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Washington, DC – Identifying the best way to broaden one’s field of membership is one of a credit unions’ most difficult challenges in building strategic growth, but CUCollaborate ExpandCU and consulting services is making it easier for credit unions to grow and thrive.
The $278 million Louisiana Federal Credit Union wanted to expand its field of membership into more underserved areas, but Chief Administrative Officer Mia Perez found most of the solutions in the marketplace “cumbersome and time consuming.” After using CUCollaborate’s tools for Louisiana FCU’s expansion, however, she said, “CUCollaborate has streamlined this complicated process by designing a highly functional alternative that shaves hours and even days off the process. Credit unions that have been reluctant to embark upon the journey of expanding their FOM through underserved markets will find CUCollaborate to be a robust analytical partner is helping your credit union achieve success.”
The $34 million Desert Rivers Credit Union (formerly Grand County Credit Union) was looking to not only expand its field of membership, but also convert from a state charter to a multiple common bond federal charter. Now, the credit union is adding underserved areas and select employee groups, including associations, into the mix. “CUCollaborate and Sam Brownell have been instrumental in helping us see what our potential as a credit union can be,” President/CEO Samuel Crane stated. “Their expertise and knowledge have helped us chart a course to help us double or triple our membership potential.”
CUCollaborate Founder/CEO Sam Brownell said, “We’re ecstatic our clients are finding so much value in our field of membership tools and consulting. We love credit unions and recognized the need for a simpler solution, so we built it. The software we developed, ExpandCU, helps every kind of credit union identify how to best grow their field of membership. Whether small or large,
federally or state chartered, multiple common bond or community focused, ExpandCU assists credit unions in identifying the optimal area that its regulator will approve or the optimal organizations for the credit union’s business development team to attract as new SEGs. ExpandCU also generates the amendment application instantly.”
CUCollaborate helped the $503 million La Capitol Federal Credit Union, a multiple common bond credit union, add underserved areas to its field of membership. “CUCollaborate was a great help with our underserved area application, making an otherwise complex and difficult process much easier,” President/CEO Mike Hooper explained.
Tom O’Malley, director of business development at the $362 million Partners 1st Credit Union, added, “We find CUCollaborate to be a huge research timesaver when gathering information on potential field of membership expansion opportunities. Rather than gathering pieces of information from several different sources, CUCollaborate has consolidated data into their user-friendly software.”
Brownell explained, “We can be as hands-on or hands-off as your credit union needs us to be. Credit unions can simply use our ExpandCU platform for their own analysis, or CUCollaborate happy to help them through the entire field of membership process. Our partnership with RMF Consulting, founded by former NCUA General Counsel Bob Fenner, provides a comprehensive solution to your field of membership needs.”
Brownell added, “ExpandCU can even help credit unions identify ideal merger partners, but we hope that our software will mean that less credit unions will have to merge, because now credit unions can more easily identify areas of opportunity within the complex field of membership regulations.”
Field of Membership Expansion
