Listserv Update: January-March, 2005

CUNA OpSS Council
March 22, 2005

The Listserv is a centralized list of e-mail addresses that is used for group discussions by members of the Operations Sales & Service Council. Posting a question on the Listserv is a great way to get immediate feedback from other OpSS professionals on just about any question. In case you don’t check the Listserv regularly on the web, here are some interesting subjects that have appeared over the last several months.

Instant Issue Cards I am looking for a recommendation on a company and product that will help us do instant-issue Visa, Visa Debits, MasterCard, and ATM cards. I have a brochure from Trism on the Datacard Group 150i, but do not have any contact information. We do not contract out our Visa or MasterCards, therefore instant issue would benefit our members well.

Removing Joint Owners Please share any procedures for removing joint owners from an account. Do you require all parties on the account to sign when removing an owner? If you cannot get signatures from all parties on the account, do you allow one party to close the account and reopen a new account under a different account number?

Call-Center Loans We presently do not do any loans in the call center. For those who are doing call-center loans: What types of loan applications do you process? What is the average time spent on these loans? What part of the loan process does the call center do?

Verifying Checks/Cashing Payday Lending Checks We currently verify checks over the phone. We are finding that we get over 150 calls per week from payday lenders. Here are my questions: 1) Does anyone automate this function? If so, have you had any problems? Fraud? Do you have a separate line or just an option on your main phone menu? 2) Does anyone charge to verify a check? 3) Does anyone have any special procedures to manage the payday lenders, such as charging them a fee to cash a check? Only allowing them to come in at certain times? Dropping off and picking up the check the next day?

Overdraft Loans and Courtesy Pay Currently we offer our members up to $1500 overdraft limits in the event their checking account is overdrawn. We are looking to start a Courtesy Pay program. The debate continues between Operations and Lending. If we have Courtesy Pay, do we still want to offer overdraft protection loans at the current rate of 18%? Or are we better served to offer a variable line of credit that not only protects the checking account, but allows our members to write themselves a loan?

Branch Manager Development Currently, we don't include branch managers in any type of monthly or quarterly meetings with our entire management team. Because of this, they feel there is a large "gap" in the team building process between themselves and the rest of the management team. I tend to agree.

I would like to ask the group how you develop your branch managers: 1) Do you have a monthly/quarterly all-managers meeting that includes the branch manager? 2) If so, does your agenda include "developmental topics" or do you bring them up to date on various projects that are going on, or do you do both? 3) What other types of topics do you include on your agenda that would be "team-building" in nature?

ACH Reporting Responsibility We are looking at restructuring some of our functions within the credit union. Currently, the ACH processor reports to the director of accounting. We are thinking that this may be more of a member service-type function. Can you let me know who your ACH processor(s) report to? Front-office (member service, sales functions) or back-office functions (accounting)?

Pre-Employment Testing There was a recent question on the Lending Council Listserve that I think is worthy for the OpSS Council. The question was about using a pre-employment sales survey in the hiring or promotion process—whether anyone was using this, and how successful this was proving. Note that this topic will be incorporated into a presentation at our upcoming annual conference in Las Vegas in September. The VP of HR from Air Academy FCU responded:

"We use the Sales Professional Assessment Inventory by Reid London House. Overall, I like the product as it measures traits such as sales motivation, sales interest, sales orientation, energy level, sales skills, sales understanding, business ethics, and customer service. We find that it has been accurate in predicting sales ability.

“However, I am looking to change to a simulation-test product later this year. We moved to simulation testing for tellers and the computer-based simulation is a realistic portrayal of the actual requirements of the position. For tellers, the simulation has them maintain a cash drawer, handle deposits, and deal with customers etc. Therefore, it gives a more accurate and realistic method to test an applicant's ability to do the job. Employment Technologies sells simulation testing software for the variety of positions at a credit union or bank and we have been pleased with the product thus far."

Any other thoughts on the subject?

Picture Phones We have had several situations recently where members are taking pictures of our lobby with their cell phones. We have asked these members to turn off their phones, but are concerned as to whether we should allow cell phones in the lobby at all.

How many of you have signs posted that cell phones are not allowed, or must be turned off?

Call-Center Statistics I am interested in finding out about call-center statistics and staffing levels. Currently, we have six full-time call-center staff. One is leaving and I want to make sure our staff is meeting industry productivity standards. Our call center does not take loan applications at this current time. Each FTE averages 75 calls per day with the percentage of answered calls running an average of 98.6% over the past 12 months. They post an average of 6561 mail transactions each month, along with other side duties. I’d appreciate any sharing of other call-center statistics.

Peak Tellers/Scheduling Software Does anyone use peak tellers? If so, would you mind sharing their pay scale and job description? The majority of our tellers are full-time; however it seems to be a revolving door. In an attempt to get staff here when we need them, we would like to start to replace the full-time with peak-time tellers. Also, does anyone have a good software program they are using for scheduling teller staff?

Beacon Scores We are wanting to pull beacon scores or credit bureaus on all new members, regardless if they apply for a loan or not. Our credit bureau company has told us that we need a specific purpose in order to pull this information, such as update credit information because of an outstanding VISA. They say we cannot pull just because they have given up permission. What do you do and do you have any issues with getting this information from the credit bureau company?