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Credit union leaders nationwide have been tallying up costs, making revenue plans, and setting budgets amidst a pandemic and recent election. While you’re gearing up to right-size staff and shrinking liabilities in 2021, take advantage of these three methods to find additional lift in your credit union's payments vendor contracts. 

In the second part of this series, we're focusing on key fraud prevention strategies for your credit union. We'll discuss tips for institutions and members alike on keeping their data secure. 

We’re diving into why more data means less fraud and friction for your members, and the most prevalent forms of fraud for your CU to watch out for right now. 

No two credit unions will experience the impact of COVID-19 in exactly the same way. The same can be said for both credit union staff and the members they serve. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand the stories your data is telling and take action. Listen in for tips on how to view your data with a fresh perspective, utilize daily reports to motivate your staff, and automate reports so you can spend 20% of your time gathering data and 80% of your time analyzing (instead of the other way around).

With unemployment at a record high, loan payment risks are certain to increase over the coming months and years. Adopt a risk management approach that will address risks beyond the here and now.

Is your credit union worried about how to handle the uptick in uninsured collateral and delinquencies? Hear how to adopt proactive, borrower-friendly strategies to better predict and manage these pandemic-related portfolio risks. 

Recent trends indicate that consumers don’t stick to just one approach when searching for and purchasing auto and home insurance. While personal interaction is still important, experts recommend a newer multi-channel approach to meeting your members where they are today. Listen for some innovative ideas on how your credit union can deliver more value to your members by helping them evaluate and choose insurance options.

In this episode, we’re talking about how to align your payments strategies with shifting consumer behavior. This process is more complex now than ever before, as credit unions face a slew of pandemic-related revenue disruptions. Gain insights on recent data, shifts in the payments landscape, and how to address upcoming deadlines in critical vendor contracts.

In this episode, we’re delving into data selection, and why adjusting your data is even more important than forecasting. Gain insights into how to best utilize your data in your models. 

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the US economy hard in the spring of 2020, yet many credit unions have yet to see the full impacts on their loan portfolios. While government stimulus and proactive steps by lenders have helped borrowers stay afloat, credit challenges are still likely on the horizon. Credit unions can prepare now by leveraging portfolio analytics to spot trouble before it arrives, and have the right processes in place for when it does.

Today we are discussing how to automate vendor invoice auditing to improve your bottom line. The impact of unchecked vendor management is estimated to cost organizations and an average of 9.2% of their bottom lines.  A big part of the problem is the lack of time allocated for auditing high-value vendor invoices.   I am talking with Michael Carter today. Michael is the Executive Vice President of SRM. He is going to share some insight on using automation to track and audit major contracts and invoices to reduce overhead, increase productivity, uncover cost savings, and improve quality.  In This Episode: [00:49] I am joined by Michael Carter, Executive Vice President at SRM. [02:04] Now is the most important time to be looking at back-office operations and trying to determine if there are ways to access low hanging fruit and turn that into some costs savings at a time when that asset is precious.  [02:48] Michael’s firm has audited invoices for credit unions for 28 years and they found about 1 in 10 invoices have significant errors in them.   [04:32] Financial institutions are not auditing their vendor invoices in the way they should be audited.   [04:39] The common way to audit is that the payables department will take the last month’s invoice and compare it to this month’s invoice. If the totals are within margin then they will be paid.   [05:35] Auditing invoices is a perfect area for applying automation.  There are inexpensive bundles of automation that credit unions can use on their own or services they can get to compare the invoice to all prior invoices and the fee schedule.  [07:35] There are variables in the contracts that move constantly.  [08:43] Automating is almost like a type of insurance going forward because our contracts are living, breathing things and they change, and therefore the invoice changes.   It is also a more professional way to handle vendors.  [09:39] The first step for Michael’s firm is to always sit down and talk with them about what their major high-value critical vendors are and then they take their bundle of invoices.  [10:09] Every vendor invoice is different by category and also within a category.  [11:39] He suggests starting with a simple first step and three critical vendors.   [13:06] You release human capital to be used in other places in your back office. If the machine finds an error you also save the money before you pay the invoice.   [14:53] They typically take 1% of the total value of the invoice with a bottom number. The more invoices you get audited the less the percent.   [15:43] Often one big find can pay for years and years of service.   Links and Resources:   NAFCU SRM Michael on LinkedIn Tweetables: “Now is the most important time to be looking at back-office operations and trying to determine if there are ways to access low hanging fruit and turn that into some cost savings at a time when that asset is precious.” - Michael Carter   “Every vendor invoice is different by category and also within a category.” - Michael Carter   “Financial institutions are not auditing their vendor invoices in the way they should be audited.” -Michael Carter

Mobile banking usage has grown exponentially with the pandemic. Hear how to leverage the increased usage and demand for on-demand channels to enhance member service, marketing, growth, and risk strategies. 

Learn what other credit unions have done to keep their loan, deposit, and member growth thriving throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Also in this episode, hear about strategies you should consider to future-proof against risks yet-to-come, such as a resurgence of the pandemic. 

Join us for a discussion on why student loan refinancing and private student loan participations may be right for your institution to stay competitive and attract younger members. Learn how to expand your portfolio, diversify your assets, and grow yield through student lending loan participations. 

We're talking about how to provide the best financial education possible to support your members through the COVID-19 crisis, and foster lasting financial wellness for them into the future. This pandemic is having a profound effect on every American's financial health, and credit unions can position themselves to be the guiding hand that members need right now. We’re going to dive in and explore some of the strategies and opportunities that exist to help your members thrive through the crisis and beyond. 

Tune in to learn about some of the impressive research behind the effectiveness of direct mail, and how it’s likely to be the unsung hero of credit union marketing. When done right, direct mail can improve members’ overall experience and make it easier to engage them at the right time with the right product. We’re talking with experts who work with credit unions across the country, helping them develop targeted marketing strategies that allow them to protect more members. 

Join our conversation about how to create an adaptable data analytics strategy to guide your credit union through times of crisis. The financial impact across member segments can vary widely as we’ve seen from this pandemic. Where some Americans have suffered deep and immediate income losses, others haven’t been hit nearly as hard. So how does your credit union best respond and live out the people-helping-people philosophy in times like these? Many answers can be found within your data, so we’re going to explore how to use the data you already have, plan member relief strategies for the future, maintain members’ accelerated digital behaviors, and more. 

Join us for an exciting, in-depth conversation on the topic of Organization Alignment. We'll address some of the challenges credit unions are facing today, the researched strategies for achieving an empowered and aligned organization, and the important improvements needed in the financial services industry.

Join our conversation to hear how student lending has become a staple asset for credit unions nationwide, and how student loan refinancing is such a big piece of this. Learn about some of the most important reasons credit unions are entering this valuable asset class.

Take a deep dive into the common challenges that credit union boards face, and the cutting edge methods available to overcome them. We're sharing the easy steps boards can take to get more aligned, stay aligned, and realign if needed. We're also talking about ways boards can handle the tougher topics that often go unaddressed.