Krauser, who joined Melrose CU about a year ago, explained one of his goals was to study what the credit union could do better and began researching software that would allow him to do that.

“We started in business in 1922 in taxi medallion financing,” Krauser said. “We have a significant portfolio in that. That is one reason we wanted to get involved in this.”

The credit union desired the ability to flag any problems in advance by adjusting and stress testing its portfolio, and to quantify and maintain its methodology.

Melrose CU, which has an open charter and one branch, investigated which lending modules would integrate with its core system's existing data as well as standardize underwriting within its departments. The Sageworks suite, Krauser explained, allows the credit union to stress test its portfolio based on numerous factors such as loan-to-value, debt service coverage ratio changes and interest rate increases.

The credit union started fully underwriting with the system on Aug. 4, 2015.

“The quality of the underwriting analysis has increased dramatically,” Krauser pointed out, adding that the timesaving benefit will come later on. “The reason it is not there yet is that it is new and we're still learning what to do, so there still is a learning curve.”

Libby Bierman, an analyst for Sageworks, said, “Our bread and butter at Sageworks has always been commercial loans and business lending, so the tax packages we support are mostly those commercial properties that accounting firms used for their businesses. We supply our financial institution clients with products that help them comply with regulations and improve their efficiency.”

Read more about Sageworks' new Electronic Tax Return Reader in the Sept. 16, 2015 print issue of CU Times.