U.P. Connection FCU partners with CU*SOUTH to offer members the best credit union experience
FAIRHOPE, AL (August 2, 2018) — U.P. Connection has selected CU*SOUTH as its new core technology partner and service provider. Based in Omaha, NE, with a branch in Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.P. Connection serves 4,000 members with assets of $35M.
“Our problem was that our old core software wasn’t keeping up with the needs of our members,” said CEO Janeane Whitney, CEO of U.P. Connection FCU. “We were operating on a system that was assembled out of many different modules, and this created inefficiency and unnecessary work; we weren’t delivering service to members as quickly as we wanted.”
“When we first met with the leaders of CU*SOUTH, we knew we found a great partner that would help us deliver the member experience we had envisioned,” continued Ms. Whitney. “CU*SOUTH offers a fully-integrated solution that was the best we’d seen in our vendor search. As a CUSO, they draw their best ideas from a large network of credit unions they serve, so it was a perfect fit for us and for our members.”
CU*SOUTH will provide U.P. Connection with a single-source solution for marketing, new account opening and funding, easy loan applications with auto-decisioning, remote loan closing with e-signing on tablets and cellphones, and comprehensive member access to their credit union services through biometric authentication options like facial recognition and fingerprint ID – no more passwords or security phrases.
“We’re inspired by the vision of over 270 credit unions – ranging from small start-ups all the way up to billion-dollar CUs,” said Leo Vaulin, CEO of CU*SOUTH. “Together, we’re able to offer CUs of all sizes a cloud-based solution at a reasonable price that gives CUs the power to win against the largest banks. Our mission is to help credits to be the heroes of their members’ lives.”
CU*SOUTH’s Managed Services will support U.P. Connection in growing their credit union by providing “on-demand” fractional employees – back office, compliance, collections, call center, IT, marketing, and consulting. “Smaller credit unions face the challenge of staffing as they grow – hiring specialists in each department,” added Vaulin. “CU*SOUTH’s Managed Services team makes it easy to “rent an expert” for a few hours or a few months giving the CU the opportunity to budget for growth.”
CU*SOUTH’s member-focused collaborative pricing model, comprehensive core without module add-ons, and integrated network of support services are designed to respond to and evolve with the needs of their credit union partners and owners. Cloud-based technology keeps all data flowing through a single system, creating seamless delivery of core services and services ranging from call center, back office, compliance and more.
“We are so excited to be part of the CU*SOUTH family,” said Ms. Whitney. “We wanted a partner that truly believes in the credit union philosophy of ‘people helping people.’ Now we can focus more on members and less on process by streamlining and automating with the CUSO.”
“Members come first in any core processing decision,” said Mr. Vaulin. “First, CU*SOUTH delivers the best online banking solution, which empowers members to do everything online – we have credit unions that operate with no physical branches – so the member self-service experience needs to be intuitive and fast like Amazon or Google.”
“Because we’re owned by credit unions, and not by banking software conglomerates, our pricing for both software and services was designed to be affordable for all credit unions, large and small,” concluded Mr. Vaulin. “Making sure the members’ money stays in the credit union and in the community is the best way for a credit union to show its members that their interests come first!”
About CU*South
CU*SOUTH is a credit union-owned cooperative focused on building a network of successful credit unions. CU*SOUTH offers a wide variety of services including the Tier-1 CU*BASE® processing system offered in both online (ASP) and in-house processing environments, as well as a fully integrated online and mobile banking solution. CU*SOUTH also provides a variety of managed services through its CUSO@Work division, as well as through collaborative partnerships with other CUSOs in the rapidly-growing cuasterisk.com network—CU*Answers, CU*NorthWest, eDOC Innovations, Xtend, and Site-Four. Managed services allow credit unions to outsource tasks at a fraction of the cost of a full-time specialist—accounting, collections, compliance, lending, marketing, call center, web design. As a partner of the cuasterisk.com network, CU*SOUTH provides a comprehensive offering of information technology tools and services through a collaborative, shared ownership model, with the same great value credit unions offer members. For more information, visit www.cusouth.com.
