Credit unions leverage PSCU’s call centers for emergency member service support
CUSO’s 24/7/365 call center teams help mitigate service challenges during Hurricane Matthew
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (October 25, 2016) — When Hurricane Matthew tore up the eastern coast of the U.S. two weeks ago, several PSCU Owner credit unions with branches in Florida and South Carolina temporarily suspended or curtailed operations to ensure the safety of their employees and members. But while their branch-based services may have been impacted, members of the credit unions were still able to get their inquiries addressed and resolved through PSCU’s 24/7/365 call center resources located in Arizona and Michigan. The CUSO’s business continuity plan makes PSCU’s call center services available to Owner credit unions during a crisis or when the credit unions’ member service operations are compromised.
“PSCU’s Member-Owner credit unions own 100% of PSCU’s call center facilities, technology and infrastructure in Arizona and Michigan,” said Chuck Fagan, president and CEO of PSCU. “That autonomy of ownership means they can expect PSCU to act quickly and make call center support services available to help them through times of distress and high demand, while still maintaining extra capacity and meeting service levels.”
PSCU’s call center technology enables its representatives to seamlessly access members’ credit card accounts as well as the credit unions’ core processing platforms to assist members with questions on their other deposit and loan accounts. As part of their contingency plans for service support, PSCU Owner credit unions can prearrange with the CUSO’s Total Member Care call centers to reroute their cardholders’ calls during an emergency situation, such as the unexpected closure of their own member services operations.
“We appreciate the quality service PSCU provided our members prior to and during Hurricane Matthew,” said Travis Hicks, Contact Center Manager with Heritage Trust Federal Credit Union (Charleston, S.C.). “Our branches and the Corporate Office had to close prior to landfall in preparation for the mandatory evacuation in our area. After the storm, we experienced intermittent power outages at multiple locations, including our Corporate Office, which negatively impacted our Contact Center team. PSCU was able to effectively assist 100% of our members’ calls during the recovery period and maintained our service level and member expectations.”
A total of 14 PSCU Owner credit unions, representing over 1.3 million members, collaborated with the CUSO to quickly arrange after-hours, weekend and overflow call center support. The call centers increased staffing levels to process an additional 10,000 calls over a three-day period. In addition to providing account status and balance information, the CUSO also assisted impacted credit union members with emergency credit limit increases and daily authorization limit resets to accommodate extraordinary demand for funds availability and higher transaction rates.
About PSCU
PSCU/Co-op Solutions is the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO) and an integrated financial technology solutions provider. With over four decades of industry experience and a commitment to service excellence and innovation, the company serves more than 4,000 financial institutions throughout North America. PSCU/Co-op Solutions leverages its expertise and resources on behalf of credit unions and their members, offering an end-to-end product portfolio that includes payment processing, fraud and risk management, data and analytics, digital banking, instant payments, strategic consulting, collections, ATM and POS networks, shared branching and 24/7/365 member support via its contact centers. For more information, visit pscu.com and coop.org.
