Video teller machines are viable service delivery options thatshould be considered when the NCUA considers whether to grantcharter expansions, NAFCU argued in a letter sent this week toChairman Debbie Matz.

The trade group sent the letter to Matz, and copied BoardMembers Gigi Hyland and Michael Fryzel, to ask the regulators tonot confuse the machines – which provide a live link to a teller ina remote location – with ATMs.

The machines, which often are operated with extended night andweekend hours, are a cost-effective way to expand services toexisting members and when adding SEGs and underserved areas, NAFCUsaid.

“NAFCU believes video-teller machines are great new categoriesof service facilities as technology advances. Accordingly, we wouldstrongly urge NCUA to ensure that when it approves charterexpansions, its staff takes into consideration all new technologiesthat fit into NCUA's definitions of service facilities,” said theletter from NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker.

That definition, in part, defines a service facility as “a placewhere shares are accepted for members' accounts . . . [including] acredit union-owned electronic facility that meets, at a minimum,[the] requirements” of accepting loan applications, disbursingloans, or operating on a regularly scheduled weekly basis.”

“Video teller machines such as those described aboveclearly fall within the four corners of NCUA's definition of aservice facility,” Becker said.

“I would also note that video-teller machines serve to reducebranch operating costs and increase sales by allowing branchemployees to focus on selling loans, mortgages and otherproducts. These machines can reduce a credit union'sreal-estate costs because they take up far less room than a row ofteller windows. Further, they decrease the risk of exposureof tellers to criminal activity,” his letter said.

Several credit unions now use the machines, including the $756million Mid-Hudson Valley FCU in Kingston, N.Y., and the $2.1 billionCoastal FCU in Raleigh, N.C., NAFCU pointed out. Other usersinclude American Heritage FCU in Philadelphia and Five County Credit Union in Bath, Maine, which put one in aWalmart.