Tag: member experience

Evolving technologies and rising consumer expectations for fast, frictionless experiences highlight an opportunity for credit unions to advance their decisioning and stand out in a crowded market. How a credit union is optimizing their decision-making process With over $7.2 billion in assets and 330,000 members, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) aims to provide superior service to their members and employees. Initially reliant on manual reviews, the credit union needed a well-designed decisioning strategy that could help them grow their loan portfolio, increase employee efficiency, and reduce credit risk. The credit union implemented Experian’s decisioning platform, PowerCurve® Originations, to make faster, more accurate credit decisions on their secured and unsecured personal loans, leading to increased approvals and an exceptional member experience. “Day one of using PowerCurve produced a 49% automation rate! We have received amazing feedback from our teams about what a great product was chosen,” said Blake Johnson, Vice President of Lending, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union. After implementing PowerCurve Originations, MSUFCU saw an average monthly automation rate of more than 55% and decreased their application processing time to less than 24 hours. Read the full case study for more insight on how Experian can help power your decisioning to grow your business and member relationships. Download case study

For credit unions, having the right income and employment verification tools in place helps to create an application process that is easy and low friction for both new and existing members. Digital first is member first The digital evolution created an expectation for online experiences that are simple, fast, and convenient. Attracting and building trusted, loyal relationships and paving the way for new revenue-generating opportunities now hinges on a lender's ability to provide experiences that meet those expectations. At the same time, market volatility and economic uncertainty are driving catalysts behind the need for credit unions to gain a more holistic view of a member’s financial stability. To gain a competitive advantage in today’s lending environment, credit unions need income and employment verification solutions that balance two often polarizing business drivers: member experience and risk management. While verified income and employment data is key to understanding stability, it’s equally important to streamline the verification process and make it as frictionless as possible for borrowers. With these things in mind, here are three considerations to help credit unions ensure their income and employment verification process creates a favorable member experience. The more payroll records, the better Eliminate friction for members by tapping into a network of millions of unique employer payroll records. Gaining instant access into a database of this scale helps enable decisions in real-time, eliminates the cost and complexity of many existing verification processes, and allows members to skip cumbersome steps like producing paystubs. Create a process with high configuration and flexibility Verification is not a one-size-fits-all process. In some cases, it might be advantageous to tailor a verification process. Make sure your program is flexible, scalable and highly configurable to meet your evolving business needs. It should also have seamless integration options to plug and play into your current operations with ease. The details are in the data When it comes to income and employment verification, make sure that you are leveraging the most comprehensive source of consumer information. It’s important that your program is powered by quality data from a wealth of datasets that extend beyond traditional commercial businesses to ensure you are getting the most comprehensive view. Additionally, look to leverage a network of exclusive employer payroll records. With both assets, make sure you understand how frequently the data is refreshed to be certain your decisioning process is using the freshest and highest-quality data possible. Implementing the right solution By including a real-time income and employment verification solution in your credit union’s application process, you can improve the member experience, minimize cost and risk, and make better and faster decisions. To learn more about Experian’s income and employment verification solutions, or for a complimentary demo, feel free to contact an expert today. Learn more Contact us

In today’s digital-first environment, fraud threats are growing in sophistication and scope. It’s critical for credit unions to not only understand the specific threats presented by life online, but to also be prepared with a solid fraud detection and prevention plan. Below, we’ve outlined a few fraud trends that credit unions should be aware of and prepared to address. 2021 Trends to Watch: Digitization and the Movement to Life Online Trend #1: Digital Acceleration As we look ahead to the rest of 2021 and beyond, we expect to see adoption of digital strategies nearing the top of credit unions’ list of priorities. Members’ expectations for their digital experience have permanently shifted, and many credit unions now have members using online channels who traditionally wouldn’t have. This has led to a change in the types of fraud we see as online activities increased in volume. Trend #2: First-Party Fraud is On the Rise First party fraud is on the rise – 43% of financial executives say that mule activity is up 10% or more compared to attack rates prior to the pandemic, according to Trace Fooshee, Senior Analyst for Aite Group, and we expect to see this number grow. The ability for credit unions to identify and segregate the “good guys” from “bad guys” is getting more difficult to discern and this detail is more important than ever as credit unions work to create frictionless digital experiences by using digital tools and strategies. Trend #3: Continual Uptick in Synthetic Identity Fraud We expect synthetic identity fraud (SID) to continue to rise in 2021 as cybercriminals become more sophisticated in the digital space and as members continue with their new digital habits. Additionally, fraudsters can use SIDs to bring significant damage and loss to credit unions through fraudulent checks, debit cards, person-to-person and automated clearing house (ACH) transactions. More and more, fraudsters are seen opening accounts and remaining very patient – using an account to build and nurture a trusted relationship with the credit union and then remain dormant for two years before ensuing in any sort of abuse. Once the fraudster feels confident that they can bypass authentication processes or avoid a new product vetting, oftentimes, they will take that opportunity to get easy access to all solutions credit unions have available and will abuse them all at once. There are no signs of fraud slowing, so credit unions will need to stay vigilant in their fraud protection and prevention plans. We’ve outlined a few tips for credit unions to help protect member data while reducing risk. The Fight Against Fraud: Four Key Tips Tip #1: Manage Each Fraud Type Appropriately Preventing and detecting fraud requires a multi-level solution. This can involve new methods for authenticating current and prospective members, as well as incorporating synthetic identity services and identity proofing throughout the member lifecycle. For example, credit unions should consider taking extra verification steps during the account opening process as a preventative measure to minimize SID infiltration and associated fraud losses. As credit unions continue down the path of digitization, it’s also important to add in digital signals and behavior-based verification, such as information about the device a consumer is logging in from to heighten defenses against bad actors. Tip #2: Be Resourceful In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many have asked, “How should credit unions approach fraud prevention tactics when in-person contact is limited or unavailable?” In some cases, you might need to be willing to say no to requests or get creative and find other options. Sometimes, it takes leveraging current resources and using what’s readily available to allow for a binary decision tree. For example, if you’re suspicious of a dormant account that you think could be synthetic, call them, and ask yourself these questions: Did they answer? Was the phone still active? Send the account holder an email – did you get a reply? Is this a new member? Is this a new channel for the member? Could they have logged on to do this instead of calling the call center? Tip #3: Empower Members Through Education Members like to know that their credit unions are taking the necessary steps and applying the right measures to keep their data secure. While members might not want every detail, they do want to know that the security measures are there. Require the use of strong passwords, step-up authentication, and empower members with alerts, notifications, and card controls. Additionally, protect members by providing resources like trainings, webinars, and best practices articles, where they can learn about current cyber trends and how to protect their data. Tip #4: Trust Data Many credit unions rely on an employee’s decision to decide when to take action and what action to take. The challenge with this approach comes when the credit union needs to reduce friction for members or tighten controls to prevent fraud, because it’s extremely hard to know exactly what drove prior actions. A better alternative is to rely on scores and specific data. Tweaks to the scores or data points that drive actions allow credit unions to achieve the desired member experience and risk tolerance – just be sure to leverage internal experts help figure out those policies. By determining what conditions drive actions before the actions are taken (instead of doing it one case at a time) the decisions remain transparent and actionable. Looking for more insights around how to best position your credit union to mitigate and prevent fraud? Watch our webinar featuring experts from around the industry and key credit unions in this Fraud Insight Form hosted by CUES. Watch now Contact us