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12 Credit Unions Awarded at CSCU Annual Conference

TAMPA, Fla. (April 20, 2017) CSCU, one of the country’s leading CUSO’s with 2000 members, presented its Exceptional Marketing Ideas (EMI) Awards to 12 CUs at its recently held annual conference. The 12 CUs were chosen from a pool of 64 submissions vying for the coveted awards that recognize excellence in the following categories: Overall Credit Campaign; Overall Debit Campaign; Portfolio Consulting Services (PCS) and Community Outreach. A small (under $250M in assets), medium ($250-$499M in assets) and large ($500M+ in assets) credit union was awarded in each category.

“These Awards give us a chance to recognize the outstanding efforts made by our member credit unions to strategically manage credit and debit card programs successfully,” said CSCU President, Bob Hackney at the event held in Orlando. “We also recognize some very special credit unions through our Community Outreach scholarships each year to help credit unions help their communities. This is our way of reaching beyond our own local community and into the communities of our members,” Hackney added.

In the Overall Credit Campaign category NET Credit Union, American 1 Credit Union and Chartway FCU emerged as winners. While, in the Overall Debit Campaign, Streator Onized Credit Union, Homeland Credit Union and Evansville FCU were awarded.

The winners of the PCS category were selected from CUs who have worked with CSCU’s PCS team over the past year and have achieved excellence as a result of these collaborations. The winners were ProMedica FCU, Alpena Alcona Area Credit Union and CoastHills Credit Union. The Community Outreach winners were Western New York FCU, Erie FCU and Verity Credit Union. Each awardee in this category received a $1,500 scholarship for future community projects.

The CSCU 2017 Annual Conference was guided by the theme The Future of Payments and featured several key industry leaders who delved into and demystified relevant payments issues and how they affect credit unions. The over 300 attendees left with valuable insights and information from Generational Expert, Jason Dorsey; Google’s Loren Hudziak; FIS’ Bob Legters; Visa’s Jim McCarthy; CUNA’s Mollie Bell; other representatives from FIS, Visa, MasterCard and CSCU; as well as Jamaican Bobsledder Chris Stokes.

 

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Nation’s Second Largest Credit Union Renews Credit Processing Agreement with PSCU

State Employees’ Credit Union cites CUSO’s commitment to service excellence and collaborative nature

St. Petersburg, Fla. ­ (April 18, 2017) ­ State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU, Raleigh, NC), the nation’s second largest credit union with 2.2 million members and $35.9 billion in assets, has signed a long-term renewal agreement for credit card processing services with PSCU, the CUSO announced today. The agreement extends a relationship between the credit union and PSCU that began in 1996. In addition to servicing SECU¹s 310,000 credit card accounts, PSCU also supports the credit union’s gift card programs.

“The entire PSCU team is energized to continue its commitment to support, protect and optimize every transaction for State Employees¹ Credit Union and their members,” said Chuck Fagan, PSCU President and CEO. “The longevity of our partnership reflects our shared mission to deliver an unequaled service experience for members and also advance the credit union movement¹s philosophy of people helping people.”

State Employees’ Credit Union’s decision to renew their card processing agreement recognizes the depth and quality of support services PSCU offers for the credit union’s credit card programs; the technology tools the CUSO makes available to enhance the member service experience, and the high level of collaboration that exists in their partnership with PSCU.

SECU uses many of PSCU’s ancillary credit card processing solutions including balance consolidation, transaction level processing, and convenience checks. The credit union also leverages the CUSO’s analytics tools to better understand members’ needs. Data integration tools from PSCU enable the credit union to customize their member-facing applications and services to provide a seamless and unsurpassed experience at all points of interaction with members.

“We always know that with PSCU we have open channels of communication with their relationship and service delivery teams. We can freely collaborate on ideas, solutions, and approaches to help us deliver on our promise to members, which is ‘To Do the Right Thing’,” said Leanne Phelps, SECU SVP of Card Services. “This agreement gives us ongoing stability and assurance that our members with credit cards will continue to receive the high level of consistent support they expect from us. We also have confidence PSCU will work to help us elevate the quality and profitability of our portfolio, which ultimately benefits our entire membership in the services we can provide.”

SECU is an active participant in PSCU’s Technology Advisory Group (TAG), which helps guide the company¹s strategic technology-based initiatives. The credit union also generously contributed staff talent and resources to the CUSO’s Possibility Makers initiative to develop the next generation of credit union problem solvers and difference makers.

About PSCU

Established in 1977, PSCU (St. Petersburg, Fla.) is the nation’s leading credit union service organization (CUSO). The company was recognized as CUSO of the Year in 2016 by the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations. PSCU¹s products, financial services solutions and service model collectively support over 850 Owner credit unions representing more than 20 million credit, debit, prepaid, online bill payment and mobile accounts; protect over 2 billion transactions annually from fraud; and optimize credit union performance and growth. Comprehensive 24/7/365 member support is delivered through call centers located throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.pscu.com.

About SECU

A not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, SECU has been providing employees of the State of North Carolina and their families with consumer financial services for over 79 years.  The Credit Union also offers a diversified line of financial advisory services including retirement and education planning, tax preparation, insurance, trust and estate planning services, and investments through its partners and affiliated entities.  SECU serves 2.2 million members through 257 branch offices, nearly 1,100 ATMs, 24/7 Member Services via phone and a website, www.ncsecu.org.

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PSCU Member Forum 2017 Celebrates “The Story of Service”

Annual event helps commemorate CUSO’s 40th anniversary

St. Petersburg, Fla. ­ (April 12, 2017) ­ PSCU ­ the nation¹s leading CUSO ­ hosted its annual conference on April 4-6, 2017, in Palm Desert, Calif. More than 700 credit union, vendor and partner attendees from across the country attended Member Forum 2017.

The theme for this year’s 40th anniversary event, The Story of Service, reflected PSCU’s commitment to delivering a seamless experience in every interaction and touch point with its Owner credit unions and their members. The agenda featured first-class keynote speakers, strategic insights sessions, senior and women’s leadership tracks, and the event’s signature evening of dining, entertainment and fundraising to benefit Children¹s Miracle Network hospitals.

PSCU President and CEO Chuck Fagan reinforced the conference theme in his opening remarks. “Service is what sets us apart as an industry. It is at the heart of every credit union, and it is PSCU’s single biggest point of pride,” he said. The themes of support, protect and optimize, the three pillars of PSCU’s service delivery model, were highlighted throughout the annual gathering of the company’s Member-Owner credit unions.

Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger gave the conference’s opening keynote address, “208 Seconds: A Lifetime of Lessons.” Enthralling attendees with his memories of the “Miracle on the Hudson,” Sully shared lessons that can be applied to a variety of situations and concluded by encouraging all attendees to ask themselves one question at the end of the day: “Did I make a difference?”

Other Member Forum general and leadership session speakers included Larry Clinton, President and CEO of the Internet Security Alliance (ISA) and a leading figure in the field of corporate governance; Anders Sorman-Nilsson, global futurist and innovation strategist; Jim Nussle, president and CEO of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA); and Tom Flick, former quarterback for the Washington Redskins and a leading authority on leadership and helping organizations accelerate personal, team and organizational performance.

Carey Lohrenz, the first female Navy F-14 jet pilot, delivered the conference;s closing keynote address. Lohrenz talked about what it takes to become a fearless leader while also operating with integrity. She stressed the importance of building resiliency in yourself and team members and emphasized that adversity should be a part of the peak performance process. In closing, Lohrenz encouraged attendees to always follow the same process: prepare, perform and prevail.

Breakout sessions addressed case studies of analytics in action; best practices for mitigating cyber threats; countering fraud trends in a post-EMV environment; emerging technologies such as faster payments and biometrics; stepping outside the traditional view of service; loyalty and rewards; and PSCU’s integration and API capabilities along with its product and IT development roadmap. The Expo at Member Forum offered attendees an up-close look at the many integrated solutions PSCU currently has in market that support, protect and optimize every transaction and interaction for its cooperative members.

Registration is now open to PSCU Owner credit unions for PSCU Member Forum 2018, which will kick off on April 24, 2018, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

About PSCU

Established in 1977, PSCU (St. Petersburg, Fla.) is the nation’s leading credit union service organization (CUSO). The company was recognized as CUSO of the Year in 2016 by the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations. PSCU’s products, financial services solutions and service model collectively support over 850 Owner credit unions representing more than 20 million credit, debit, prepaid, online bill payment and mobile accounts; protect over 2 billion transactions annually from fraud; and optimize credit union performance and growth. Comprehensive 24/7/365 member support is delivered through call centers located throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.pscu.com.

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Strengthening Portfolio Performance is Critical in Today’s Auto Lending Marketplace

By Michael Cochrum, Vice President of Analytics and Advisory Services, CU Direct

Since the beginning of time, lenders have sought a way to accurately measure and predict risk in their loan portfolios.  Understanding risk allows lenders to make sound credit decisions and properly price loans.  Ideally, lenders need to make, at the very least, a high enough return on loans to cover the principle and any costs, including losses, associated with the loan.  Unfortunately, the inability to properly measure, manage and predict risk appropriately has been the ruin of many lenders.  Putting one’s finger on the cause and effect of the multitude of factors that can influence a borrower’s desire to originate a loan and ability to repay can be a time consuming endeavor. Most lenders, like myself, were trained to read a credit report and consider each loan request independently.  We never really looked beyond that individual credit application or borrower.  Considering aggregate trends in a portfolio, and even market performance, can be helpful to gaining a greater insight into future performance.

Let’s take a close look at how external factors influenced consumers’ behavior during the most recent recession cycle.  One might assume that inflation and fuel costs would have had a role to play in consumer demand for new vehicles.  Yet, more than any other factor, since 2010, the unemployment rate had a direct, inverse correlation to auto sales.  Auto sales decreased as the unemployment rate rose, and increased as the unemployment fell.  Therefore, it would be reasonable, based on recent trends, to predict auto loan growth based on unemployment forecasts.

Continue reading Strengthening Portfolio Performance is Critical in Today’s Auto Lending Marketplace

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Linda Bodie, CUSO Power-User. An interview with CUES

Linda Bodie, CU CEO and Warrior

As part of “CUES on CUSO’s” month-long focus on credit union service organizations, they featured  Linda Bodie, CEO and chief innovator at Element Federal Credit Union on their weekly podcast. Linda works with several CUSOs to make her small credit union act big. CUES will learn more about CUSO’s, their impact on the industry and what partnering can mean for your CU by publishing a series of articles, offering two webinars taught by our own Guy Messick and Denise Wymore and feature coverage of the Next Big Idea Competition next week at the NACUSO Network Conference.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Read this NACUSO Spotlight article we featured on our blog earlier this year to learn more about the many CUSOs Linda’s credit union uses to compete with the big boys.