Case Studies: Meritrust Credit Union Tripled Productivity with Automated Originations Platform

Unlike TurnKey Lender, which by any measure is still very young (we’re turning five soon, yay!), Meritrust Credit Union was founded way back in 1935 in Wichita, Kansas in the central plains section of the United States. But, even though today it’s the largest credit union in the state with $1.3 billion in assets and more than 91,000 members until recently their systems were not keeping pace with fintech advancements. Manual procedures and process redundancies were abundant. This was especially true in the vehicle lending group where applications were sourced directly from bank customers and indirectly from auto dealers. One Meritrust customer posted an online review stating, “When it comes to banking they (Meritrust Credit Union) are in the stone age.”

Challenge

The bank was using an outdated site-licensed origination software to decision vehicle loan applications. It lacked fundamental automation features and credit scoring functionality. It was not integrated with the dealer systems or the core bank systems. It could not provide online closings or digital funds transfers.

Meritrust employees were frustrated with the number of manual steps and workarounds required to complete a vehicle loan. It was not unusual for them to input the same information into two different screens, especially on the indirect side that supported applications submitted by auto dealers. The automation metric often fell down to 10%, which pushed the manual processing metric up to 90%. In addition, the quality assurance department was overwhelmed with the large volume of data entry errors and processing rules errors that required additional review and manual corrections.

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Solution

Meritrust implemented a comprehensive loan automation system with these key features:

• Matrix approach using pre-set rules to set pricing, interest rates, and lending limits.
• System integration to reduce duplicate efforts and centralize all processes, including online document signing and digital closing via APIs.
• Third-party communications portals to connect seamlessly with dealers and dealer applicants as the loan progresses from submission to funding.
• Multi-channel employee access to applications and back-office systems via desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Results

This streamlined, automated lending system increased the number of booked loans, increased the average dollar amount per loan, cut funding times dramatically, and substantially improved process efficiencies.

Meritrust Credit Union tripled their productivity for direct and indirect vehicle loans:

• Automated decisions increased from 10% to 31% for bank sourced applications and from 10% to 40% for dealer sourced applications.
• 120 clicks were eliminated from the loan processing system.

Next Steps

Your lending operation could enjoy these same improvements in process efficiency and profitability with a fully automated SaaS platform like TurnKey Lender.

Please, request a free trial and experience for yourself what our award-winning platform can do for your business. We deliver three key advantages:

• First, it uses automation to increase processing efficiency and reduce human error.
• Second, it uses alternative scoring methodologies and proprietary credit scoring algorithms (continually optimized with machine learning) to improve credit decisions.
• Third, it leverages our regulatory compliance expertise to ensure the platform remains compliant as new rules are published by regulatory agencies.