Who:

Fresno County Federal Credit Union located in Fresno, Calif., with 6 branches and asset size of nearly $452,645,000 million with over 44,832 members. We sat down with Senior Vice President of Lending and Operations, Jeff Bassill to get his perspective.

The Situation:

Since implementing Streamlend® Velocity, Open Solutions IA Systems’ flagship loan origination system, Fresno County Federal Credit Union has significantly increased the speed with which they process loans.

“The application processing time went from one hour and fifteen minutes to ten or fifteen minutes per loan,” said Jeff Bassill, Fresno County’s senior vice president of lending and operations. “Streamlend Velocity has been a big time-saver.”

The Fresno, Calif.-based credit union began saving time as soon as they began using Streamlend Velocity in October of 2008, after a need for greater efficiency prompted a thorough search for a replacement.

“Prior to our switch to Velocity, we used another vendor's lending system," Bassill explained. “This system was adequate but required too much manual input and data analysis. Our lending volume was increasing but the cost of continually adding staff was becoming prohibitive.”

Looking for operational efficiencies and reduced staffing levels, Bassill and Fresno County compared three different LOS solutions “Our goal was simply to determine which LOS had the best integration to our core system,” he said. “We needed to find a system that could deliver confidence in our data, input and user experience. Those were the critical pieces.”

As part of their due diligence, the credit union also asked for input from other financial institutions.

“Lucky for us, we were able to meet with another client that was implementing Velocity at the same time,” said Bassill. “Their consumer lending manager was probably the best person IA Systems could have  sent us to: She was honest and upfront, telling us what she loved and what she was disappointed with. We have had no expectations of absolute perfection; we just wanted to know what the challenges were so we could work on them and not waste time. She helped us make an informed  decision and smooth implementation.”

In the end, “We determined that Velocity was the most refined of all of the systems we tested during our search,” he said. “It offered us the functionality and usability we wanted, which was the reason we needed to make the switch in the first place. In addition, our analysis showed that the system would allow us to reduce full-time employees by five, which would ultimately result in the system paying for itself in two and a half years. As of last week, we’ve actually reduced the FTEs by eight, through people leaving or reassignments — no layoffs were necessary. We’ve even been able to add additional functions in other areas  we didn’t have before.”

The Result:

“When you look at an overall conversion, this was probably one of the smoothest we’ve ever had,” said Bassill. “There were some very good people involved in our transition, and there was never an instance in which an issue couldn’t be resolved or we couldn’t get the necessary resources. There was always someone to go to at IA Systems, so we never felt alone. Any delays we might have experienced along the way were generally expected, and certainly nothing that affected our business.”

What has been affected, however, is the improved ease in managing loans and the lending process.

“Previously, we needed to know exactly what loan we were looking for or else we’d take a lot of time searching, minimizing our overall productivity,” he explained. “Now it’s easy to sort and find what I’m looking for quickly.”

Also impressive is the consistency afforded by the program: “All credit reports look the same.”

According to Bassill, “credit union staffers have also gained efficiencies via some use of StreamLend Velocity interfaces and engines such as Decision Engine. “The ability to drill down is dramatically better with Velocity versus other systems we have used,” he said. “You have a true decision tree that allows you to look at everything individually, which is much more efficient.”

They’ve even found that their new LOS solution has helped them weather the  current economy.

“In an economic downturn like this you start looking at different forms of risk, and thanks to the variety of ratios built into the system, we can evaluate several types like Revolving Debt Burdens,” said Bassill. “We can now look at additional factors and take them into account.”

And when the economy turns around, Streamlend Velocity will still prove invaluable. “We’ll be able to scale up production without having to scale up staff.”

Asked if he would recommend the product to other financial institutions, Bassill answered, “I would and I have. I wholeheartedly recommend Streamlend Velocity based on what we have seen and experienced. For new technology, it is extremely good.”

“The bottom line,” he concluded, “is that we have increased our staffing efficiency by 40 percent and we have seen a 75 percent reduction in loan processing time.”