GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- CU*Answers' collections service business unit is now averaging about 125 calls a day for the eight credit unions that signed up for the service in its first year of operations.
The Lender*VP Collections Service was organized in early 2007 and is charging as little as $1,500 a month for the offering, which utilizes the credit unions' existing collections tools built into their CU*BASE core processing tools.
In addition to freeing up staff for other duties, the integrated service helps avoid privacy disclosure issues and the necessity of converting or re-keying data involved in using third-party services, according to the Grand Rapids-based CUSO.
The eight credit unions now using the Lender*VP Collections are the $179 million Frankenmuth CU in Frankenmuth, Mich., the $172 million CorePlus FCU in Norwich, Conn., the $94 million Affinity Group CU (comprising Affinity, Wysouth and Crestwood credit unions) in Plymouth, Mich., the $64 million Parkside CU in Livonia, Mich., the $58 million First Trust CU in Michigan City, Ind., and the $24 million Grand Rapids Family CU in Grand Rapids.
A ninth customer, $36 million Focus CU of Wauwatosa, Wis., plans to begin using the service this summer, according to CU*Answers (www.cuanswers.com).
In addition to calls, the service includes a variety of member correspondence, such as automated letters/notice mailings and reports monitoring daily delinquency and call activities.
