Ag lending capabilities drive one CU's DP decision

<p>CORVALLIS, Ore. - The $410 million Wabash County Farm Bureau Credit Union here needed a core processing system that could handle the uniqueness of agriculture loans. As the DP story on page 1 (continued on 16-17) shows, credit unions may begin making DP decisions based on their business account capabilities. The desire to do ag lending was one of the big driver's behind Wabash County Farm Bureau CU's DP decision. "During our new system search, it was difficult to find core processors that could do ag loans," said Ryan Showley, Marketing Manager for the CU. According to the credit union's CEO, Bruce Ingraham, agricultural lending poses different challenges compared to common consumer financing programs. "Ag lending is based on seasonal factors and the loan amount is typically in six figures," said Ingraham. "Most farmers receive income once or twice a year and that's when they want to service their loans. Matching our borrower's needs with the core processing system's capabilities was very important to us." Wabash County Farm Bureau CU is the seventh largest credit union in Indiana. It is not your ordinary credit union as many of its members have agricultural loan needs. Agricultural, residential and business lending are provided to members in addition to the standard loans made by most credit unions. Summit is a Fiserv subsidiary with more than 310 credit union clients. According to Callahan data from December 2001, Summit serves more of the top 250 U.S. credit unions than any other core processing provider.</p>