CUSO Success Stores

Credit Union Financial Network (CUFN) - Vol. 8
Helping C.U. Employees and Members Plan 4 Tomorrow

Credit Union Financial Network (CUFN) is a collaboratively owned CUSO serving credit unions with visionary leaders and a cooperative spirit. The CUSO delivers independent investments, insurances, and trust services through its unique Compliance and Program Management model. The CUSO leverages its collaborative structure to bring economies of scale to its credit union partners through higher payouts and lower fees... more

United Nations Federal Credit Union's CUSO Serves a Global Membership - Vol. 7

Consistent with the United Nations FCU (UNFCU) tagline that reads, "Serving the People Who Serve the World®", UNFCU's wholly owned CUSO, UNFCU Financial Advisors, is working at meeting the financial needs of a global membership that includes 60% of its members located outside the United States.

UNFCU's field of membership is specific to United Nations employees and their family members and currently has members in over 200 countries and territories. UNFCU Financial Advisors has effectively responded to the call by members to offer more products and services that are suitable to the financial needs of an international membership... more

DigitalMailer's Customer Communication Center Provides Clients
with Easy, Secure Access to Daily Reports - Vol. 6

Attracting more customers is a goal of every business. But when a business has reporting requirements that involve a time-intensive staff effort, its success can stretch manual procedures to their limits.

Credit Union Student Choice, based in Washington, D.C., is a credit union service organization providing turn-key private student lending services to credit unions across the country. Through its programs, participating member credit unions require daily updates to the status of their loan portfolios. Michelle Pezzulli, vice president of operations for CU Student Choice, described this process as very labor-intensive. CU Student Choice had to encrypt and manually email each report to each member credit union on a daily basis - and the CUSO is on target to have 80 clients by the end of the year. To better manage this process, CU Student Choice turned to DigitalMailer, an industry CUSO known for building powerful online communication tools that help clients drive profitable growth... more

Enhancements Make Better Lobby...Better! - Vol. 5

In our inaugural issue of CUSO Success Stories Vol 1 (click here to read), the Better Branches CUSO shared a success story of their lobby management automation tool called Better Lobby.

Recently, CUSO Success Stories caught-up with Rick Poulton, President of Better Branches, for an update on Better Lobby and the role it plays for credit unions today.

"It's no secret that credit unions are experiencing tremendous cost and service challenges. Operations executives are being asked to do more with less. At the branch level, this means member service must be improved while the cost of service delivery is reduced..." more

Becoming a Heavy Hitter in Mortgage Lending - Vol. 4

The executive team at UMassFive College Federal Credit Union of Hadley, Mass., knew that in order to compete in the local mortgage market, they'd have to rethink their current approach. After evaluating their options, they chose to invest in CUSO Development Company, LLC, becoming a partner-owner in January... more

Community Mortgage Funding - Vol. 3

Ongoing Operations, LLC is a leading provider of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Solutions to over 100 credit union clients nationwide. Community Mortgage Funding (CMF) is a fully licensed mortgage company that was formed by five leading credit unions. The sole purpose of CMF is to offer members a complete menu of mortgage products - from a traditional 30-year conventional mortgage to a 15-year loan, FHA, Jumbo or variable-rate loan. CMF recognized that their Southern California location exposes them to potentially devastating earthquakes so they actively searched for a disaster recovery partner that could fully support their business continuity needs. Their choice was another CUSO: Ongoing Operations, the premier provider of business continuity/disaster recovery services for credit unions across the United States... more

Staying Connected to Members and Employees During a Crisis - Vol. 2

Sometimes it takes a crisis to discover there's a better way to handle communications with members and staff.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, more than 139 credit unions were affected - and half had no communication capabilities in the days following the devastating storm. Traditional member messages via Website notices and calling centers weren't effective because power was out, phone lines were down and many buildings were destroyed. Employee calling trees faced the same challenges.

During the 2008 hurricane season - one of the most active on record, with seven named storms in just over six weeks - a number of credit unions were better prepared, thanks to...more

Redefining the Lobby Experience for Competitive Advantage - Vol. 1

As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.  The moment a visitor enters your branch lobby, their opinion of your service quality and professionalism starts to form.

In an industry where sign-in clipboards and loud calls of “next” were frequently the standard, we thought it was time to introduce a new solution; to set a new standard. Our founder, SAFE Credit Union of North Highlands, California agreed. So, in 2003, Better Branches LLC was born and Better Lobby was launched...more