Knoxville Teachers Federal Credit Union's recent decision to adda remote electronic signature module to allowreal-time loan-document signing online is already receiving apassing grade from its members.

The $206 million credit union, which serves Knox County, Tenn.,and the surrounding area, finds itself in an increasinglycompetitive market with a limited membership pool. Because of this,the credit union's digital strategy is a top priority.

“We're a very old fashioned, closed-membership credit union.We're really an anachronism. There are very few non-communitycredit unions around that I'm aware of. So, what we have is a verysmall pond to fish in. We have our chartered field of membership –educators and school employees,” David Underwood, treasurer/managerfor the credit union, said.

KTFCU encourages members to stop by to fulfill their bankingneeds at any of its 11 offices, but also prioritizes making remotetools available for members with an emphasis on offering innovative services.

In July, KTFCU expanded its current eSign platform from theRahway, N.J.-based IMM by adding a remote e-signature module.Adding this remote capability was part of KTFCU's member strategy.Underwood said the credit union was looking for that last piece toprovide an end-to-end loan application component so members did nothave to leave school or wherever they happen to be working. “It isfully accessible from a remote location without having to comein.”

Teachers can now close on loans from anywhere including theirbreaks at school using a computer in the library or from theirphone in the lounge.

The remote loan capability was an immediate hit. Underwoodnoted, “We were successfully processing and closing loans remotelythe first day of implementation, which truly elevates the memberexperience.” Overall the member response has been very positivewith 100% acceptance from those offered the solution. KTFCU nowcloses more than 25% of its loans remotely.

“We are just scratching the surface of what we can do with thisfunctionality and only expect it to grow every month, which willgive us richer and deeper engagement with our members,” Underwoodsaid.

Knoxville schools reopen in August with a flurry of new memberactivity extending from July through September. “We have a fairlygood-sized school system here and there's a fair amount of turnoverevery year,” Underwood stated. “When we go to those orientationmeetings and pitch our credit union, we call ourselves 'One of thebest fringe benefits of teaching.'”

Offering members the opportunity to sign for loans remotelyallows KTFCU to capture or retain loans that might have gonesomewhere else. “We have a loyal membership base and value thosetimes when people come in. Most of our folks know the members asthey come in by name and their history and probably their dog'sname,” Underwood emphasized. “But not everybody is able to get outof school, especially teachers, this time of year.”

In addition, there are several other community-based creditunions and banks in the area, as well as the larger, regionalfinancial institutions they compete with daily.

Michael Ball, VP of markets and strategy for IMM, said the eSignplatform integrates with a credit union's existing businessapplications. For KTFCU, the e-signature platform works with itscore business system, Fiserv's XP2, as well as its online loanapplication and loan origination systems.

With IMM eSign, the credit union also reduced traditionaltransaction completion and lag times by automating many of itsunwieldly paper-based business processes. Ball explained eSignallows the credit union to take any document essentially comingfrom any system, maintain that document in an electronic format,and move it through a managed and controlled e-signaturesession.

The documents are all viewed and signed electronically, inperson, or however best fits the member's needs. At the end of thesession IMM eSign pushes the documents fully indexed into thecredit unions' imaging or ECM platform for permanent archiving.

The electronic format also streamlines back-office processes,Ball noted. “They don't have to manage paper documents or try tosecure the information on them. We facilitate an end-to-end,totally electronic transaction, eliminating the need to print paperanywhere along this cycle. And by doing this they start to seebenefits across the credit union and efficiencies for transactions.It really provides a multifaceted value proposition,” Ball pointedout.

Ball explained it also assists in the compliance areas as KTFCUretains full audit logs generated for each session making thedocuments legally enforceable and to assist with regulations.

IMM eSign creates different forms of signatures. “One is basedupon the integration from the business application to our platform.We know the signing parties and we automatically generate a pseudosignature,” Ball maintained. The member authorizes the document byclicking in the signature field using click-to-sign technology. “Wealso have the ability to use a traditional signature pad for atouch device like an iPad or a touch monitor where the member,using their finger or a stylus, creates a digital representation oftheir actual signature.”

Those options are available with the eSign platform and a creditunion like Knoxville Teachers can choose whichever methodology theyprefer for their implementation.

“It takes data that our core puts out and lets us merge it intodocuments,” Underwood said. Not only loan documents but promissorynotes, truth-in-lending disclosures, ACH stop payments, and wireauthorization forms. “Anything that you can think of if it cancapture and present it to for signature.”

IMM characterizes eSign as a premise-based solution that creditunions can install inside their data or processing center wherethey control and manage that application. “And yes, we also have ahybrid aspect to it,” Ball emphasized. The remote serviceintegrates with Adobe's Cloud service, which facilitates thetransaction in a secure and compliant manner. Ball noted oncecompleting the remote signing, the document travels back to theirpremise-based space server where IMM eSign continues the downstreamprocessing of the session itself. “So, we're starting to call it ahybrid model, but we're doing that carefully right now by listingit as a premise-based model.”

John Levy, EVP for IMM, stated, “Credit unions like KnoxvilleTeachers FCU have seen immediate ROI from implementing the remotee-signature module. The entire loan application process can becompleted digitally.” Levy added this contributes significantly tothe credit union's digital strategy, and drives an enhanced memberexperience as well as operational efficiencies. We are excited tocontinue our nearly 15-year partnership with Knoxville Teachers FCUand support their business with modern solutions that meetcompetitive market demands.”

Underwood said another benefit is the credit union does not haveto wait or coordinate with the member to seal the deal. “It doesallow us to move more quickly. The big selling point for us ismaking it convenient and easy for the member.”

The credit union challenges its team to constantly ask thequestion, “Why should I join KTFCU?” IMM helped answer thatquestion through the remote e-signature service. “For our members,who happen to be teachers, this is a crucial time-saving service.For us, we can expand our presence within the community, meetingmarket demand while reducing the need to increase physicallocations. Now the branch location is wherever you are,” Underwoodsaid.