There is so much going on in that nation recently with one natural challenge after another in Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico and now the fires in California.

How is your credit union responding to these challenges to ensure that the impacted members are in the area are able to get back on track as well as understand the impact to your portfolio.

My heart goes out to the people impacted in each of the areas. It is a tough time and we credit unions have an obligation towards our members to help them get back on their lives.

Here are few ways in which data can help.

Impact to members

Objective of this analysis to get better understanding of the members who might be impacted because of the catastrophe and might in need to help them get back in their lives.

1. Who might be impacted– Create a comprehensive view of all the members who are living in the impacted zone along with their contact information.
2. What type of relationship do they have – Understand various active accounts that they have, what are the balances and their financial health.
3. Work with your channels and marketing team and start the out-reach efforts so that you are able to reach out to these members proactively and be with them in this hour of need.
4. Ensure that members are able to bank – Keep a close watch at the account activity to ensure that you are seeing typical recurring activities in their accounts. E.g. if someone has been using their credit/debit card regularly. Are you still seeing that usage? If not then you might want to check if their cards were lost/destroyed, etc.
5. Appropriate communications with members – Ensure that your channels teams are armed with right information so that they are able to have appropriate conversation with them at the next interaction. E.g. Empathize with them and resist sharing a promotion for another product.

Impact to the CU

Objective of this analysis is to get better understanding of the impact to your organization.

1. Comprehensive view of the portfolio – Create a comprehensive view of the all the types of accounts, so that you can get better understanding of the current impact.
2. Understand the current cash flows and the expected impacts
3. Have a staffing plan to ensure that there is appropriate staff in contact center when they see a surge in calls from the members.

How are you helping your credit union and members in this hour of need with data?

Share your thoughts?