Driving efficiency and growth with an automated balance transfer solution

THE OPPORTUNITY    

Improving a historically manual process    

In an effort to drive down operational costs, improve user experiences, and enable its members to better self-serve, TruWest Credit Union made a strategic decision to evaluate all its manual processes. The credit union assessed each process to determine if it had a partner capable of automating it, then determined whether there was an off-the-shelf solution available or if its partner was willing to create a custom solution.

One of the manual processes identified was the credit card balance transfer solution TruWest had been offering its members for many years. The goal of the program was to ensure members with credit cards from other issuers - where interest rates were often much higher - knew about TruWest’s credit card and its superior rates. However, the existing process for requesting a balance transfer was very fragmented, paper-based, and manual for both members and the back office. The member had to print the form, manually fill it in, then mail it to the credit union. Then a credit union employee would print off the request, manually key it in, print the check, and mail it to the issuer. 

This manual solution left significant room for human error, and end to end took eight to 10 days to complete. Additionally, members were not given clear confirmation as to whether the request was received or how long it would take to process - leading to increased call center volume.

With a best-in-class credit card offering - including low interest rates, a strong rewards program, and a robust feature set - TruWest already had an attractive and competitive product. However, to drive adoption of this program and use of its credit card, the credit union needed to make it easier for members to transfer their external credit card balances to TruWest’s credit card. Additionally, to cut operational costs, the credit union needed to automate its manual back-office processes, including the funds transfer functionality. Therefore, making improvements to this solution became one of the credit unions' top strategic priorities.

THE SOLUTION    

Automating processes to create efficiencies    

“The biggest piece with NCR Client Services is that there’s no idea, thought, or request that is too crazy or too big. They can build it and they can make it happen,” said Lesley Scotford, Vice President, Member Services, TruWest Credit Union. “When we had the scope call, we thought we were asking for the moon. They said it was totally doable. We got everything we were looking for in this widget.”

As an NCR Digital Banking client, TruWest presented the scope of its balance transfer request to NCR’s Client Services team - a team the credit union had worked with on several other custom enhancements throughout its long-standing relationship. The team was very familiar with TruWest’s culture, operating model and approach to making enhancements to its products and services - and met the credit union with the same level of professionalism and commitment it had with all prior engagements.

NCR Client Services worked with TruWest to put its requirements into action to deliver an automated solution, integrated with both online and mobile banking. Additionally, NCR automated the funds transfer process - significantly driving down operational costs for the credit union.

Members can now log in to online banking or their mobile app and request a credit card balance transfer in under 90 seconds. Upon login, the member simply validates their prepopulated contact information, identifies their credit card issuer and enters their existing credit card account information. When the digital form is submitted, the balance is immediately added to the member’s TruWest credit card account, and a check made out to the issuer is printed directly from the core - with the issuer’s address included. The member also receives a confirmation screen and email confirming the request.

Upon launching the new digital solution, TruWest initially chose to continue sending paper checks to ensure it didn’t see a rise in bad address returns. However, the credit union found this process to be so successful, it has not opted to switch to ACH - but does know that’s an option that can easily be turned on in the future. Therefore, the only manual step that remains is for the employee to mail the check to the issuer which takes less than 30 seconds to complete.

While the solution is available on demand, TruWest also runs promotions through login prompts, banner ads, and email using NCR Promotion Suite Premium. This marketing tool enables financial institutions to target specific users with relevant messages and offers - in the right place, at the right time - encouraging them to use new features that drive loyalty, retention, and efficiency.

THE RESULTS    

Better experience, lower costs    

In production since July 2018, TruWest has received ongoing positive feedback from members. Additionally, the credit union has had significantly lower call volume given the clear communication presented in the confirmation screen and email.

By enabling this automated, digital solution, TruWest has:

• Achieved higher adoption, driving a nearly 30% increase in balance transfers over the previous year, resulting in an additional $750K in balance transfers.
• Significantly improved the member experience, enabling users to complete the request digitally in 90 seconds.
• Improved efficiency by reducing back-office processes to 30 seconds.
• Reduced costs associated with more expensive channels with a 17% reduction in branch transfers and a 9% reduction in convenience checks issued.
• Increased revenue with an additional $22.5K in fee income.

WHY NCR?    

NCR helps banks and credit unions take the guesswork and complexity out of deploying innovative digital solutions for their customers and members. With a digital-first approach and a single, flexible platform, banks and credit unions can easily adapt to evolving customer and member expectations, helping them stand out and stay ahead. Financial institutions like TruWest trust NCR to be their strategic partner - to help them simplify operations and bring differentiating digital capabilities to market.