PSCU announces winner of KnockOut 2017
Solution combining the benefits of credit and debit cards selected as winner of sixth annual collaboration event
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (December 4, 2017) — Team Flaming Dragons from HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union (Honolulu, Hawaii) has been selected as the winner of KnockOut 2017, a collaboration event hosted by PSCU in September. All five members of the winning team received a $1,500 dream vacation travel voucher.
The top prize-winning idea, Creditbility, is a service that will engage current and potential credit union members by creating a card that merges the rewards of a credit card with the security of a debit card. Members of the winning team will work with PSCU to evaluate the possibility of bringing the idea to market to benefit PSCU Member-Owner credit unions and their members. PSCU would like to congratulate Team Flaming Dragons team members Gabrielle Brice-Brown, John Franklin, Jon Hanai, Rylan Kwock and Darlene Wong.
“The inspiration behind our idea was that consumers today have developed a fear of falling into debt by opening credit cards. Young consumers in particular have come to prefer using debit cards over credit cards to avoid the temptation to overspend,” said Franklin. “We think Creditbility has the potential to help consumers meet their financial goals by introducing a hybrid card service that offers the rewards of credit with the security of debit.”
This year marked the sixth consecutive time PSCU has hosted KnockOut, the goal of which is to help solve a problem in the payments industry that will enable credit unions to better serve their members. The theme for this year’s competition – “Be Brilliant” – emphasized PSCU’s goal to support, protect and optimize every transaction and interaction of its Member-Owners. The event features five-person teams that have to ideate, design and present their ideas, with each team explaining its product’s function, feasibility, industry impact, time to market, cost and ROI. KnockOut focuses on helping to market and prototype real products and services.
“We look forward to seeing the breakthrough ideas generated from KnockOut each year, and this year was no exception,” said Chuck Fagan, PSCU CEO and President. “KnockOut gives us the opportunity to collaborate with some of the best and brightest people in our industry, with a goal of developing solutions to real-world problems.”
A total of eight teams – made up of employees of PSCU and its Member-Owner Credit Unions – participated in KnockOut 2017. A panel of judges composed of representatives from PSCU, FAIRWINDS Credit Union (Orlando, Florida), First Data and Mastercard evaluated the teams’ concept submissions.
PSCU would also like to extend its congratulations to the second- and third-place teams. Second place went to Team Mayweather from PSCU for its idea around decreasing fraudulent transactions by integrating fingerprint technology into the call center. Third place went to Team Cool Name Pending from Founders Federal Credit Union (Lancaster, South Carolina) for its idea of enhancing the CURewards® program to be more enticing to millennials. Two additional awards were presented for the Best Use of Data and IoT. Team Taking Aim from PSECU (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) and Team Pineapple from PSCU were the recipients of these awards, respectively.
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.
