According to Collections Manager Jerry Collins, “CU*Answers initiated a collections department in March of 2007 at the request of our clients to bring more attention to an often overlooked area, delinquent accounts. The continued success of this program shows the accuracy of our suspicion that this area needed more focus, and we’re happy that as a CUSO we can provide these services.”

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Massachusetts State Employees Credit Union in Boston recently converted to CU*Answers flagship data processing system, CU*BASE. They have also opted to utilize the early-stage collection services offered by the CUSO. CU*Answers credits the success of this program in the ability to use the same CU*BASE collection tools that the credit unions use themselves. This allows for seamless integration and communication between the credit union staff, and those of Lender*VP.

Lender*VP now has 11 clients in 6 states utilizing their services. According to Lender*VP, these services provide an economic way to getting a jump on the early stage delinquent members, without taking focus or resources away from a different department.

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This new managed service, offered by the Gividends Team of CU*Answers is made possible by partnering with Dynamic Card Solutions. Dynamic Card Solutions is an innovative developer of instant issuance and PIN selection solutions for banks, credit unions and retailers, and is the leading instant issuance provider for VISA and MasterCard debit and credit cards. An interface between CU*Answers core processing system, CU*BASE, and Dynamic Card Solutions Card Wizard enables the issuance of financial cards on-demand at the branch level quickly, easily, and affordably. In most instances after opening a new checking account, a card can be issued in roughly 90 seconds.

According to Geoff Johnson, VP of Lending for CU*Answers, “Offering this service to our credit unions is another example showing that CU*Answers isnt just a data processor. We walk hand in hand with our credit unions every day, working to recognize ways to assist them in their ultimate goal of satisfying their members. Having the ability to provide plastics to their members on-demand will be a characteristic that sets them apart from the rest.”

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Through the partnership between CU*Answers and Prime Alliance, the CUSO is able to provide a streamlined mortgage application tool with full electronic integration to CU*BASE. The CUSO is reporting impressive increases for the number of applications and received and loans closed for the months of May and June, 2009. The number of apps has increased over May and June, 2008 by 346%, and 325%, while the number of closed loans increased by 534%, and 268%.

CU*Answers credits the impressive statistics to the ease of use of the web-based platform, and the strong daily support provided by the CUSOs lending division, Lender*VP.

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The “Risk Management Report Generator” is a new Internet-based product which allows CU*Answers, Xtend, Audit Link, WESCO Net, and Lender*VP clients to complete their due diligence on services and products purchased from these CUSO’s. The creation of this product stems from the requirements put forth by the NCUA instructing credit unions to perform due diligence on third party vendor relationships. This tool allows credit unions to keep vital contract information along with legal opinions associated with the correlating contracts. The questions proposed in the Report Generator are modeled directly from the NCUA Supervisory letter and the system will store the assessments. Each year when the assessment is up for review, an e-mail notification will be sent to the CEO.

According to Jim Vilker, cuasterisk.com Network Manager, “Third party due diligence is definitely hitting the radar of regulators and auditors. This is a full vendor management system for credit unions that partner with the cuasterisk.com network. This application allows credit unions to not only complete their due diligence electronically, but to also view how their peers completed the assessment.”Randy Karnes, CEO of CU*Answers stated “We put a stake in the ground at our 2008 Leadership Conference committing to have the lowest cost of compliance in the industry not only for users of our flagship core data processing system, but for all of the services we offer.” This tool is free to use by any credit union purchasing services from the CUSO’s involved in the cuasterisk.com network.

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Meijer Credit Union of Grand Rapids, MI, and New Horizons Credit Union of Cincinnati, OH, recently converted to CU*Answers flagship data processing system, CU*BASE. They have also opted to utilize the early-stage collection services offered by the CUSO. CU*Answers credits the success of this program in the ability to use the same CU*BASE collection tools that the credit unions use themselves. This allows for seamless integration and communication between the credit union staff, and those of Lender*VP.

Lender*VP now has 10 clients in 5 states utilizing their services. According to Lender*VP, these services provide an economic way to getting a jump on the early stage delinquent members, without taking focus or resources away from a different department.

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The business books and the pundits call it “lost opportunity cost,” the  abstract yet very real economic benefits never  realized because a business didn’t act when it should have.

For credit unions this is hardly the time to talk about abstract costs when they’re being confronted by very tangible (and seemingly ongoing) expenses related to propping up the corporate CUs. Sadly, all this has overshadowed the observation by some of the extraordinary “opportunity” for CUs presented by the down economy, made-to-order negative publicity surrounding competitors, and the emergence of the new, four-letter “B” word: Bank.

CU*Answers’ Frankie-winning video can be viewed at ondemand.cuanswers.com.

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This program is offered in 3 different levels—the first, “5000 Mile Tune-Up” is free to CU*BASE users and includes a phone consultation with a Lender*VP staff member in which areas of improvement for the credit union’s lending department are identified. Areas of focus include analyzing the use of delinquency notices, improving profitability by offering 45 Day 1st Payments, Risk-Based Pricing Reviews, and Portfolio Analysis Reports.

The “25,000 Mile Tune-Up” includes the complete “5,000 Mile Tune-Up” plus a one day onsite implementation and training visit from a Lender*VP Team Member, during which specific recommendations are made to increase lending efficiency and profitability. Loan Category and Products Review, Collections Configuration, and Cross Sales Analysis are just a few opportunities to take advantage of during this program.

The Lender*VP team also offers a “50,000 Mile Tune-Up”—to learn more about this program, and to take advantage of the experience and expertise of the Lender*VP team, contact Geoff Johnson, VP Lending Products at gjohnson@cuanswers,com, (800-327-3478×154), or John Yeomans, jyeomans@cuanswers (800-327-3478×203).

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• Loan Interest Analysis Report — Use this report to see your current portfolio yield. Track this information to look back and see where your loan spread has been historically and which direction it is moving. Use this analysis to move your portfolio in the direction your credit union wants to move in the future.
• Loan Delivery Channel Analysis — Use this report to view turn-around time your lending factory is providing your members, to view processor volume both by dollar amount and number by date ranges, loan officer volume both by dollar amount and number by date ranges, as well as productivity of underwriters.
• Loan Risk Score Analysis Report — This report is a must for anyone who currently uses riskbased pricing. Use it to compare the performance of your risk based pricing with your loan performance. See if your risk matches your reimbursement. Do you need to adjust your credit score ranges or adjust your variance? This report tells you loans that are paid current and then breaks down the delinquent loans by ranges that you define.

Information on how to create these reports, and others can be found on the Lender*VP website, http://lendervp.com.

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