A simple step in the member onboarding process at True Sky Federal Credit Union ($832.7M, Oklahoma City, OK) is deepening relationships, building trust, and improving financial wellness.
The cooperative’s Copilot Credit Review provides members with a guided walk through their credit reports to better understand the factors impacting their financial lives. About 80% of members utilize the service, which is free and promoted mostly through word of mouth.
“It gets to the foundation of what we are as a credit union and as an industry,” says Alex Michaud, True Sky’s chief information officer. “We develop specific products for people that are tailored for them, but we have to build that trust and help align them with those products. A good way to do that is to stand side by side with the member and pull the credit report and coach them – help them read it, help use our expertise to align them with products that can save them money.”
Michaud is quick to add that the process doesn’t have to end in selling the member something. Instead, it’s often about setting goals and identifying strategies to improve their financial life, such as budgeting or improving savings habits.
Most adults at least know they have a credit score, but that doesn’t mean they are good at monitoring it or knowing their number. A recent TransUnion report found that a light majority (58%) review their credit report on a monthly basis, and while that figure has plenty of room for improvement, it’s far better than in 2013, when one-third of Americans said they had never checked their credit.
Some members may know their credit score, says Michaud, but fewer understand the factors behind that figure or the red flags lenders look for, including credit utilization, debt-to-income ratios, length of account history, and more. They may also be unaware of simple ways to boost their credit, such as paying down credit card balances to free up capacity.
“That can have a dramatic impact almost immediately on your credit score, which can save you hundreds of dollars a month,” Michaud says.
Much of the program’s success can be tied back to extensive staff training. All employees, from entry-level MSRs up to senior vice presidents, go through an internal class on how to read and understand a credit report. Staff are also trained to develop relationships with members in ways that enable probing questions about improving their financial lives.
Those conversations and the focus on building trust lead to opportunities to utilize the service.
All staff are trained to read a credit report and understand the Copilot Credit Review process, but those in member-facing roles go through a more extensive program that includes roleplay scenarios. Employees roleplay in a classroom setting, trading off the roles of member and MSR.
The goal is to put staff in a position to listen for signals that someone might need help, “because they’re not always going to just come out and ask for it,” says Michaud.
When working with members, the first step is simply to identify applicable goals, he advises.
“Not everything is instantaneous – there’s very little you can do to your credit score today to put yourself in the position you want to be long-term,” he says. “It’s really up to the member to take those additional steps. But we’ll work with them and provide specific dates and goals associated with that and make ourselves available to continue the process.”
The ultimate goal is to help members build the skills needed to be financially empowered and self-sufficient.
“Every time we talk to a member, it’s an opportunity to expand their knowledge on what we do as a financial institution,” says Michaud. “The more they can be self-sufficient – the more they can own the outcomes and coach their families and work with their friends – ultimately the knowledge we provide empowers that member.”
Along with extensive training, True Sky also routinely reports on how often the service is used and how it has helped members, whether with saving money or refinancing loans.
Tracking Scores And Building Trust
The service is available in-person, over the phone, or online, though Michaud says it’s most successful when conducted face to face. SavvyMoney’s Credit Sense functionality is also built into True Sky’s mobile and online banking to help members track their credit score, as well as the factors that contribute to it.
Members generally utilize it during onboarding, but Michaud says those opportunities also arise during the loan-application process.
“The process starts through building trust – that’s what’s most important and it really is the currency of the credit union,” says Michaud. “You do that by understanding the member and how they do three things: save, borrow, and invest….We look for gaps where we can help bring people closer to their financial dreams.”
Since the service isn’t specifically focused on selling a product, Michaud says the ROI comes from fostering and deepening long-standing relationships. That leads to a mutually beneficial relationship where the credit union supports the member and the member in turn supports the credit union. But none of that happens if both sides don’t trust one another.
Artificial? Not This Intelligence.
ChatGPT is one of the most well-known generative AI platforms, but Microsoft’s Copilot is giving it a run for its money. That’s just fine with the folks at True Sky. Microsoft’s AI tool and the credit union’s Copilot Credit Review share a similar name, but Chief Information Officer Alex Michaud says there are no plans to rebrand.
“There’s no trademark infringement – we won’t ask Microsoft to change their naming anytime soon,” he quips, adding that the two are different enough that there’s little likelihood they could be confused in the open market. That’s in part because the credit union primarily relies on word of mouth to promote the service. While it may occasionally get mentioned in social media marketing, there are no advertisements centered on it, which means confusion is unlikely.
“The copilot term isn’t just because we have an aviation background,” he says. “Copilots sit next to each other and look at the same instrumentation and try to guide the airliner where it needs to go. A copilot and pilot aren’t better or worse, they’re two people doing the same thing. We’re two pilots – the member and the professional at True Sky – looking at the same data, teaching each other how we can guide the member to the correct destination.”
Plus, he says, True Sky gets more kudos for this than just about any other program it offers, meaning there’s very little incentive to change the flight path.