Premier System Inc.'s MyKeptData.com provides a virtual vault for member statements

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa - Credit union data processor Premier Systems Inc. not only wants to empower members to view their monthly statements electronically, but let them go as far back as five years. PSI has launched a new electronic Internet vault service - MyKeptData.com - that it is marketing to its CU clients, non-clients, and eventually other industries. Here's how it works from the member perspective. On their initial visit, members visit www.mykeptdata.com; select their credit union's name; and log in using their account number and a PIN that they create. The member is then taken to a page that is customized with their CU's branding information where they can then view their monthly statement. The log-in page can be bookmarked by the member for future visits. PSI will send members an e-mail notification when their monthly statement is ready. Paula Schneider, director of marketing for PSI, said PSI also provides credit unions with the ability to post rates and promotional material on their MyKeptData.com site, giving credit unions a Web presence for the cost of the e-statement solution. Schneider said electronic delivery of statements can reduce credit unions' statement costs by 22 to 42%, and bypassing printing and mailing means the member can see their statement up to five days earlier than they normally would. Statements are stored on PSI's optical disk system. PSI converts the ASCII statements to PDF format. The PDF statement meets the compliance regulations of a regular printed statement. The costs breakdown this way. PSI converts and stores one page statements for $0.13, and charges another $0.05 per page for e-mail notification, making the total cost $0.18 per member for a one-page statement. But one-page statements aren't the norm these days. The average member monthly statement is 1.7 pages. That would cost $0.22 per page for conversion and storage, and $0.5 for e-mail notification. That's a $0.27 total compared to the $0.48 PSI would charge a CU to print and mail that same 1.7 page statement, a cost savings of $0.21, or 43.75%. Statements are just the beginning, said Schneider. She said PSI hopes to store items like share draft images, and eventually store members' birth certificates and other vital documents. Members can utilize their MyKeptData.com box as a sort of virtual safe deposit box. The member would come to the credit union with their vital documents; the credit union scans them; and they are stored on PSI's optical disk system. Interestingly, the first CU to sign up for the MyKeptData. service is a postal credit union. In years past postal CUs wouldn't do anything to deter the delivery of U.S. mail, but things have changed said Kent Strawn, president/CEO of Iowa Postal CU, the first CU to launch the service. "I couldn't have gotten away with this just three years ago, but you look at the Postal Service now and they're doing electronic bill payment," said Strawn. To show just how far things have come with postal CUs and alternative delivery methods, Strawn said he once put a fax machine inside the post office of his main SEG hoping to drum up lending activity. The fax was set up so postal employees could fax in loan applications, with the CU promising to give a response in 15 minutes or less. "No one used it. I think there was one application in six months. They said `We're the postal service, and we're not going to hurt the mail.' Things have changed," said Strawn. PSI is offering the MyKeptData service to non-clients as well. Those credit unions would have to send a tape or electronic file to PSI for conversion to PDF format. "Our recommendation would be for credit unions to send an electronic file to us," said Schneider. She noted that PSI may market the service to other industries in the future. - pgentile@cutimes.com