Background
Credit Plus was established in 1928 as a merchants bureau providing credit and business information in the Salisbury, Maryland area. Credit Plus provides credit reporting and other mortgage-related services to banks, lenders and mortgage brokers. A well-known national credit bureau, Credit Plus has maintained excellent business relationships and quality service by constantly meeting the changing credit information needs of their clients.

Credit Plus has always viewed technology as a critical component of credit reporting services and strives to stay competitive by utilizing the most advanced technology to provide accurate and reliable credit information in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Challenge
Reducing the amount of labor required to install and maintain systems was a major goal for Credit Plus. The prevailing systems available for credit reporting were all based upon 32-bit Windows application software that required on-site installation directly onto all of their clients' computers. This presented a tremendous challenge for Credit Plus because with hundreds of clients located in several states, providing software installation, maintenance and technical support was a logistical nightmare.

"Software installation was very, very difficult," recalls Mike Hall, Credit Plus Operations Manager. Configuring the software for numerous operating system platforms and different network infrastructures was a time consuming, labor-intensive task. "Our guys would spend 45 minutes just to complete installation on one computer."

Growing recognition of the Internet as a medium for mortgage credit reporting was also putting pressure on Credit Plus. Several clients had threatened to leave Credit Plus unless they provided an Internet-based credit reporting solution. "They told us, 'Either you get [an Internet} solution for us, or we'll go with a competitor.'"

Solution
Credit Plus knew a Web-based solution would solve their problems. Although their existing software providers had told them they were underway with development of a Web-based system, after several months of waiting Credit Plus finally decided that opportunity costs were mounting and decided to explore other alternatives. MeridianLink approached Credit Plus with Mortgage Credit Link (MCL), a mortgage credit reporting system that met their number one need, a 100% Web-based platform.

MeridianLink brought with them plenty of experience in developing Web-based business applications. E-commerce, inventory tracking and other types of business applications had been a part of MeridianLink's consulting business. Although MCL represented their first stand-alone product, they had been extremely successful in gaining considerable market share in the credit reporting software industry in only their first year of distribution.

"We chose MeridianLink because there was very little risk to us," states Hall. "Web systems just started to be the new thing out in the market. MeridianLink's ASP [Application Service Provider] model didn't require me to do anything. We already had the machines and operating system, and as a Web-based system, connecting our operations to our customers meant just getting onto the Internet."

MeridianLink's attention to design and workflow capability also appealed to Credit Plus because training and migrating customers from one system to another presents an enormous challenge for their customer base. Easy operation of the MCL system meant training customers would require less time and less money. "Obviously, a big benefit from a sales perspective is that there's not the same amount of time involved once the customer is setup," says Hall. "There's less time involved dealing with the client to get them to start pulling credit."

Results
MeridianLink has made a major impact on Credit Plus since they started using the MCL system in February 2001. MeridianLink was able to complete a system for Credit Plus in less than two weeks and immediately they began migrating existing customers and attracting new ones.

"We had been in this client's office on three different occasions with two different systems. We always ended up leaving with our tails between our legs because of system failures. I finally got another appointment and demonstrated [the MCL] system. They absolutely loved it and started pulling from us immediately."

Utilizing the MeridianLink ASP structure has brought other benefits to Credit Plus. Technical support call volume has been drastically reduced and allowed Credit Plus to free up resources to focus on growing their business, resulting in a doubling of revenues in just one year of use. "I can concentrate on selling as opposed to dealing with tech issues," says Hall. "MCL has allowed us to go into places we couldn't get into before because our other systems didn't work." Most important to Credit Plus is the relationship they've built with MeridianLink. Ongoing communication, whether a technical support issue or a simple courtesy call, has convinced Credit Plus that they made the right decision. "By far, the technical support and development are the best qualities of MeridianLink. The response is so good, fast and accurate. We're very happy we chose MeridianLink."