LSI Adds Eight CUs

ELGIN, Ill. — Lending Solutions Inc. said it has added eight new credit unions to its list of collections outsourcing clients in the past three months.

There now are 54 credit unions using the contact center specialist for all or part of their delinquency collections processes, the company said.

The new clients include the $2.8 billion Delta Community CU of Atlanta, the $113 million Mid Oregon CU of Bend; the $126 million NARFE Premier FCU of Alexandria, Va.; and the $228 million Utah First FCU of Salt Lake City.

"Many of our clients use LSI strictly to reduce delinquency rates," said John Dowling, client development manager at LSI. "However, more and more clients are coming to us because of staffing issues and other problems."

LSI now provides 24-hour lending and member services to more than 300 credit unions, banks and mortgage companies, the company said.

GEICO Federal CU Deploys Biometrics

CHEVY CHASE, Md. — GEICO Federal Credit Union is now controlling physical access to various entrances of its operations with a new system from US Biometrics.

The $103 million credit union is using the Naperville, Ill., company's AccessQ system and said it plans to expand beyond simply protecting strategic entrances.

"Our strategic plan will…add the other components from US Biometrics' suite of products to help us comply with NCUA security recommendations for desktops and applications," said Karen Taney, assistant vice president of information technology at 13,000-member GEICO FCU.

US Biometrics said its client list now includes financial, corporate and health care organizations.

Truliant Federal CU Goes With fiVISION

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Truliant Federal Credit Union has committed to deploying a new member and new account opening solution from an Indianapolis-based tech CUSO.

The $1.2 billion CU will be the seventh customer of fiVISION and plans to go live with the CUSO's accountWORKS solution on Nov. 1, the company and credit union said.

The accountWORKS system accommodates both new member enrollment and account opening for existing members, and provides the credit union a "decision matrix" to determine what information to require from credit bureau, fraud and OFAC checks.

"With the streamlined process and integration with other databases," said Donnie Peaks, deposit services director for 177,000-member Truliant FCU.

"We can offer a faster experience for our members without increasing our potential for risk. Additionally, the consistent process greatly reduces the potential for process-related issues," he said.

Fiserv Offers to Call an Origination Platform COP

BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Fiserv Inc. is inviting lenders who want to integrate and better manage their loans to call a COP, the acronym for the company's new Common Origination Platform.

Now being introduced for real estate lending support, the COP platform is intended to allow lenders to administer all loans–real estate, consumer and financially–"holistically, rather than in the traditional silos, which can reduce costs and improve efficiency," the company said.

Consumer and commercial versions are expected to be introduced next year, also as newly designed solutions, the company said. The platforms can be deployed as licensed in-house versions or remotely as software as a service.

The COP solution uses business rules management to allow front-office users rather than tech staff to update policies and processes and apply them across the origination process. Also included is a dashboard interface, enhanced workflow for automated processing and seamless integration with third-party vendors, the company said.

"As lenders retool for future markets, they should explore how technology can assist them in leveraging common processes across all of their products," said Jon Burch, Fiserv product manager. "Having one solution for all lending verticals and channels can reduce costs and make lenders more nimble in an ever-changing market."

CUISPA Issues Reminder

AUSTIN, Texas — The Credit Union Information Security Professionals Association sent an e-mail out earlier this month reminding the industry of its upcoming annual conference, since it's now budgeting season.

The organization's fourth-annual IT risk management and security summit will be held Feb. 8-11 at the Grand Hyatt Resort in San Antonio.

"Join the industry's top CIOs, CTOs, CISOs and security administrators for three days of knowledge sharing," the organization said in its e-mailed reminder earlier this month.

Just to help with the planning process, the organization said to plan to budget about $1,500 for registration, airfare, ground transportation and accommodations per attendee.

CU*Northwest Offers Compliance Service

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — A new compliance service for credit unions is being offered by CU*Northwest.

The audit link offering includes onsite visits, technology configurations, recommended board actions and daily monitoring.

The information technology CUSO, which provides service bureau and in-house core processing on the CU*BASE platform, said it is offering the service nationwide through the cuasterisk.com network.

That network and the CU*BASE platform are from CU*Answers, a CUSO in Grand Rapids, Mich., that serves more than 130 credit unions.

CU*Northwest, a member of the cuasterisk.com network, said seven of its 14 core processing clients are now using the audit link service.

Greg Smith, CU*Northwest's CEO, said, "When we started this CUSO in 2005, the first thing our credit unions asked for in addition to cost effective information technology was some help with compliance."

Red Flag Consulting Service Launched

ATLANTA — A Red Flag consulting service has been rolled out by SecureWorks, an Atlanta-based provider of online security services to hundreds of credit unions.

The federal Red Flag rules give financial institutions until Nov. 1 to develop and implement approved identity theft prevention procedures for certain new and existing accounts.

The SecureWorks consulting service will help clients, among other things, determine which of their products and services are covered by the rules, provide risk analysis framework and documentation help and determine if third-party vendors also are in compliance.

"SecureWorks' new Red Flag consulting service will simplify the financial institutions' process of pulling out their current policies and adding what is needed to ensure that they have a solid identity theft prevention program in place," said Erik Petersen, the 2,000-client company's vice president for professional services.

Mocse Unveils Mobile Banking

MODESTO, Calif. — Mocse Federal Credit Union is now offering mobile banking service to its 35,000 members.

The $186 million CU partnered with First Data to offer the service, which includes account balances and history and internal transfers using cellphone browsers.

"In these increasingly busy times, Mobile Mocse is just another tool to make our member's lives more convenient and easy," the credit union said in its announcement.

CUSOs Join Together in Emergency Notification Solution

HERNDON, Va. — DigitalMailer and Ongoing Operations have joined together to offer credit unions a crisis notification system that the two CUSOs said "offers an easy, inexpensive way to communicate with CU employees and members during natural disasters and business contingencies."

Herndon-based DigitalMailer provides e-statement and e-alert services to credit unions. Ongoing Operations is based in Hagerstown, Md., and provides business continuity services that include backup office, connectivity and recovery functions.

Ongoing Operations is now offering the Crisis Management Notification System from DigitalMailer. The system allows credit unions to send text and e-mail messages over multiple channels, allowing credit unions to communicate with staff and members without using labor-intensive calling trees and paging systems. It also keeps track of staffers unaccounted for to facilitate follow up, the companies said.

"The CMNS will complement our ability to help keep credit unions going in case of any unforeseen event and communicate with employees during any disaster. We believe our two CUSOs offering our solutions together makes sense and makes credit unions' decision-making process easier," said Kirk Drake, president/CEO of Ongoing Operations (www.ongoingoperations.com).

"In an emergency, traditional communication methods may not be accessible or reliable. But with e-mail and text messages, employees can access messages on their laptops or mobile phones and respond appropriately no matter where they are. The CMNS enhances the effectiveness of disaster communications, gets the word out immediately and, more importantly, can track responses," said Ron Daly, president/CEO of DigitalMailer (www.digitalmailer.com).

Andera Joins Bid Service

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Online account opening specialist Andera said it has partnered with MoneyAisle to offer what they call "a seamless solution for financial institutions looking to grow their core deposit base."

Providence-based Andera (www.andera.com) is a provider of account opening and funding solutions to 233 financial institutions, about half of them credit unions.

Recently launched MoneyAisle (www.moneyaisle.com) of Burlington, Mass., allows consumers to seek bids for CDs and high-yield savings accounts from participating banks, currently about 100 of them.

Combining the companies' offerings allows MoneyAisle users to instantly open and fund a new account with the winning financial institution.

"MoneyAisle is a pioneer in the next generation of online financial services," said Charlie Kroll, CEO of Andera. "By integrating Andera's online account opening technology so seamlessly into MoneyAisle's auction platform, banks now have easy access to a truly comprehensive platform for acquiring core deposits."