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The Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has brought chaos everywhere. What can credit unions do to stay aloft, and help their most vulnerable members and employees?  This post was inspired by a recent article we read on CreditUnion.com that we wanted to add additional thoughts on.

First, we hope that you, your loved ones, friends, and colleagues are healthy.

We would like to inform LoansPQ clients and those who are interested in LoansPQ of an upcoming webinar: 

Most mid-market banks have so far only deployed minimally-capable online account opening and online loan origination software. The “personal touch” to banking was viewed as still the most comfortable way to do business and sort of a reason not to totally commit to full-spectrum/omnichannel digital banking. In the space of a few weeks, everything has changed. While the personal touch will certainly return, what’s absolutely required now and forever is “no touch” banking.

Today’s financial institutions are increasingly open to the adoption of digital technologies to enhance the customer experience. A good example of this is QR Codes. A number of banks and credit unions have started using QR codes to provide consumers with a new way to make payments. This innovation should be applauded, but also qualified; there may be some additional ways in which financial institutions could be making use of QR codes, including for marketing. Right now, these additional applications are largely being neglected.

MeridianLink is a SaaS company serving over 1400 banks and credit unions.  As the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) negatively impacts basic economic functions across the U.S. and rest the world, we at MeridianLink are uniquely able to see some market dynamics in real time and understand how recent events are impacting community financial institutions.

The banking industry is ever in flux… and as we settle into a new year, one of the big priorities that many institutions are facing is an adjustment to the increased prominence of digital banking.

In any business, companies can only move as fast as the slowest part of the process. For mortgage lenders, the slowest part of the loan process – outside of regulatory mandated waiting periods – has often been the limitations of physical paper. Whether it is the printing, delivery and fulfillment of paper-based disclosures and closing packages or the transfer of data from a paper application to an underwriting system, manually completing any task dramatically slows down a lender’s efficiency.

When it comes to new digital lending, point-of-sale technology(POS) is a trendy topic. Every lender wants a shiny, intuitive POS for their borrowers so they can apply for a loan anywhere, at any time.

Credit unions require constant vigilance against disparate lending practices. Specifically, there is a need to ensure that different members are given fair and equal treatment through all lending services. This goal is simple in theory but sometimes challenging in practice; to that end, MeridianLink recently hosted a webinar, providing our credit union and banking clients with digital banking tips and best practices for avoiding disparate impact in indirect lending.