CU*Answers Adds Seven New Core Processing Clients, Collections Offering

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- CU*Answers is adding seven new credit unions to its list of core processing clients.

The new clients (and their current processor, according to the NCUA Web site, in parentheses) are $319 million Detroit Municipal CU (CUSA Technologies); $143 million Superior Choice CU of Superior, Wis. (Summit Information Systems); $85 million United Educational CU of Battle Creek, Mich. (Open Solutions/CGI); $65 million Glacier Hills CU of West Bend, Wis. (Open Solutions/CGI); $40 million Firefighters CU of LaCrosse, Wis. (Enhanced Software Products); and $24 million Kensington Valley Community CU of Highland, Mich. (CUSA Technologies).

The seventh is a startup--The Finest Credit Union--expected to begin serving the New York City police force on Jan. 1, CU*Answers says.

The Grand Rapids-based CUSO says it now has added 15 new credit unions to its roster in the past 12 months and serves nearly 1.7 million credit union members in 16 states.

CU*Answers is now also offering its core processing clients a collections system that lets credit unions use the functionality of their installed technology.

The Collections Services team already is being used by five clients, the Grand Rapids-based CUSO says. The system uses the Lender*VP and Xtension Call Center business units to combine functions such as letter generation, online banking and audio collections notices and telephone calling with data and communications collection and reporting within the CU*Answers core platform.

"With the Lender*VP collection team we are able to provide additional team members to a credit union's collections department. Team members that never call in sick, never take a day off, and always work evenings," said Geoff Johnson, CU*Answers vice president of lending.

Wincor Nixdorf USA Moves to New Headquarters

AUSTIN, Texas -- Wincor Nixdorf has moved its U.S. headquarters to a larger location in Austin to accommodate "ongoing, aggressive growth" in the American marketplace, the company says.

The new offices at 8505 Cross Park Drive has 30% more space than the previous headquarters at

2400 Grand Avenue Parkway, says the German-

based provider of IT solutions to financial services and retailers.

"Relocating our U.S. headquarters is a necessary next step in our company's aggressive growth plan and an indication of the momentum we've gained in this country," says Brad Waugh, president and chief executive officer of Wincor Nixdorf USA.

The company operates in 90 countries and reported global revenues of more than $2.5 billion in the past fiscal year, and says it is now one of the world's three largest providers of point-of-sale systems for ATMs and the only provider of bulk check deposit ATMs.

CRI Canada to Buy Selient

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- CRI Canada Inc., a marketer of credit insurance products and technology to Canadian credit unions, says it is acquiring Selient Inc., a provider of online lending solutions.

CRI Canada is an AEGON company and affiliated with Creditor Resources Inc. and says the acquisition, expected to be completed by the end of this year, will help the company expand its credit union presence and position in the LOS market.

The Selient product line includes the ProLender, ProLender Business Edition and Decision Assistant LOS and credit-decisioning systems.

"Our vision is to provide true Enterprise Point-of-Sale technology, with fully integrated workflow for the entire range of credit union products and services," says Nicole Benson, president of CRI Canada in Vancouver.

"Both companies bring state-of-the-art technology and a keen understanding of the marketplace to this relationship," "I am confident clients of both product lines will benefit from our combined expertise and look forward to the partnership," says Bryan McCaw, president and CEO of Toronto-based Selient.

British Columbia CU Inks 'Resource Management' Pact with Summit

BURNABY, British Columbia -- A billion-dollar British Columbia credit union has signed on to be one of the first users of Summit Information System's new service bureau here.

Valley First of Penticton has signed a resource management agreement to use Summit's data and operations center to host the $1.4 billion (Canadian) CU's servers, core applications and network infrastructure, the Oregon-based Fiserv credit union technology unit says.

"A key benefit of the Summit resource management arrangement is that we will continue to own and control our banking system's IT infrastructure, letting us integrate with applications we develop, quickly respond to internal requirements or upgrade or change hardware whenever needed," says Harley Biddlecombe, president and CEO of Valley First, which has 15 branches in British Columbia's Similkameen, Okanagan and Thompson regions, 45,000 members and more than 400 employees.

The new center specializes in Summit's iSpectrum system, a core platform developed for Canadian credit unions as in-house, resource management or service bureau solution.

Aimbridge Says 50 CUs Now Using Credit Desk Support Service

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Aimbridge Lending Solutions says it has now signed 50 credit unions to use its Credit Desk Support underwriting-on-demand service six months after its national launch.

The service makes trained underwriters available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST seven days a week to answer loan requests from members of client credit unions of the provider of multi-channel, multi-lender auto buying and lending services.

The 50th customer is First Coast Community Credit Union of Palatka, Fla., which says it has seen a 40% decrease in loan turnaround time and a $209,000 increase in loan volume in its first three months on the service.

"I'm the only one that processes the loan applications and CDS is exactly what I need to fill in when I'm in a meeting or out of the office," says Cheryl Boggess, loan manager at the $55 million CU.

"I set the parameters for the decisioning and Aimbridge sends me a summary report every month, so I have really been able to make sure that the service is addressing First Coast's specific needs," she says.

PSCU Commits to AT&T Ethernet Link From Florida to Arizona

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- PSCU Financial Services will be connecting its St. Petersburg headquarters with its data center in Arizona via a new Ethernet private line provided by AT&T, the company says.

The new link helps ensure critical data replication and open lines of communication between the two sites, the organizations say.

"We needed seamless connectivity between our headquarters and data center to expand and improve call center operations and better secure our communications capabilities," says Richard Ledbetter, chief information officer of PSCU Financial Services.

PSCU, the nation's largest CUSO, already was using AT&T for dedicated voice, high-speed networking and managed Internet services when it committed to the company for instantaneous mirroring capability.

Check 21 Imaging Saves Green while Being 'Green'

NORTHFIELD, Ill. -- Check 21's not only good for the bottom line, but for the environment as well.

According to Digital Check Corp., which has a fleet of more than 150,000 check scanners deployed at branches and back offices across the country, an estimated more than 100,000 tons of CO₂ does not enter the atmosphere because fewer checks are being transported by car or truck.

That doesn't take into consideration the emissions saved from airplanes carrying checks, too, and the effect is expected to be even greater as the use of remote deposit capture used by businesses to send checks to their banks continues to grow, as well, the company says.

Many scientists cite carbon dioxide emissions as the leading cause of the "greenhouse effect" and global warming.

A report from Celent LLC earlier this year says the total number of remote deposit capture seats should grow from 244,000 this year to more than five million in 2012, resulting in CO₂ emission reductions that could reach 4.3 million tons a year based on current average car mileages.

"We want to educate financial institutions and their commercial customers on the positive environmental impact of using remote deposit capture and branch automation technologies," says John Gainer, executive vice president of Digital Check in Northfield, Ill.

He adds that a number of "green" initiatives encouraging consumers to use electronic services over paper have been launched in the financial services industry recently, including one by the National Automated Clearing House Association that includes major banks, processors such as CheckFree and Fiserv, and the Federal Reserve.

Settleware Registers First E-Mortgage with MERS, Fannie Mae

LAGUNA Beach, Calif. -- Exactly what constitutes an E-Mortgage? A 'paperless' mortgage process may mean that paper documents were then scanned and sent electronically, but does that mean it's paperless? While some providers may argue the fine points and exact definitions, (and who did it first) in the end, it comes down to fast and convenient service provided to members.

In mid-July, Settleware Secure Services, Inc., announced the first borrowers to have their electronic mortgage note registered with the MERS eRegistry (www.mersinc.org) through its Settleware Solution. That home mortgage was provided by American First Credit Union in La Habra, which originated the loan, certified the e-note in 1:36 minutes and then sold it to Fannie Mae. (MERS handles mortgage deeds of trust that are recorded in county land records. Its electronic registry allows for the tracking of changes in servicing over the life of the loan.)

Rick Triola, president of Settleware said then, "We've been working for a long time to perfect this system and we're thrilled that it worked flawlessly." AFCU had already been using the Signing Solution for more than a year for electronic signatures, electronic notarization and electronic recording of digital documents without scanning," he told Credit Union Times.

Carlos Miramontez, vice president of lending at AFCU said that he'd utilized the service to release mortgage liens electronically for over a year, and "the next logical step was to produce our first E-Mortgage. I think that option is essential to speeding up the loan closing process, improving service quality and reducing costs."

By partnering with Settleware and Fannie Mae, Miramontez said the concept had been made a reality. "It proves that you don't have to be a billion-dollar mortgage lender to be able to afford the technology needed to close loans electronically."

Imprivata Sells Access-Management Appliance to Four CUs

LEXINGTON, Mass. -- Imprivata Inc., a converged identity and access management appliance company, says it has added four more credit unions to its client roster.

They are $2.6 billion Delta Community Credit Union in Atlanta, $854 million NASA Federal Credit Union in Upper Marlboro, Md., $494 million Northeast Credit Union in Portsmouth, N.H., and $387 million Telhio Credit Union in Columbus, Ohio.

Imprivata's OneSign platform includes tools that replace network access passwords with strong authentication options, a single sign-on that addresses password management and its OneSign Physical/Logical service that integrates building and network access systems to enable location-based authentication.