CARMEL, Ind.–As evidence of how much it has helped credit unions to grow, Allied Solutions says you need only to look at the company’s own growth.
The company, which offers more than 100 distinct products to its CU partners, either proprietary or through distributorships, reports it has been expanding all its biggest offices as business has continued to grow. It has added about 400 people to its headcount in the last several years as its locations in Indiana, St. Paul, Minn, Plano, Texas and Dakota Dunes, S.D. have grown. The firm has 1,100 employees and a total of 22 offices overall.
Dave Underdale, Allied’s chief marketing officer, said credit unions comprise about 80% of the company’s business. Allied has a 70% share of CUs in the country with at least one product relationship with them.
According to Underdale, the company has built its business by helping credit unions to grow their lending, including identifying loan prospects assisting with underwriting, and ensuring CUs are protected from risks.
“We do work on the deposit side, as well,” he said.
Underdale pointed to PenFed, the giant credit union for the Pentagon in Alexandria, Va., as an example of a key credit union partner. There are also testimonials on its website from Glenn Strebe, chief executive of Air Academy Federal Credit Union, Colorado Springs, Colo; , Shawn Hansen, chief executive of Marine Credit Union, LaCrosse, Wis., and Annie Wilkinson, executive vice president of Dade County Federal Credit Union in Florida.
Also Acts as Distributor
In addition, Underdale said Allied Solutions acts as a distributor for several companies that have products that help credit unions grow their lending, including Rate Genius, which looks for refinancing clients; Auto Finance Group, which helps with solutions such as residual finance, leases, and balloon loans, and Open Lending, which provides default protection services.
Of its own proprietary products in the lending arena, Underdale mentioned REPO Plus, which tracks whether financed autos have insurance and helps in recovering and obtaining maximum value for collateral in case of default. Other products aid in responsible lending growth without excessive default risk.
“We help them be super-selective on loans,” he said, “and help lenders grow responsibly.”
The company has products developed for the mortgage side. as well as auto lending. It is a distributor for MortgagePromoter, a software tool to grow and help manage relationships with Realtors.
In addition, Allied offers digital solutions that help CUs connect with members in that channel. “Digital relationships are growing bigger these days,” Underdale noted.
Addressing An Ongoing Challenge
In an area that has been an ongoing challenge for credit union, Sunday Sky’s SmartVideo is a proprietary solution of Allied Solutions that integrates personal information into a data feed. It helps credit unions to turn members who come in through the indirect channel into members who have additional relationships by cross selling checking accounts and other services. “It is a very powerful tool,” he said.
Then there is another aspect of the business: helping credit unions to evolve. Allied Solutions has a Client Performance Strategies Group that researches a credit union’s sales culture, and then help expand its platform staff’s ability to engage with members and to cross-sell services.
Looking forward, Underdale is predicting more of the same kind of successes. “We see continuous growth, no slowdown,” he said.
—Mark Fogarty