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Bragg Mutual FCU joins CU*SOUTH and deploys major upgrades during pandemic

It was clear, when Bragg Mutual FCU started the search for a new core system, that they needed a service partner to drive competitive member services and consistent asset growth. Their decision: join the CU*SOUTH CUSO family and make the move to convert to the CU*BASE core platform.

Then, the pandemic hit.

“The senior staff and I compared what we had – which felt like it was decades old – and made the decision that our members would be better served by CU*SOUTH,” said Steve Foley, Bragg Mutual FCU’s President and CEO. “We wanted a top-tier core solution that would deliver what the members needed – even with our lobbies closed and our drive-through handling more transactions per hour than ever before. We are very excited to show our membership the quality of performance we desire for the member to receive from their credit union – and we didn’t want to delay the delivery of those benefits.”

Bragg Mutual FCU and CU*SOUTH worked together to adjust the conversion plan to address the contingencies created by COVID. Thinking about the issues created by retirement checks as well as the IRS stimulus deposits, the joint conversion team adjusted both the timing of the conversion, and the data converted in order to better support the member experience – something that underscored both organization’s high degree of business continuity preparedness…and ability to deliver member “business as usual.”

“Our goal is increased service for each member,” continued Steve Foley. “Our members will see so many more options, from something as simple as being able to initiate a skip-a-payment on their loan without talking to someone here in the office, to online loan applications, approvals and funding from their residence. I expect our members will first see a dramatic improvement in our online capabilities. One employee commented we have moved out of the stone age, and I think that is true.”

Bragg Mutual FCU was charted on January 1st, 1952 by Civil Service employees at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Today, membership is offered to anyone who lives, works, or worships in Cumberland County and surrounding areas or is employed by an associated group. The credit union serves 9,772 members through three branches and has $71.8 million in assets.

About CU*SOUTH, Inc.

CU*SOUTH is a credit union-owned cooperative focused on building a network of successful credit unions. CU*SOUTH offers a wide variety of services including the Tier-1 CU*BASE® processing system offered in both online (ASP) and in-house processing environments, as well as a fully integrated online and mobile banking solution. CU*SOUTH also provides a variety of managed services through its CUSO@Work division, as well as through collaborative partnerships with other CUSOs in the rapidly-growing cuasterisk.com network—CU*Answers, CU*NorthWest, eDOC Innovations, Xtend, and Site-Four. Managed services allow credit unions to outsource tasks at a fraction of the cost of a full-time specialist—accounting, collections, compliance, lending, marketing, call center, web design. As a partner of the cuasterisk.com network, CU*SOUTH provides a comprehensive offering of information technology tools and services through a collaborative, shared ownership model, with the same great value credit unions offer members. For more information, visit www.cusouth.com.