Celebrating Our Partnership With Filene!

Innovative Research From Renowned “Think and Do” Tank Drives Real-World Results for Credit Unions With service as a core value, State National not only puts maximum effort into providing the best portfolio protection anywhere, but we also actively look for ways to help move the industry needle and be a part of a larger mission. This includes actively seeking to expose our clients to opportunities with leading organizations that explore innovative, growth-oriented ideas. What Matters to You Matters to Us The renowned research firm Filene is a credit union and consumer finance think tank headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. As an Inner Circle member and research sponsor, we provide support for their mission to connect credit unions with insights and innovations to change people’s lives. Their research ventures connect credit unions with the most impactful technology and drive forward-thinking business decisions. Through investing in organizations like Filene, State National further supports the credit union mission and helps our partners benefit from the latest insights into solutions to their industry's unique challenges. This partnership also gives us access to original research to better focus future advancements and technology innovations on collateral protection insurance (CPI) program improvements for our credit union partners. Keep Good Company At the start of 2020, State National joined forces with Filene by sponsoring their Center of Excellence for Emerging Technology, working with their industry experts to explore the future of digital financial services. This year, we are proud to also provide support for Filene’s new CoE, the Center of Excellence for Innovation & Incubation, which helps credit unions explore solutions to assist them in remaining adaptive and nimble as member and community needs continue to shift. Filene’s Centers of Excellence are identified based on the needs shared by hundreds of credit unions and created to empower them with the data they need to make decisions that will best serve their missions now and in the future. Filene's Center of Excellence of Innovation & Incubation — A Milestone Worth Celebrating All of Filene's Centers of Excellence are doing life-changing work to help credit unions — and their members — thrive. As a sponsor of the Center of Excellence for Innovation & Incubation and the Center of Excellence for Emerging Technology, we could not be prouder to support the amazing work Filene is doing to help credit unions succeed and to advance the credit union mission. We look forward to seeing these dedicated scholars and credit union advocates as they move into their second year of investigating ways to create, implement, and measure innovation in credit unions, identifying opportunities for credit unions to differentiate with innovation, and building a playbook of effective and consumer-friendly social innovation approaches for the future of all financial services! Check Out These Guest Posts From Filene Experts: Relationship Banking in a Digital Age Credit Union Digital Transformation in the Age of COVID – 19

There's everyone else — and then there's State National

Credit Unions Then and Now When I joined my first credit union almost thirty years ago, the member experience looked a lot different than it does today. Member service was limited to business hours — with the exception of Thursdays, when the credit union was open until 8:00 p.m. so members could deposit their paychecks. Online banking, mobile deposits, digital signatures, online loan applications with automated decisioning, and any number of other technological advancements were still many years away. As I enter my 32nd year as a member of a credit union, and my 21st year working in the credit union space, it is truly amazing to look at how technology has enhanced the member experience as well as the expectations of the individual member. As it has in credit unions and in every industry, technology has certainly had a big impact at State National. As we approach our 50th anniversary as a company and take a look back at our beginnings, it’s funny to think that we used to transcribe insurance information onto 4” x 6” notecards and store them in filing cabinets. Or that each notice had to be typed out before it was mailed to the borrower. Or that the only way to get a borrower’s insurance information was via postal mail from the insurance carrier or client. Today, almost every task we perform for our business partners and their borrowers is completed with the help of technology, and every new innovation we come up with is created with one goal in mind: to enhance the member experience. Utilizing Today’s Technology to Enhance the Member Experience At State National, we understand how our products can be viewed as detracting from the member experience as opposed to safeguarding the collateral and protecting the institution. This is why, as the industry leader in collateral protection, we are constantly looking for ways to prove that belief wrong by minimizing borrower impact and enhancing the borrower experience. In the last few years, we have introduced some truly game-changing technological innovations, like WRAP, our Web-Based Robotic Automated Processing.

The Difference Is in the Details: Timely Automated Insurance Verification for Borrowers “Why am I getting these notifications? I sent in my insurance information already — twice!” Depending on the company and system you’re using for insurance tracking, this kind of noise may be an all-too-familiar sound. It’s never a good feeling to hear that an upset borrower has called to complain that they’ve received an insurance notification — or even worse, had a policy placed — in error. That’s why it’s so important that the partner you choose for portfolio protection has done everything they can to ensure those calls don’t happen. Collateral protection has come a long way since State National pioneered it back in 1973. In those days, when notifications and insurance submission was all done by mail or phone, even the best-run programs had to cope with a certain level of borrower noise because of unavoidable delays. But, fast forward to today and cutting-edge proprietary advanced technology and tools are available to solve these problems — in many cases, before they ever happen. We’ll let you in on a secret, though — not every provider has them at the same level, although they may tell you they do. Because of State National’s exclusive technology solutions, and service that’s entirely focused on portfolio protection, all you’ll notice is the peaceful sound of silence — which is good for your borrowers, your staff, and your bottom line. Watch the short video below to see how State National can help you reduce friction and borrower noise in your collateral protection program.

State National Executive Vice President Trace Ledbetter Reflects on the Bounty of the Season