FAIRHOPE, Ala.–CU*SOUTH said it is partnering with Auto Link to offer a new tool to help credit unions boost their retail presence as members shop for cars and protect the financing opportunity.
The company noted that research shows credit union members spend an average of 14 hours online searching for a new car.
“As they shop, members are flooded with quick decision offers from dealers and fintech startups, causing credit unions to lose direct auto loan business,” the company said. “The new partnership between CU*SOUTH…and Auto Link, an auto vertical technology and marketing company, will help credit unions compete successfully in the new auto buying and financing marketplace.”
“Auto Link offers a best in class solution for credit unions of all sizes looking to have a more successful and profitable auto lending program,” said CU*SOUTH CEO Leo Vaulin. “Credit unions can offer their members a safe space to do everything from researching a specific car to buying and financing their next vehicle from the safety of their credit union website and out of sight of the internet advertising world.”
CU*SOUTH said it will market the Auto Link solution through its comprehensive CU Managed Services division, leveraging both companies’ technology, data, artificial intelligence and marketing capabilities to provide unparalleled member experiences in purchasing and financing vehicles.
‘Excited About Partnership’
“We are excited to enter into this relationship with CU*SOUTH and help more credit unions succeed in the auto lending space,” said Ed Bourgeois, CEO of Auto Link. “Our goal is to keep credit unions relevant today and in the future in the auto vertical as technologies change, protecting members from the Internet world of easy, but expensive, financing and auto protection product sales. It’s a win-win solution for credit unions and members.”
Auto Link provides a complete auto lending solution from web interface, marketing library, social media portal, training tools and analytics to a built-in loyalty feature. Each member that finances a vehicle at an Auto Link credit union, automatically receives a myEZ Car Care membership filled with discounts at over 10,000 locations nationwide and an Electronic Glove Box desktop and mobile app.
Northwest Arkansas FCU Joins Network
Separately, Northwest Arkansas FCU has joined the CUSO network.
“Credit unions today must be able to compete with the big banks by offering products and services that enable broader access to a diverse selection of member services,” said Becky Whitted, CEO of Northwest Arkansas FCU. “Our partnership with CU*SOUTH allows our credit union to expand our reach by offering more services such as cloud-based online account opening, remote loan closing, text banking - and still decrease overall cost compared to the in-house core software we use today…We chose CU*SOUTH not only because of their products and services, but because we wanted a partner who truly believes in the credit union philosophy of “people helping people.”
Whitted said being a part of a credit union service organization gives her credit union monetary advantages not only in overall core processing services, but also by leveraging the buying power of a network of over 270 credit unions sharing resources, building network partnerships, and collectively contracting other vendors.
“The industry leading toolsets and resources CU*SOUTH provides will now allow us to streamline and automate time consuming and expensive tasks,” said Whitted. “Northwest Arkansas FCU can now focus more on our members and less on performing time-consuming procedures that our old software required every day.”
‘Close Cooperation’
“Thanks to our close cooperation with our credit union partners and owners, CU*SOUTH was able to offer Northwest Arkansas FCU a complete, cloud-based, integrated solution that includes both core and much more – everything the credit union needs to gain memberships and loans in a rapidly-evolving market,” said CU*SOUTH Manager, CUSO Development, Trevor Hamilton. “Our mission is to empower our credit unions to grow; as a CUSO, we can do this through a collaborative pricing model that does away with the per-module costs that non-CUSO vendors inflict on credit unions. With CU*SOUTH, credit unions can add new product and services without having to take the risk of budgeting an up-front cost for a new component – it’s already in our standard offering.”
“We’ve integrated every element of the credit union operation into a single cloud-based platform – CU*BASE – so there’s no worries about interfacing Product A with Product B – the data flows through a single system – from home banking to back office. Finally, to make sure that all credit unions, large and small, get the maximum benefit from our solution, we built a network of support services – from call center to back office and compliance – so credit unions can leverage our experience as well as our software tools,” said Derrick Smith, COO of CU*SOUTH.