GREAT FALLS, Mont.- Looking to expand in 2002, CUsource Inc., the statewide CU-owned CUSO, expects to add new CU members and add new services, according to the CUSO's newly-elected chairman, Anna Marie DeYoung of Livingston.
The past year, said DeYoung, was devoted to helping Montana CUs convert data processing systems to CUsource. Now the next project will be to bring on "a couple more" CUs, as well as provide new services in home banking and real estate loans.
Among the new services being looked at are home banking bill payment and real estate loan servicing. The loan services, she said, would be offered to CUs regardless of whether they sell loans into the secondary market. The real estate service could start in February or March, said DeYoung.
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On home banking, at least one new pilot venture on bill payment is being rolled out this month by the $67 million Helena Community Federal Credit Union. Testing of the service offered by Netzee Inc. of Atlanta began last July, said HCFCU Manager Gene Bowen.
Great Falls Teachers Credit Union is also considering the Netzee bill paying software.
A Netzee spokesman said his firm has had Montana bank clients for several years but is gratified to have CUs come on board.
In assuming the chairman's seat for CUsource Inc., DeYoung succeeds Wally Berry, president of Montana Federal Credit Union of Great Falls, who said the 11 original CU investors in the CUSO have been occupied during the last year with converting computer systems and service upgrades following the CUSO's merger with a Billings statewide CUSO.
That CUSO, Cumont Inc., was merged with CUsource in April 2000.
"We're glad that merger is behind us," said DeYoung.
CUsource Inc., said DeYoung, is a rare breed among CUSOs since it is a "multi-task" body with an investor base of CU owners. The Montana statewide framework is conducive, she said, to helping small rural CUs compete by offering top-of-the-line services to their members.
"We're now looking to convert a couple more credit unions to the system," said DeYoung.
Berry, the outgoing CUsource Inc. chairman, said the board on a rotating basis picks the head of the CUSO. Delong's election took place Dec. 11.
Separately, Berry noted that his $48 million CU, Montana Federal, has recently been occupied with completing the merger with another Great Falls credit union, Cicosta Federal CU. The merger is due to be finalized this month with a computer conversion. That merger was approved by the NCUA in November.
Cicosta, with $7.5 million in assets and 2,500 members, many of them city and county employees in Great Falls, experienced a CEO's medical retirement "and there were two other key people who had planned to retire, so their board decided against replacing three people," said Berry and decided to merge the credit union instead.
Cicosta, formed in 1954, was also "landlocked in its location on drive-up facilities." The board felt it could not offer the service amenities sought by its membership. -
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