ATLANTA–The Franken-credit union. The “ghosts among us.” Frighteningly empty lobbies.
In keeping with Halloween, CUToday.info asked the credit union community for some of the most ghoulish things they have seen. Here’s are some tales from the Credit Union Crypt in the second of a two-part series.
For John Hyche, SVP and principal with Level 5 in Atlanta, the scariest stories have something in common: they are true.
“I have been consulting with banks and credit unions for almost 30 years,” said Hyche. “With that experience I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have also seen the ridiculous, laudable, and unbelievable.”
Including one CU whose service is so scary—long, backed up lines—that the only way members could avoid dying from fright—or boredom—was to order pizza.
“At one branch we found a line of members stretched almost to the door. It was the middle of the morning in the middle of the week, making this phenomenon even more remarkable,” said Hyche, who explained his company was consulting with the credit union. “We interviewed the branch manager, who was bright and had a bent toward good member service. We asked about the long line in the lobby, and she confirmed that this was normal for her branch. In fact, sometimes members call Domino’s to have them deliver pizza to them while they wait in line, she told us. Unbelievable!”
The Franken-Experience
It gives Larry Edgar-Smith shivers to just think about how CU rebranding efforts sometime resemble the Frankenstein monster.
“Credit unions have been known to spend millions of dollars on a great branding scheme. They prototype it, show it to a sampling of members, pitch it to the executive team, and tweak it to get it just right,” said Edgar-Smith, SVP of product evangelism at Akcelerant in Malvern, Penn. “Then it is released with much fanfare that includes matching balloons, travel coffee mugs, and cool iPad wipes. The members absolutely love it on day one!”
But fast forward to day two, he said.
“A member asks why the home banking site looks different. Then, the mobile banking site is brought into question,” he said. “Oh, wait, did the credit union rebrand the mobile loan and web loan sites? What about the mobile account origination site? Is that connected like bolts on Frankenstein's neck to an inharmonious collection of unrelated parts?”
Edgar-Smith says this is the birth of the “Franken-Experience”: A collection of connected, but incongruous user experiences created because of a collection of far too many systems, lack of flexibility within systems, and the inability for solutions to communicate in an open fashion.
“Don't make the villagers come up the hill with torches and pitchforks. Get rid of the Franken-experience system before it has a chance to come to life,” he said.
Revenue Nightmares
Brad Singer of Primax, Wakefield, Mass., said he is often haunted by some of the “revenue nightmares” some credit unions share.
“Sometimes we hear from credit unions and banks that their goal and measure of a successful credit card issuing program is to have a 0.0000000000001 write-off rate,” said Singer. “A card program driven purely to eliminate all write-offs will just get rocks for Halloween. This can be a nightmare scenario for financial institutions and program managers that want to grow profitable bankcard programs. Credit card programs can be the sweetest and most profitable line of business for the financial institution, contributing 10%-25% or more of the entire FI’s net income.”
What credit unions should not be “spooked by,” said Singer, are write-off rates of 2%-3% or even higher, which are not “out of the norm for successful community financial institutions’ card programs, which result in profitable tricks and treats.”
“FIs are in the business of making money by lending money, of course with some level of manageable and predictable risk,” he said. “(Write-offs are) an inevitable part of all successful card programs.”
Bone-Chilling Service
John Hyche, Level 5
Sometimes huge branches can lead to some chilling experiences for members, especially those concerned about the privacy of the business they are conducting, said Level 5’s Hyche.
He told the terrifying tale of how his 83-year-old other mother headed to the credit union with a hefty check in hand, consolidating her CDs to one institution.
“Mom walked in to her local branch, and the lobby was cavernous. And the only employees were way in the very back by the drive-up windows,” explained Hyche. “One of the branch employees saw Mom and yelled across the lobby, ‘Hello there! What can we do to help you?’ Mom told me she was not about to yell back, ‘I have a check for thousands of dollars in my purse and want to deposit it.’”
Moral of the story, said Hyche, “personal service is important, and it is important that it is personal, not public.”
Kelsey Murray, product evangelist at Akcelerant, asks credit unions if they know “there are ghosts among us? They roam the hallways in the office, chat with us at the water cooler, attend the company holiday party, and oh yes, work diligently day in and day out to help make our company thrive.”
Murray said she is talking about collectors, who are too often overlooked and not treated with the respect that they deserve.
“Collectors are the best sales people in the organization and they need to be recognized as such,” Murray said. “They have to overcome obstacles every day with difficult members and ultimately be persuasive. And with recognition should come action, a sales culture should be cultivated around collectors. This Halloween vow that the only ghosts you see are the cute ones that come by your house asking for candy.”
Mobile Banking Goes Dead
One credit union reporting a scary story this Halloween season is NavyArmy Credit Union in Corpus Christi, Texas, which experienced a zombie-like state with its mobile banking—it was alive, yet dead.
After an an Apple technology update, the credit union’s mobile banking service was rendered inaccessible for members using the popular Apple iPhone, according to Fiserv.
"Mobile banking has become critical as more interactions and transactions take place via phones, and more members rely on mobile as their primary, or only, banking channel,” noted Fiserv. "NavyArmy knew if their app wasn’t readily accessible from members’ phone home screens, it was at risk of being replaced with another app that was.”
To bring its mobile banking platform back to life, NavyArmy opted to migrate to Mobiliti from Fiserv.