parents were idling about in the credit union's lobby while member service representatives went through the motions of signing up for checking and savings accounts, with virtually all students getting ATM and debit cards.
Yoder said the wait had gotten so long that additional chairs were brought in and movies were shown to keep people occupied. Now students and parents can get a new account quickly and get on with preparing for the new school year. "They were in and out in about 20 minutes," he said.
Reducing Paper Storage
In addition to their newfound speed with students, Notre Dame FCU is also using IMM technology to reduce paper storage with TotaleReceipts and increase check security with TotaleChecks. TotaleChecks prints online and official checks on regular stock security paper that can be bought locally, eliminating the need to hold large stocks of pre-printed checks in a vault. TotaleReceipts stores all member receipts electronically that can be printed out at any time at any branch. Yoder said it reduces the need for large collections of files that took hours of employee time to retrieve.
"We held it for always, and forever, amen," he said. "It makes life a lot easier for us. Where it would have taken days (to research), now it takes minutes."
Members can conduct a transaction, walk out and promptly lose their receipt on the way home.
If they pass another branch along the way, a teller will be able to pull the transaction record up and print out an exact duplicate for the member.
"We can put in their membership number and it automatically fills in their information," he said.
IMM EVP John Levy described TotaleAtlas as a simple and easy process that can streamline and cut paperwork at any CU. IMM CEO Chuck Klein said the technology helps to reduce errors as the member information is entered once and then automatically stored electronically. Klein said the price of TotaleWorks is based on a credit union's size with prices ranging from $10,000 to $75,000 for purchase plus an annual maintenance fee of 20% of the purchase price.
