SALT LAKE CITY-Loans are up by 30% at a small credit union here, while another small credit union has doubled the number of loan applications it can process, thanks to "all-in-one" account opening-selling-lending software.
"Loan volume has skyrocketed," said Michelle Thorne, vice president, American United Family of Credit Unions (AUFCU). The CU closed 1,750 loans in 2007, up from 1,350 in 2004, when it started using the software.
Loan officers at the $58-million CU have become quite adept with the cross-qualifying function in their consumer lending and cross-selling software, LoansPQ, provided by MeridianLink, Costa Mesa, Calif., according to Thorne.
LoansPQ is a Web-based consumer loan application and management tool that generates pre-qualified loan decisions and loan processing for a range of loan products.
"I would hold up our car loan portfolio against anyone's," she said. The cross-qualifying tool identifies a member's auto loans at other institutions, allowing the loan officer to offer the member a "smack down" refinancing rate, said Thorne.
More than 15% of the car loans-and Visa credit card applications-originate from the cross-qualify function, she said. "Our philosophy is that we can probably offer people a lower rate if the loan has been financed in the past year or so."
In Salem, Ore., Oregon Employees Federal Credit Union funded 97% more loans in 2007 over 2006, after it started using MeridianLink in early 2007, according to Kevin Cole, president and CEO. This year, the number of funded loans has increased by more than 20%, yet the $87-million credit union hasn't added to its staff, he said.
"LoansPQ looks for new loan opportunities or to consolidate high-interest credit card debt, online or in person," said Ed Guerin, VP-credit union development, MeridianLink. The company is partnered with nearly 250 CUs.
The software works in tandem with MeridianLink XpressAccounts, a Web-based account opening and credit reporting tool. Both are integrated with third-party loan origination, Internet banking and core processing software.
Credit union staff can use XPressAccounts in-branch to help members, or members can use it themselves to open accounts online.
The duo of LoansPQ and XpressAccounts is designed make the most of point-of-sale (POS) interaction, Thorne said.
"I tell loan officers that if they can capture as much business as they can from the POS, right when that new application comes in, the cost of doing business goes down dramatically," she said.
"The POS capabilities in the system are very, very powerful," Guerin added. For example, when the system configures a loan offer for an MSR and the member expresses interest, the MSR can use MeridianLink alerts to immediately summon a lending officer to meet the member.
"Prior to using LoansPQ in 2004, we couldn't track how many loans were falling through the cracks and not being funded," continued Thorne. "We had either dropped the ball on the application, or origination documents may have been lost in delivery. or members pulled their loans.
"LoansPQ helps us makes sure that no loan is lost, and that we capitalize on every opportunity," all within a completely paperless lending environment on the credit union side, said Thorne.
The loan management tool pushes loans through a user-defined workflow, Thorne added. "It's a great communication system. If a loan needs additional approvals, a loan officer can assign it to executive approval. You can add notes or pass it to another loan officer's queue if you'll be gone."
Online members can use a single sign-on to access Internet banking and apply for accounts using MeridianLink.
"All the data from the member's homebanking is prepopulated into MeridianLink," said Guerin.
MORE @ CUJOURNAL.COM
Read more about Web-based account opening and selling at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
Online Account Opening Fuels Rewards Checking Cross-Sales At FNE
Team One Gets Payback On Cross-Sales Solution
How You Can Use Technology To Turbo-Boost Your Cross Sales
For info on this story:
www.americanunitedcu.org
www.oefcu.com
www.meridianlink.com
