Resource Center

Credit unions have long recognized the value of digital experiences and unsecured personal loans for both members and the bottom line. But the global pandemic led to unprecedented deposit growth and a sharp decline in branch traffic due to changing member behavior. 

When launching new digital marketing initiatives, it can be difficult to meet origination volume goals and find high-quality applicants for personal loans. Executive leaders know it’s time to look externally. Download this white paper and learn how partnering with a lending expert can help you:

• Exceed loan volume goals while mitigating risk
• Expand membership relationships & lending footprint
• Help with member acquisition
• And more!

After the mortgage industry experienced record volumes and margins over the course of 2020 and 2021, 2022 has been a different story. There has been nearly 200-basis points of increases in mortgage rates, rising home prices dissuading would-be buyers and cutbacks across companies in the mortgage industry. Despite the current environment, credit unions can squeeze every basis point from their best execution loan sale strategy. 

Download this white paper and learn:

• 6 ways to increase profitability right now
• Strategies that to add dozens of basis of points to your margins
• How to find guidance during market volatility

Along with all of the typical challenges faced by large banks, credit unions are particularly vulnerable to fraud, because fraudsters understand they may have limited budget and resources to implement adequate fraud and risk prevention solutions. Even a small attack can be devastating to a credit union and have a much bigger impact on operations and members than it would a larger financial institution. 

Thankfully Machine Learning (or ML) offers a solution. In order to stay ahead in the fight against digital fraud, it's important for credit unions to have access to the insights that ML can provide. 

Download this handbook to understand the different types of machine learning, and learn which one is best suited to protect your credit union from fraud attacks. Inside you’ll find answers to:

• What is machine learning?
• What kinds of ML are available for my business?
• How does machine learning help fraud teams?

DataVisor is the world’s leading fraud and risk management platform that enables organizations to respond to fast-evolving fraud attacks and mitigate risks as they happen in real time. Its comprehensive solution suite combines patented machine learning technology with native device intelligence and a powerful decision engine to provide protection for the entire customer lifecycle across industries and use cases. 

The Buy Local Spend Local program can elevate credit unions in several areas by addressing the desire of consumers to connect with their community and keep money close to home. It also grows membership as local businesses are given affordable marketing opportunities to expand their reach among credit union members. 

This creative campaign launched in 2020 and has grown to allow credit unions to realize a 42% increase in transaction volume from participating members, boost brand awareness in the community and increase quarterly membership growth rates. 

Download the white paper and learn how the Buy Local Spend Local program can benefit your credit union by: 

• Growing membership and income
• Deepening relationships within the community
• Increasing brand awareness
• Attracting new members and building a positive reputation

Get 4 ways your credit union can transform customer service so that you are increasing member loyalty, creating new sales opportunities, and improving retention.

In every industry, customers expect the same simplicity, flexibility and ease of the customer journey. Today’s digital environment offers a unique opportunity for credit unions to create and access a complete view of their members, thus improving the experience at every angle. 

Download this eBook and learn how you can accelerate your CU’s service transformation to improve the member experience, including:

• What service transformation means for your credit union
• The importance of making member service seamless
• 4 ways you can transform member service
• How to create more impactful marketing & increased opportunities for cross-selling
• And more!

A personalized touch makes credit unions stand out in comparison to big banks, so having the data analytics in place to enable that is key. This case study explores how credit unions can perform quick analysis of underlying data, and allow senior management to increase the maturity of their departments and enable productivity. 

Download the case study and learn how becoming data-driven will enable your credit union to achieve next-level results, including:

• Enable employees to be proactive in a rising rate environment
• Better engagement with rate sensitive members having high deposits
• Managed deposit concentration risk 
• Dynamic dashboards for quick analysis
• Easy-to-use & drill-down for end users

Investing in data allows credit unions to be more profitable than ever. This guide explores the member lifecycle journey and how you can create additional value for your members faster, easier and more cost-effectively. 

Download the comprehensive guide and learn about:

• Measuring member lifetime value
• 5 stages of the analytics journey
• Understanding costs, pitfalls & challenges
• Driving ROI through data & predictive analytics
• 5 considerations to design your data analytics ecosystem
• And more! 

Credit unions face a daunting set of challenges in maintaining and growing their member relationships, as well as enhancing their ability to reach a new generation of financial consumers. A 2022 survey in partnership with EY and Filene Research Institute sought to determine how financial consumer and member behaviors, preferences, challenges and activities have changed over the past year, and how to address credit unions’ current challenges and opportunities for growth. 

Download the white paper and learn about:

• 4 pressure points confronting credit union leaders
• How to build on core strengths to drive growth
• 3 keys to gaining active primary financial relationships
• A member-centric roadmap for credit union success
• Creating active, daily engagement aimed at financial well-being to capture market shares

A thoughtful onboarding process can lay the foundation for a smooth transition, better member experience, and deeper long-term engagement. Understanding who the member is or what their business is all about sets your credit union up to be a better advisor going forward. Yet, many financial organizations view onboarding as a necessary evil instead of an incredible opportunity. 

Download this white paper and learn how to make your onboarding more seamless and continuous, allowing a unique opportunity to build trust. You’ll discover:

• 6 best practices for better onboarding
• Why it’s critical to rethink the role of your onboarding
• Tips to getting to know your customers better

87% of small businesses consider it important to have a single provider for all their credit and banking services.* Your credit union’s success in becoming an all-in-one financial solution for your members is directly tied to the performance of your merchant provider.

Partnering with a third-party payments provider can increase member satisfaction, retention rates, and ultimately, keep your credit union competitive with larger institutions. Elavon, a leading payments provider and credit union merchant partner, shows an 88% increase in average revenue, an 85% increase in deposits, and an 80% increase in loans from businesses that use their credit union for merchant services versus those with only a checking account.

Download this white paper to learn more about the benefits of a strong merchant services partnership and ways to evaluate the right one. Also uncover: 

• What merchant services capabilities local businesses want and need
• Types of merchant provider models
• Criteria for evaluating a potential partner for merchant services

*Source: BlueVine, 2022

The current financial services landscape is changing at an accelerated pace that is putting many credit unions on the defense—reacting to member demands instead of anticipating challenges. Recent research also reveals that younger generations want more from their primary financial institution, and just 9% of millennials claim a credit union as their primary. Is your credit union positioned to respond quickly to the changing demands of younger generations?

Download the white paper and learn how to put your credit union on the offensive, including:

• 3 ways future-ready cores give credit unions an edge
• How to realize quick-to-market implementation of innovative solutions
• Creating new opportunities to drive revenue

Over 4 billion people are using smartphones for nearly every activity in life, including banking. The increased customer demand for mobile banking services carries increased fraud threats. Credit unions must wield this combination carefully to avoid fraud losses if they move too quickly or customer churn if they move too slowly.

How can credit unions find the right balance when it comes to mobile banking? Download this white paper that highlights:

• Current trends in mobile banking
• Fraud threats and consumer behavior that result in increased risk
• Strategies for preventing mobile banking fraud
• Anomaly detection for mobile banking

Mortgage pricing is a function of inputs including MBS prices, servicing valuations, guaranty fee levels, and buy-up/buy-down pricing provided by the GSEs. The element over which lenders exercise the most control is their profit margins, which they use both to tweak their profitability and control their volumes during periods of heavy origination activity. 

This white paper illustrates the processes involved in generating consumer loan offerings and intermediate loan prices, including: 

• 2 common misconceptions about the relationship between consumer loan pricing & capital market conditions
• How consumer loan pricing is calculated
• Cash flow allocation of loans
• Calculating coupon best-execution
• Creating a “pricing grid”
• Factors impacting pricing

Credit unions still have one key advantage over fintechs: inherited trust. Recent data revealed that more than 50% of respondents strongly trust traditional providers compared to 32% who said the same of fintechs.*

Download this white paper to learn how to stay competitive and expand your offerings. Inside you’ll find: 

• How to develop your brand and grow cardmember loyalty
• Which features your mobile app should include
• Opportunities for member engagement through financial education tools

As market participants adjust their capacity to lower volume, margins initially tighten, compounding the challenges of fewer refinance loans. There can be both discomfort and anticipation moving from one stage of the mortgage cycle to another, but mortgage lenders know to stay agile.

This white paper outlines how lenders should prepare for these cyclical changes and thrive in a dynamic mortgage market. Topics discussed include:

• MCT Rate & Volume Mortgage Model
• Right-Sized, Scalable Operation
• Efficient Processes and Technology
• Broad Liquidity and Fungibility
• Lender Focus Areas by Market Stage

Recent research shows that almost two-thirds of active credit card users value their cards for the ease and convenience they offer. However, providing simple convenience isn’t enough for issuers to stay ahead of their competitors. Issuers also need to focus on data security, rewards and privacy features to keep their cards top of wallet. 

Download this report and learn which customer experience features are driving credit card selection and usage, including:

• Top consumer experience features ranked by importance, family type and financial lifestyle
• 4 key findings about consumers today
• 5 credit industry fast facts
• Type of consumer who values credit-building functionality
• Top factors for consumers choosing a credit card
• How to offer effective customer experience features 

As Kentucky’s largest credit union with nearly $2 billion in assets, Abound CU experienced the same lending trends that have been impacting the whole credit union industry over the last couple of years, namely: shrinking lending margins, deposits pouring in during the pandemic, and decreases in loan demand. Amidst the unique circumstances, they identified unsecured personal lending as an untapped opportunity for their organization to drive loan growth. 

In an effort to seize this opportunity and deliver simpler, more efficient loan services to members, Abound CU prioritized an AI lending approach. 

Download this case study for insights on how Abound determined the best path forward to grow personal lending. You will discover:

• 3 principles that guided Abound’s decision to improve personal lending.
• Why Abound chose to partner with Upstart to deliver an all-digital experience over building the solution in house. 
• The benefits of increased data access and aggregation.
• Why a technological and cultural fit is critical for partner relationships.

The Federal Reserve has indicated it will raise rates multiple times over the course of the year. This coupled with an overall decline in MBS appetite from an end-investor perspective will cause increased competition for loan sales which will drive down credit union profitability.

Download this white paper to learn key strategies for mitigating margin compression in 2022. Topics covered include:

• Tips for reviewing your current strategies
• How to hedge your pipeline to reduce risk
• 3 tactics to improve your secondary marketing 
• 6 ways to leverage technology and automation
• And more!

Chief Capital Markets Officer, Jeffrey Cassetta, of Ruoff Mortgage describes how advanced technology integrations enable him to sell loans to Fannie Mae five times faster than his previous manual process and keep up with periods of increased volume such as increases seen during the spring of 2020.

Download the case study to learn how a powerful platform for day-to-day loan pipeline management, trade positions management and best execution of loan sales can allow you to automate repetitive tasks and free up your time for other high-value functions. Plus, you’ll learn how to:

• Minimize operational risk and safely connect to data
• Gain efficiency 
• Increase profitability and loan sales
• Do your job from anywhere
• Get started using best practices

Beyond greatly minimizing risk for your CU, fraud prevention can be a competitive advantage in the eyes of your members. While data breaches are bound to happen, building cyber-resilience allows credit unions to quickly respond and bounce back to normalcy or to a better position. This white paper outlines the greatest fraud risks facing credit unions today and offers actionable insights to prevent data breaches, ransomware and phishing schemes. 

Download the white paper and learn best practices cited by financial services professionals to ensure data security, including how to:

• Build resilience in the face of cyber-threats
• Prevent data leaks from employees working from home 
• Minimize open banking risks
• Shore up endpoint vulnerabilities
• Meet compliance mandates

As a credit union, you have deep community roots, loyal membership, and are always looking to grow market share. One way to help your members get the best rate or price is by optimizing your investor set. With increases in mortgage pricing granularity over the last couple years, it may be time to consider looking at going beyond your current investor(s) to do right by your members.

Download this whitepaper and learn how to quantify where to deliver your production, the process for auditing your investor base, and how to optimize your investor set. Plus, you will also learn:

• How to review your loan sale delivery method
• Considerations for choosing the right investors
• Questions to ask when exploring new programs and investors
• What investors look for in a quality seller
• And more!

The costs associated with fee and interest income when running a credit card program may be more complicated than they seem, especially if the program is not optimized. 

Download this whitepaper to understand factors that can affect the profitability of your credit union’s credit card program, including:

• Profit margin pressures
• Interest income: WAAPR vs. Revolve Rate and Fixed vs. Variable Rate
• Costs of interest income
• Fee income: direct and interchange
• Overall effect of costs on profitability