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Contact:
CONTACTS:
LINN COOK
MeridianLink, Inc.
(714) 708-6950
Lncook@meridianlink.com
MeridianLink Provides Centerpiece for Credit
Union’s Technology Makeover
Costa Mesa, California – May 27, 2004 –
When it came to technology, Salt Lake City’s VAMCU
Federal Credit Union always felt they were on the outside
looking in. They understood the role technology could
play in streamlining their lending operations, but their
goals were usually larger than their budgets. Like many
other smaller credit unions, they labored on with inefficient
processes and outdated systems.
But everything changed last December, when VAMCU ran
across MeridianLink, a leading credit union technology
vendor who provided them with an innovative online lending
and decisioning system. “The difference,”
says VAMCU Vice President Phil Patten “is night
and day.”
Billed as an online loan decisioning and transaction
management system, LoansPQ is a 100% Web-based platform
that seamlessly integrates with credit union websites,
creating an online channel for consumers to submit online
loan applications and receive an instant loan pre-qualification
decision within seconds. On the back-end, LoansPQ is
a sophisticated loan processing tool, capable of handling
loan transactions from end to end.
This infusion of technology has not only generated a
surge of new loan business for VAMCU, it’s instilled
a culture of technology that Patten sees as a driver
for growth in the future. “Technology will allow
us to expand our lending ability and membership base.
Now we can go out and seek other markets.”
Internally, LoansPQ has transformed VAMCU’s lending
operations into a purely digital, paperless office.
Featuring digital signature pads and electronic archiving
of documents, LoansPQ has enabled VAMCU to achieve what
Patten describes as “peak efficiency”: increased
loan officer productivity, convenient access to critical
data, and reductions in equipment and personnel costs
that will save VAMCU thousands of dollars per year.
“LoansPQ has allowed us to do more with less,”
says Michelle Hill, Marketing and Lending Director at
VAMCU. Year over year, consumer loan volume is up by
16% since implementing LoansPQ. But more impressively,
they’ve managed this growth with less staff.
“Last year, we had three loan officers and one
part-time processor. Currently, we have two loan officers
and we’ve gone without a processor for a couple
of months. We’ve done fifty-one more loans in
the same time period,” remarks Hill. “We
call LoansPQ our third loan officer.”
Lending efficiency has increased for many reasons, but
Hill has noticed that loan officers are able to close
loans with unprecedented speed. In some instances, member
loan applications are processed and completed in just
ten minutes. “It really is a paradigm shift for
us,” she says.
Patten estimates they’ve experienced at least
a three-fold increase in website activity, indicating
more effective use of the Internet as a sales and marketing
channel. Of the loans processed through the LoansPQ
system since the beginning of the year, over 25% were
initiated by the consumer themselves, freeing up valuable
time and resources for loan officers to concentrate
on marketing.
LoansPQ’s powerful reporting and data mining tools
have allowed VAMCU to analyze their member base and
strategize key marketing decisions without having to
consult with an outside vendor for data mining. “The
ability to look at credit scores and other member variables
for data mining is huge,” says Patten. “For
example, we know that 30-40% of our membership is A/B
credit. Can we be sure about a generalization of our
membership? Can we do a loose pre-approval campaign
and feel pretty secure? With LoansPQ, we can.”
But most importantly, MeridianLink’s LoansPQ has
leveled the playing field for VAMCU with technology
that is as advanced as it is affordable. With quotes
for comparable technology running as high as $500,000,
the ‘pay as you go’ transactional pricing
model of LoansPQ keeps costs proportionately low.
Beyond productivity metrics or ROI analysis, VAMCU believes
that LoansPQ has breathed new life into their organization,
allowing them to continue serving the community as they
have for the past fifty years. “Lending is the
heart of our business, it is the very core of what we
do,” says Patten. “LoansPQ has given us
the wheels to turn around.”
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