PLANO, Texas -- Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union says it has passed the 1,000 mark in credit union branches the corporate is serving with remote deposit services.
The 1,500-member corporate says it also processed more than five million remote deposit items in November.
Southwest provides electronic image capture and real-time transmission of deposits to its item processing center for credit unions operating in 25 states, and more are being added daily, according to Jody Beck, senior vice president of operations at $14 billion Southwest Corporate.
Existing only as an idea three years ago, electronic image capture and real-time deposit transmission are clearly ideas "whose time has come," Beck says.
Most of the new users first deploy branch capture service, with a work station at each branch, but more and more are now moving on to image capture as individual teller stations, Southwest Corporate says.
"It's not vaporware, and it's no longer bleeding edge," says Brad Ganey, Southwest Corporate's director of item processing. "Teller capture is a very real part of our normal operations today."
Increased efficiencies particularly help credit unions with far-flung branches, such as First Financial Credit Union of Albuquerque, N.M. The $315 million CU now transmits images from 11 branches, reducing air and ground check transportation.
"I know remote capture is saving us money on courier services," says Terri Mickelsen, the credit union's vice president of internal operations, "and it's substantial on our out-of-town offices. There is no courier service from our remote branch in Pine Hill, so we had been sending checks by Fed Ex."
