Digital FCU has become more profitable since implementing Decision Manager.
THE CHALLENGE:
Increase underwriting efficiency and compliance.
DCU determined that its automated underwriting process was substandard and antiquated. Senior level loan officers were reviewing every single application, making it difficult to provide consistent loan decisions. Subsequently, approvals were slow, even for standout members with top-tier credit. In addition, DCU’s indirect underwriting was quite inefficient and labor intensive with no real audit trail. DCU would display rate sheets and print screens of “before and after” to show examiners, but there was no real documentation, and as a result, the credit union risked being cited.
THE SOLUTION:
Integrate the latest decisioning technology.
DCU conducted extensive research of decision engines to find the one that would best meet its current needs and accommodate future growth. After reviewing all options, DCU determined that CUDL's Decision Manager provided multiple advantages over other decision engines and that it would be the best fit for helping the credit union achieve its goals. The key points that sold Decision Manager to the credit union were:
User-Friendliness. Decision Manager offers user-friendly features, and doesn’t require programming expertise or a deep understanding of underwriting rules. “One of the main differentiators of Decision Manager is the ability to easily customize the underwriting criteria based on the specific needs of your credit union,” stated Anne Nelson, Indirect Loan Manager at DCU.
Quick and efficient. DCU also liked the fact that Decision Manager could easily handle its volume of loans. With Decision Manager, DCU could get 24/7 approvals in less than 8 seconds for all its applications in queue. This has saved hours of time compared to the effort the credit union used to spend on non-automation, which includes loans for “other” vehicles such as motorcycles, recreation and mobility (for handicap individuals).
Compliant Documentation. An area of struggle for DCU was the ability to provide a full audit trail for changes made to underwriting criteria. Along with automated loan decisions, DCU wanted a decision engine that would automatically document modifications and exceptions. Decision Manager exceeded these needs by also providing full disclosure of underwriting reasons and rules for each application.
THE RESULTS:
Saved staff hours and reduced loan decisioning time.
DCU’s efficiency increased by streamlining underwriting and enabling consistent loan decisions. Dealers now share instant answers with credit union members, which has strengthened both member and dealer relationships.
With DCU providing dealers instant decisions, the credit union is now trending with more loans, and even better, more higher quality loans. Additionally, DCU has become more profitable in the lending arena since becoming more automated. “Our credit union has saved a significant amount of staff hours per quarter,” stated Nelson.
After Decision Manager was incorporated into DCU’s lending process, the credit union noticed a decrease in loan delinquencies. Furthermore, the software’s automation consistently outperforms loan officer decisioning, in terms of overall quality. DCU has discovered that Decision Manager is intuitive to use, and the audit trail enables staffers to simply produce a report and hand it to an examiner. “For DCU, Decision Manager delivers two major advantages for our credit union operations. It accelerates the automation of loan decisioning and secondly, it elevates accuracy,” proclaimed Nelson.
