Author: Rebecca Issacs

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Tech Credit Union selects PSCU for debit card processing services

March 9, 2023 – PSCU, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO) and an integrated financial technology solutions provider, today announced that Tech Credit Union (Tech CU) has selected the CUSO to provide debit card processing support.

Chartered in 1936, Tech CU operates 11 branches and holds more than $531 million in assets. The credit union, based in Crown Point, Indiana, is committed to providing safe and affordable services that improve the financial lives of its more than 39,500 members who live and work in several Northwest Indiana and Illinois counties. Tech CU and its team members have a longstanding commitment to the credit union philosophy of “people helping people” by supporting charitable, civic, educational and human service organizations in the communities they serve.

Tech CU conducted a review process to find the right partner to provide robust card processing services that advance the credit union’s mission to provide members with better options to achieve their financial goals. In its evaluations of potential partners, Tech CU prioritized experience and trustworthiness, as well as a proven understanding of the credit union landscape and a shared commitment to service excellence. Tech CU identified PSCU as the ideal partner to provide innovative card solutions with features and functionality that offer a seamless, convenient experience and strengthen member relationships.

“As a CUSO, PSCU’s deep understanding of credit unions and dedication to providing best-in-class member service and experiences make them an ideal partner,” said Gene Novello, CEO and President at Tech CU. “Through this partnership with PSCU, Tech CU will offer industry-leading card services that will enhance the member experience and further our mission to empower our members to reach their financial goals.”

PSCU will begin providing card processing support to Tech CU members in July 2023.

“Tech CU’s dedication to serving local communities and improving the financial lives of members closely mirrors PSCU’s own values,” said Chris Gunnare, SVP, chief sales officer at PSCU. “We are honored to have the opportunity to provide highly functional, reliable and secure card processing support to Tech CU and its valued members.”

About PSCU

PSCU, the nation’s premier payments CUSO and an integrated financial technology solutions provider, supports the success of more than 2,400 financial institutions and processes nearly 7.7 billion transactions annually. Committed to service excellence and focused on continuous innovation, PSCU’s payment processing, fraud and risk management, data and analytics, digital banking, strategic consulting and real-time payments platforms, along with 24/7/365-member support via its contact centers, help deliver personalized, connected experiences. The origin of PSCU’s model is collaboration and scale, and the company has leveraged its influence on behalf of credit unions and their members for more than 45 years. Today, PSCU provides an end-to-end, competitive advantage that enables credit unions to securely grow and meet evolving consumer demands. For more information, visit pscu.com.

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Collabria Financial renews partnership with Co-op Solutions to buoy competitive credit products

Two companies deliver digital payments that deepen member engagment, improve member experience

March 9, 2023 – Collabria Financial, Canada’s largest B2B2C digital credit payments issuer, has renewed its long-time partnership with Co-op Solutions for Full-Service Credit processing.

“It’s our promise to deliver flexible and reliable credit payments solutions that foster improved member experiences, translating into sustainable long-term value for our credit union partners,” said Jean-Marc Handfield, CEO, Collabria. “The continued partnership with Co-op equips Collabria to move forward with our relentless pursuit to support our partners in their evolution within the payments industry.”

Handfield sees credit as a critical payments product for credit unions as they support the modern member journey. “Digital solutions that are flexible and trustworthy foster improved member experiences,” he said. “As our clients evolve their payments strategies to deepen active member engagement, we need to bring advanced processing power to the table. Co-op allows us to do just that.”

Driven by cooperative values, Collabria Financial was established in 2015 to deliver competitive and compelling credit programs to mid-sized banks and credit unions. Collabria combines flexibility for financial institutions with the scale and expertise needed to deliver an increasingly complex product in a highly competitive market.

“Working alongside proven innovators within the international credit union movement is foundational to Co-op’s growth strategy,” said Todd Clark, CEO, Co-op. “Collabria’s history of transforming ideas into action has permeated the organization’s culture. Their dedication to providing solutions to marketplace needs is strongly aligned with Co-op’s philosophy, which makes for a great partnership.”

Co-op Full-Service Credit is a fully hosted and managed payments program that’s customized to credit union needs and optimized for operational simplicity. For more information on the Co-op ecosystem of financial technology products and services visit www.co-opfs.org/Solutions.

About Collabria Financial
Collabria Financial offers a competitive and compelling credit card program to 97 percent of the credit unions in Canada as well as a number of mid-sized financial institutions across Canada. Collabria combines flexibility for credit unions and financial institutions with the scale and expertise needed to deliver an increasingly complex product in a highly competitive market. For more information, visit www.collabriafinancial.ca.

About Co-op Solutions
Co-op Solutions is the market-leading financial technology platform whose mission is to connect credit unions to the technology, strategic partnership and scale they need to best serve their members now and into the future. Co-op partners with credit unions to unlock their potential so they can compete; does the hard work of innovation, creating a one-stop opportunity to help credit unions grow; and offers knowledge and expertise in a world where everything must be integrated. For more information, visit www.coop.org.

Contact:

Greg Feniak
Chief Marketing Officer
Collabria Financial
(855) 341-4643, ext. 5463471
gregory.feniak@collabriafinancial.com

Bill Prichard, APR
Director, Public Relations
Co-op Solutions
(909) 532-9416
Bill.Prichard@coop.org 

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GAC23: Significance of today’s growing CUSO marketplace for credit unions

Seth Brickman, President of QCash Financial, Jack Antonini, President/CEO of NACUSO, and Mary Beth Spuck, President/CEO of Resource One Credit Union joined us in the Studio Lounge to discuss the importance of credit unions, as well as a 2023 NACUSO Network preview.

​Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And be sure to visit our interview archive page for all our 2023 GAC interviews.

Support our Studio Lounge sponsors for 2023 GAC:
Co-op Solutions
Zest AI
Corelation, Inc.
Trellance
PSCU
Janusea
Pure IT Credit Union Services

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Preparing for Regulation II

By: Chuck Fagan, President and CEO, PSCU

In October 2022, the Federal Reserve issued a final ruling on Regulation II (Durbin Amendment), which requires two unaffiliated networks on a debit card and sets a cap on debit interchange rates. In this ruling, the Fed clarified that the two unaffiliated network requirement also applies to the Card Not Present (CNP) environment and announced an implementation deadline of July 1, 2023.

PSCU has been very public in our opposition to the Durbin Amendment and our belief that it should be repealed. The Durbin Amendment took critical resources away from smaller financial institutions including the credit unions we serve, who, while they were exempt from debit interchange cap provisions, still saw significant declines in interchange revenue. As a result, these financial institutions were forced to offset the interchange revenue losses by raising other fees consumers pay (including monthly service fees and minimum balance fees). The Durbin Amendment hit the least affluent American the hardest, leading to an additional one million underbanked Americans.

As we move towards the implementation deadline of July 1, we continue to work closely with our clients to ensure they are compliant and – more importantly – prepared for the financial and fraud impact that the new Regulation II changes will have on their business. Looking ahead, we expect the following impacts:

  • Financial institutions will see a rise in fraud and chargebacks. Most CNP volume flows over the dual message networks today, which have built and refined sophisticated risk tools since the beginning of online commerce. This is a wholly different environment than face-to-face commerce and requires the merchant, network and issuer to collaboratively fight fraud. As more volume flows over networks that have historically seen little CNP volume, we expect a significant rise in fraud that our clients will have to manage from an operational and risk standpoint.
  • Clients will see lower revenues from CNP Transactions. The purpose of this regulation is to drive issuer revenues down to benefit merchants. As more transactions move from the dual message networks (which historically have higher interchange) to PIN networks (with lower interchange), there will be a corresponding financial impact – including lower revenues and less available funding for investments in systems.
  • Clients will need to optimize their authorization and fraud policies for their second network. Current CNP authorization and fraud policies generally assume most of those transactions come via dual message networks. Similarly, authorization and fraud policies for transactions coming through PIN debit networks assume most of that volume will be Card Present, which has lower fraud rates. Issuers will have to refine their authorization and fraud policies to account for CNP transactions coming through PIN debit networks, incorporating the higher risk associated with these transactions.

We also remind our financial institution clients that there is no need to change their Card Present configurations; these regulatory clarifications only apply to the CNP space. As an example, financial institutions that have not turned on PINless for Card Present do not need to enable at this point, as doing so would likely have a negative financial impact.

We will continue to support our financial institutions and help them comply with the regulation, even as we continue to voice our opposition to it. Large retailers cannot continue to profit off the hardships of smaller American businesses and consumers.

Charles E. (“Chuck”) Fagan III has served as PSCU’s president and chief executive officer since April 2015. In this role, he leads the strategic direction of the company and oversees all aspects of PSCU’s operations, ensuring the delivery of best-in-class payments solutions, service, data security, and successful growth for the company’s Owner credit unions.

His career in the credit union industry spans over three decades. Prior to rejoining PSCU, Fagan served as president and chief executive officer of the Credit Union Executives Society (CUES), a membership association dedicated to educating and developing credit union executives and emerging leaders, from January 2013 to April 2015. He is an advocate for the credit union industry and an active member of the community. Currently, Fagan serves as a member of Visa’s Executive Client Council, a member of the Florida Chapter of the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer and a member of the Advisory Board for the College of Business and Economics at Longwood University. 

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Raise your shade, raise some money for CMNH and NCUF

Back by popular demand, Co-op is again asking for your selfies to support this year’s #ShadesUpforKids campaign to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the National Credit Union Foundation.

What is #ShadesUpforKids?

Co-op Chief Experience Officer Samantha Paxson doesn’t love plane travel but has found it helps when the window shades are up. And it turns out she is not alone. “In previous years, I received a lot of messages from friends and colleagues empathizing with my feelings about flying with the window shade up, so I decided to see if I could spark a something fun around it – and raise some money in the process.”

For every shade raised, “selfied” and tagged between now and the conclusion of THINK 23 (May 2-4, 2023), Co-op will donate $10 to both Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the National Credit Union Foundation, up to $10,000.

The goal is to raise awareness about the power of credit unions helping people in their financial lives, whether that’s protecting families from a financial wipe out due to a child’s medical emergency or enhancing prosperity with ongoing financial wellness.

Let’s “shed a little light” and raise a little money for the kids who help put the purpose in our purpose-driven movement: #ShadesUpforKids.

It’s simple – the next time you’re flying somewhere:

  1. Raise your window shade.
  2. Take a selfie.
  3. Post it to LinkedIn with the hashtag #ShadesUpforKids.

Terms and Conditions apply.

Be sure to raise your window shade on the way to THINK 23 in Tucson, AZ. Register now for the credit union industry’s premier growth strategy conference to attend either in person or our new virtual experience option.

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