Northwest was the first credit union to adopt MVS after DigitalMailer launched it in April. DigitalMailer CEO Ron Daly said there are nearly 30 credit unions that are in various stages of the buying process.

The MVS icon appears as a menu item on Northwest's site behind its multifactor authentication process. The documents are automatically encrypted after members place them in MVS, which uses AES 256 bit encryption and other industry best practices, according to DigitalMailer. The virtual strongbox also stores members' documents on dedicated, redundant storage devices in datacenters based in Boston and Charlotte, N.C. that are controlled by DigitalMailer, Daly said. The datacenters are SAS 70 Type II certified with 24-hour monitoring to assure safety and continuous backup in case of power outages or natural disasters. 

Additionally, MVS enables members to customize the organization of their legal and financial documents, including photos. It offers anytime Web access. In September, DigitalMailer will launch a tablet app that will enable consumers to snap a photo of their documents and place them in MVS. A similar smartphone app is expected to launch by the end of the year.

Northwest members who get electronic statements are offered MVS free with 100 megabytes of storage space. Since the solution was introduced in June, about 800 members are using it. Approximately 68,000 out of 110,000 Northwest members get electronic statements.

“We're still in the initial phases of making our members aware of it, but the number of adopters is pretty much growing every day,” Gibson said, adding Northwest also plans to market the service to small business owners.

As with any new solution, however, it's uncertain whether MVS will become a popular offering among credit unions and their members. Marc DeCastro, research director for consumer banking at Framingham-Mass.-based IDC, noted in a June blog post that Wells Fargo recently dropped its virtual safe deposit box solution because of lack of consumer interest.

For Northwest, MVS was an easy install, Gibson said. The credit union paid a one-time set up and implementation fee and pays a monthly storage space fee, which increases only as members sign up for the service. Members pay an extra fee for storage space that exceeds the free 100 megabytes of space provided by Northwest. While income is expected, Gibson said the primary goal is to keep members in an increasingly competitive environment.