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The following post is provided by MeasureOne™, a MeridianLink® partner.
How do credit unions stay competitive in today’s tech-driven landscape? As traditional banking institutions continue to invest heavily in cutting-edge technologies, the rise of mobile banking, online financial services, and fintech startups has created a significant shift in consumer expectations. Credit unions must adapt to remain competitive. By embracing the opportunity of technology, credit unions can continue being a trusted partner to their members.
What challenges do credit unions face?
1. Competing with larger financial institutions
Large financial institutions enjoy several advantages that make them more competitive. Their scale, resources, and diversification enable the provision of innovative products and services, reaching a wider customer base and withstanding economic fluctuations more effectively. The ability to invest in the latest technologies and cutting-edge software allows larger institutions to offer customized services that credit unions, due to their smaller scale, may find challenging to match. Additionally, larger institutions often negotiate better rates, leading to lower operating costs.
2. Antiquated processes and manual consumer data sourcing
Credit unions face a significant hurdle in reliance on antiquated processes and manual consumer data sourcing. Some still utilize paper-based systems, leading to errors and delays in processing. This impacts the ability to analyze data quickly and accurately, hindering informed decision-making and personalized service provision.
3. Tighter budgets and need for cost savings
Credit unions face the challenge of operating on tight budgets while striving to maintain a competitive edge. They must constantly balance the need to modernize their infrastructure and invest in new technology with the need to control costs. The financial services landscape is evolving rapidly, and credit unions need to keep up with the latest trends and innovations to remain relevant and attractive to members.
The cost of technology and infrastructure investments can be significant, and credit unions often struggle to find ways to fund these initiatives. Lack of budget for developers or engineers, and more can make it difficult for credit unions to find the right people to manage these projects.
4. Increased borrower fraud
Loan application and borrower fraud is an additional challenge for credit unions. Borrowers can exploit technological gaps with fraudulent activities, impacting the credibility of the credit union and causing significant financial losses.
This fraud comes in many different forms, but often takes shape in edited or falsified paystubs, bank statements, and employment records. When borrowers provide PDF documentation, credit unions typically require manual document processing and verification, leading to a) inefficiencies, including excess labor and time taken in the underwriting process, and b) inaccurately qualifying unfit borrowers. More accurate and efficient verification is necessary to save credit unions time and money, and to continue to serve their members effectively.
5. Member engagement
Credit unions need to find ways to engage their members and build lasting relationships. Member engagement is essential for credit unions to grow and remain competitive. However, many credit unions struggle to engage their members effectively.
Credit unions may find it difficult to engage their members because of increased competition in the financial services industry. Banks, online lenders, and fintech startups offer similar services as credit unions, and they may have more resources to invest in member engagement strategies.
How to use technology to stay competitive
While the challenges faced by credit unions are by no means minor, embracing technology and automation can be a simple, cost-effective way to stay in front of the competition.
And there’s a simple way to do it!
Credit unions should invest in digital platforms that offer convenient, personalized financial services including automated consumer data verification and document processing. Embracing technology from these companies, like MeasureOne, enables credit unions to 1.) access the latest technology without building everything in-house, 2.) improve operational efficiency, 3.) keep costs low, 4.) prevent fraud, and 5.) drive member engagement.
Take advantage of the solution built for credit unions
With automated workflows and data directly from the consumer, the decision to take advantage of data technology is simple. Let MeasureOne be your partner.
For credit unions, MeasureOne’s product offers:
- Direct integration with MeridianLink with one-month, no risk-free trial (and 90%+ cost-savings after the trial ends)
- Low cost, automated verification of income, employment, and insurance
- Proprietary, automated, deterministic document and image processing with 100% accuracy
- Fraud-proof data straight from primary sources (Payroll and Bank systems) ensuring up-to-the-minute accuracy
- 100% market coverage (7,500+ supported payroll systems) driving industry leading conversion rates
From income and employment to insurance verification, MeasureOne brings secure, automated data to the table for credit unions and their members.
