Members are not just a number

Pelican State Credit Union employees seek out the reasons behind a member’s credit report.

November 3, 2017 by Jennifer Woldt, CU Magazine

At Pelican State Credit Union in Baton Rouge, La., members in need of loans are more than credit scores. They’re separate stories.

“When we review the credit report, we ask a ton of questions,” Jessica Oliver, director of financial outreach at the $311 million asset credit union, tells the CUNA News Podcast. “We want to make sure the member’s story matches what we’re seeing in print.”

Often, members who have blemishes on their credit report will say they’ve had a family emergency, a death in the family, a job loss, or another life event that caused them to fall behind on paying their bills, she says.