International Credit Union Day: Our Favorite Things About the Industry

October 19 is International Credit Union Day, and EPL is excited to celebrate! Credit unions are powerful and positive forces in their communities, and the service with which they provide their members is unique. We are proud to play a part in helping credit unions and members alike achieve their business and financial goals.

In honor of International Credit Union Day, we have compiled a list of a few of our favorite things about the credit union industry:

1. The members. Credit unions wouldn’t be successful – or even exist – without their members. The people who choose to trust credit unions with their finances make working in this industry special. Credit unions take immense pride in serving members well because they are more than just “customers” – they are the ones in the driver’s seat.
2. The mission. Prioritizing members over profit sets credit unions apart from other financial institutions. By providing competitive rates and empowering members with the financial information they need to make the best decisions, their interests are served over all others. Everyone in the industry works toward a common goal: financial health.
3. The community. By joining a credit union, members choose to be part of a community of like-minded individuals that value service and transparency above all else. Credit unions have a personal connection with their members. Other financial institutions simply aren’t as involved in their local communities as credit unions.
4. The innovation. The industry has seen immense innovation in the last few years, and it shows no signs of slowing. Mobile banking continues to be a game-changer. Data integration is giving credit unions more functionality than ever before. Business intelligence is allowing credit unions to tailor recommendations to their members’ needs. These are just a few ways in which credit unions are continuing to provide optimal service and meet members where they are.
5. The growth. The credit union industry continues to be a powerful player in the financial services space. According to CUdata.com, credit unions are experiencing a positive trajectory in multiple areas. The 12-month growth rate for membership is 4.2 percent. Member business lending has grown an unprecedented 16.8 percent in the last year. People are continuing to look to credit unions to meet their individual and business needs.

We are thankful to our credit union partners and their members for allowing us to work with them each and every day. We look forward to continued success together. Join us in celebrating our great industry!

EPL Staff

EPL, Inc.

EPL’s May 2016 Product Advisory Team Meeting Recap

May was an exciting month at EPL, as we were thrilled to host our second Product Advisory Team (PAT) Meeting here in our hometown of Birmingham, Ala., at The Wynfrey Hotel on May 23—24, 2016. The biannual strategic meeting provides an avenue to connect more deeply with many of our credit union customers, discuss new developments within EPL’s “Connection Suite” of products and collaborate to identify collective top areas of focus for the upcoming year.

This customer-centric event is significant and meaningful to EPL, as we value our customers and their members’ experiences above all else—it is the core of our industry. We were very pleased with the turnout at the May meeting, with a larger number of credit unions participating than at our first PAT meeting in September 2015. The increased participation is more evidence that our customers know their voices are heard, and they value the opportunity to connect with us and other credit unions in this forum.

Not only is the PAT intended to be the direct voice of EPL’s customer base, but also is intended to empower growth, maximize revenue and improve members’ experiences at credit unions of all sizes. During the first day of meetings, we had the opportunity to discuss progress on initiatives laid out last fall, including general ledger enhancements, relationship pricing, in-house credit cards, proprietary lending services, e-communications, teller operations, online banking and other functionalities of our technology offering, such as security, client support and architecture.

On day two, we engaged collaboratively to hone in on top areas of focus, and will direct our attention toward additional capabilities for the general ledger, more choices and options in lending within i-POWER® and also via integrations, online banking enhancements, major additions to document management, user interface enhancements and advanced account research, including great ATM, debit card and electronic interaction enhancements.

We have recognized the critical need for more in-depth communication on industry issues, and need you—our subject matter experts—to share your institutional knowledge and experience with us during our smaller focus groups. Your insight is invaluable to the process, and plays such a vital role in helping us discover what is working well and what we need to improve upon. Customer insight is what allows us to continue to build a system that better accommodates evolving needs.

Our post-meeting feedback surveys showed that customers positively responded to the new format of the meeting, and we will continue to refine our approach in an effort to increase engagement and streamline various processes. One thing is for certain—we are convinced of the value created by our PAT meetings—not just for improving EPL’s technology offering, but also for building deeper relationships with our customer base as a whole.

At EPL, customer collaboration does not begin with or end at the PAT meeting. We invite you to continue to share your thoughts, concerns and ideas with our customer support team as we look toward our next PAT meeting in November 2016. Until then, we will work tirelessly to deliver on the issues that that matter most to our customers.

If you have questions about EPL’s PAT, please let us know on Twitter, Facebook or via email at rhiannon.stone@epl.net!

Rhiannon Stone

VP, solutions delivery

EPL, Inc.

New Year, New Core

With the New Year comes new resolutions, intended to improve a variety of aspects of life in one way or another. While many associate New Year’s resolutions with the promise to live a healthier lifestyle or drop a bad habit, business owners tend to strive for less cliché goals intended to create long-lasting, positive effects for their company. These may include streamlining operations or achieving strategic growth goals. For credit unions, one such resolution should be to determine if it is the right time to integrate a new core solution and then to take action. 

A reoccurring phenomenon among credit unions is many never think the time is right to begin the process of conversion—so, what better time to make a move than with the start of a new year? Optimizing core functionality can be a key differentiator as you work to hit 2016 growth goals and reach benchmarks in your long-term strategic business plan. This process should be looked at as a solution—an opportunity to improve technology and service offerings, thereby improving the overall member experience for your credit union. To guarantee this process is seamless, you need to ensure both the core and the core provider are the right fit for your credit union, as a one-size-fits-all approach tends to generate inferior results and dissatisfaction.

To effectively begin the process, one of your credit union’s Q1 2016 goals must be to identify your specific needs. Whether your credit union is outpacing its current technology platform or your core provider’s service is lackluster, the motivators that are driving you to make a switch need to be noted and highlighted in your selection process for a new solution. For providers to work collaboratively with credit unions to generate an ideal solution, they must be able to identify how their core can meet the criteria you’ve outlined in your internal technology assessment. A tailored approach by a company that understands your credit union’s needs is a vital component to a successful conversion and leads to achieving your long-term objectives.

As our CEO, Wayne Benson, noted in a recent article in CUToday, “One of the most important questions your credit union must ask, and in turn core providers must answer, is what can we do to streamline the process? There are numerous considerations at play: data protection, compliance and regulatory issues, third party integrations, staff and member experience, customer service, and of course—architectural changes. A provider must factor in these and other variables to ensure inoperability issues are addressed, not created—an unfortunate byproduct of poor customer-vendor communication.”

The key in this process, and in your decision to convert in 2016, is to preserve the mindset of acting proactively rather than reactively. Changing in preparation for shifting member demand and technological evolution is a much more comfortable proposition than changing because one no longer has a choice. Innovation within the financial industry is already happening and will continue to improve, so don’t let the fear of change put you at the back of the pack.  

Cheers to a Happy New Year full of success and growth!


Robin Kolvek

Senior VP of Business Development

EPL, Inc.

‘Tis the season for fraud

The holiday season is upon us, and we all know what that means—shopping. Lots of shopping. Unfortunately for us all, our friends and family aren’t the only ones excited about the upcoming gift-giving festivities—fraudsters are waiting in the shadows, giddy at the thought of purchases being made by people who never learned how to protect their personal and financial information.

Just two years ago, over 40 million holiday shoppers were outraged to find that hackers had stolen their credit and debit card information as they swiped their cards at Target retail locations—one of the largest hacks of its kind. Since then, the prevalence of online shopping has grown exponentially and we should expect instances of fraud to increase accordingly due to hackers’ growing abilities to infiltrate online stores. In fact, a recent ACI research study revealed that fraudulent transactions on e-commerce sites increased in 2015, with one out of every 86 transactions found to be a fraudulent attempt.

Additionally, financial institutions and retailers are in a time of transition as they switch to EMV technology, making them vulnerable to fraud. The move to switch to more secure chip cards for in-store purchases, which seeks to decrease fraud long-term, is likely to increase fraudulent attempts during the transition period. Merchants who are still running magnetic strip transactions are significantly more vulnerable, as fraudsters will target their facilities in an accelerated manner before time runs out.

Members rely heavily on credit unions to protect their data and safeguard financial transactions, but that is only half of the equation. Credit unions have a responsibility to arm their members with educational tools and practical advice on how they can decrease their chances of becoming victims of holiday fraud. Below, we’ve compiled several tips that can help keep your members safe when shopping online:  

• Beware of mobile checkouts. While e-commerce certainly makes life more convenient, online technology has an abundance of loopholes
• “Buy Buttons” are too new to trust. The addition of click-to-purchase technology to social media is transforming it into an online marketplace, but the concept is still so fresh that retailers may not have sufficient protections in place.
• Avoid opening emails you don’t recognize. As mobile technology permeates nearly every facet of our lives, phishers now are attempting to steal consumers’ financial information and inconspicuously request money through phishing attempts online, such as emails.
• Keep a close eye on your accounts. Members should pay close attention to ACH items and outgoing wires on each of their cards and accounts to ensure there is no unauthorized activity.
• Make your credit union aware of travel plans. Encourage your members to inform your credit union if they plan to travel out-of-state for the holidays. If they are not traveling, it will be simple to flag purchases made in an unusual location.
• Consider lowering daily limits. Especially during the holiday shopping season, it can be a wise move for members to lower their daily spending limit to decrease risk should their information be compromised.
• Stay educated, stay safe. Teach your members about anti-fraud measures your credit union has in place to protect them so that they better understand their own responsibilities.
• Keep the lines of communication open. It’s easier for members to pick up the phone and ask questions when there is an ongoing dialog with their credit union about online security. Perhaps someone is unsure about a charge but won’t investigate further because they are afraid to ask or don’t know who to talk to. Make your credit union a place where members feel comfortable coming to ask questions they might think are silly.

It’s important to note that there is no way to guarantee 100 percent safety for anyone. Hackers inevitably find ways to exploit system weaknesses as fast as merchants can fix them – especially online. Fortunately, by following a few simple safety precautions, your members can greatly reduce their risk of becoming another fraud statistic. So play it safe, stay smart and stop fraud before it starts.  

John Freeman

Senior VP of Compliance and Security

EPL, Inc.