Mercury system ready for new credit bureau format

SALT LAKE CITY – Credit union data processor Computer Consultants Corp. here believes it is the first CU data processor to integrate the new Metro 2 credit bureau reporting requirement into its core system, Mercury. CCCorp, which serves about 1,000 CUs, has added Metro 2 within its new Windows-based Mercury software, eliminating the need for any third-party interface, or add-on modules. Metro 2 is the new reporting format the Big Three credit reporting agencies are moving to. It is the format CUs will be using to report their members’ credit information to the bureaus. “Clients have the ability to transmit their member information to one, two or all three credit bureaus without having to involve a third party vendor. This should save the credit union time and money on a monthly basis and their members’ historical credit information will be more accurate,” said Theresa Johnson, who handles R&D of third-party relations for CCCorp. Metro 2 also reports accumulated credit histories, whereas third party reporting agencies may not necessarily keep histories filed. CCCorp did have one advantage in moving to the new Metro 2. It recently launched its new Mercury core processing system that was built as a Windows system running on Windows 2000 server, Microsoft SQL on the back-office side and Windows XP Professional on the client side. It’s easier to add a new format like Metro 2 when starting fresh, said Derrick Pope, software engineer for CCCorp. “Mercury was written from the ground up with the Metro 2 reporting requirements in mind. Converting an existing system over to use the new reporting format is very difficult,” said Pope. About 32 of CCCorp’s clients are on the new Mercury system, with 300 having already pre-paid for the system. CCCorp is moving in a new direction with an ASP-like version of Mercury, called Mercury-On-Demand. “Mercury-On-Demand is CCCorp’s Vertical Service Provider offering. It provides all the features of Mercury without much of the technology involvement of an in-house system,” said Lincoln Newey, marketing coordinator at CCCorp. On-Demand uses an IP connection to link the CU with CCCorp’s servers. The firm says security issues of an IP connection are mitigated using a Microsoft Terminal Server with a data stream that is SSL encrypted. On-Demand like Mercury runs as an n-tier application in the Windows XP Professional environment. [email protected]