The 65,000-member, $575 million Rivermark Credit Union in Beaverton, Ore., found moving to a new, more automated housing finance system sharply increased its numbers of completed applications.

Jeff Miller, manager of Rivermark's mortgage department, reported that, from the member's point of view, applying for a housing finance loan has become faster and more interactive.

“The previous platform was just static,” Miller said. “It was one size fits all, the same questions no matter how a member answered them. We would lose a significant number of applications just because members wouldn't finish them.” As an example of the problem, Miller noted that no matter how a member answered the previous application's marriage question, he or she would continue to get questions which didn't apply to their current situation.

A member that answered “married” to that question would continue to face questions which applied to their being single and vice versa. Whereas on the new application, if a member answered “married” or “single” on the marriage question, he or she would no longer see any questions which a single applicant would see.

The result, Miller explained, was that members felt more connected and confident about the application, as well as finding it less time consuming and frustrating to fill out. And those good feelings have translated into an increase of 20% in completed applications in the 45 days since the credit union made the change.

“The Enterprise platform was a catalyst in removing the various disconnects that overshadowed Rivermark's operations. As the first credit union in its state to offer mobile deposits, Rivermark remains technology-driven and committed to providing mobile accessibility to its 65,000 members,” said Matt Cotter, senior vice president of marketing for D+H US, the Canadian parent firm of D+H Mortgagebot that supplied the upgrade.

Instant Insights /

Credit Union Finds Application Boon in Tech Upgrade

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