CO-OP MEMBER CENTER ENABLES CREDIT UNIONS

TO CAPTURE MEMBER “OPT-IN” REQUESTS UNDER REG E

 

Potential Reduction in Income is at Stake for Credit Unions

 

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (July 6, 2010) – CO-OP Member Center, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CO-OP Financial Services, is offering credit unions an opportunity to provide its members an easy and efficient way to “opt-in” for overdraft protection, helping members avoid declined transactions and protecting credit unions from loss of income.

 

Under the Federal Reserve Bank’s revised Regulation E covering electronic fund transfers, overdraft protection can no longer be provided as an automatic service to credit union members. Members must give permission to have this service, or opt-in. This applies to all new members after July 1, while all existing members must “opt-in” by Aug. 15.

 

If a member declines overdraft protection or doesn’t opt-in by the deadline, all debit card transactions will be declined at the point of sale if there are insufficient funds to cover the purchase. This may also lead to a significant reduction in fee income for credit unions. 

 

“CO-OP Member Center is ready to explain how the credit unions overdraft program is changing and take requests to opt-in for protection,” said Mark Chatfield, Chief Operating Officer, CO-OP Member Center. “We can also assist with outbound calls for the critical task of reaching members who rely the most on this service from their credit union. Our call center offers credit unions of all sizes a convenient channel for their members to opt-in.”

 

After taking a member’s opt-in call, CO-OP Member Center will report customer requests and relevant accounts to be covered to the credit union, which then generates a written communication to the customer confirming that they have opted-in for overdraft protection. This CO-OP Member Center service is performed without any set-up fees and is available immediately to existing clients. 

 

Additional benefits of CO-OP Member Center include increasing profits by growing lending operations, cross-selling credit union products and services 24/7, enabling credit unions to focus on their core competencies and facilitating speedy adoption of new technologies such as mobile banking via CO-OP’s Next Generation Network (NGN) Universal Hub.

 

For more information on CO-OP Member Center, based in Fort Worth, Texas, e-mail sales@co-opfs.org or call 1-800-782-9042, ext. 7140.

 

About CO-OP Financial Services

 

Based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. CO-OP Financial Services is the industry leader in access and convenience products for credit unions. Nearing 30 years of credit union service, CO-OP connects credit union members to offerings like their nationwide ATM network, debit processing services, ATM processing and other account-driven access channels such as shared branching, check imaging services and mobile payments. A total of 3,000 credit union members, 26 million cardholders, 28,000 surcharge-free ATMs, 3,700 shared branch locations, plus 160 million-plus monthly transactions, make CO-OP the nation’s largest credit union service organization, offering the tools, knowledge and leadership to help credit unions prosper. To learn more, visit www.co-opfs.org.