Visions - January 2005
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Maximize Your Online Channel By Delivering Your Credit Card Statements Online, Through PayLynxSM StatementSource™
Delivering consumer statements electronically is one of the fastest growing online services. Year after year, this trend is supported by the increasing number of consumers that prefer to receive and pay bills online. In a recent survey by market research firm Harris Interactive, credit card bills are one of the most popular e-bills to receive, view and pay online. PSCU Financial Services is pleased to announce our electronic credit card statement delivery solution called PayLynx sm StatementSource™, a new service designed to meet the needs of the online member.
PayLynx StatementSource allows your cardholders the option to receive your credit union’s credit card statement electronically through your PayLynx Bill Payment site or CheckFree hosted site. Once enrolled, your cardholders will receive an email notification that their electronic credit card statement is available online. This email will contain a brief summary including the amount due and due date. Also included is a link to the bill pay login page, or home banking login page. Your cardholders can then easily login to the secure bill pay site to view and/or pay their credit card bill(s). After sixty days, paper statements can be suppressed.
PSCU Financial Services is one of the first in the credit union market to offer secure online delivery of credit card statements using a program powered by CheckFree’s proven iSeries software. The initial product introduction in November 2004 included 13 credit unions, representing 475,000 cardholders and potential subscribers. Significant leaders in the financial services arena, such as Bank of America and Capital One, and other major billers including Cable and Wireless and United Health Group, also use industry-leading iSeries software.
According to Harris Interactive, once a consumer adds the e-bill feature to their online bill payment service, they are more committed to staying active and less likely to switch bill payment providers. And there are benefits to your cardholders, too. They will experience the added convenience of viewing and paying their credit union credit card bill online. Additionally, they will benefit by the speed of receiving electronic statements, which are available sooner than paper statements. Also, electronic statements are extremely secure, because statement data is encrypted with the cardholder’s user name and password.
PayLynx StatementSource will complement your online services strategy as well as encourage loyalty among members. “The evolution of delivering the paper credit card statement through the online channel is a necessary step in supporting the millions of consumers that prefer to bank online,” said Dave Serlo, President, PSCU Financial Services. “This addition to our suite of services allows us to provide a full product offering to our member–owners. We anticipate a great response.
” If you are interested in providing your cardholders the convenience of online credit card statements or would like additional information about PayLynx StatementSource, please contact Leslie Reistrup at 800-621-7728 ext. 2506 or esupportservices@pscufs.com.
Additionally, you can view full product details online in the MemberConnect section of www.pscufs.com. Go to Product Resources, and then click on Online Bill Payment, and StatementSource.
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NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson Featured Speaker At 2005 Member Forum & Annual Meeting
If you haven’t made plans to attend our 2005 Member Forum & Annual Meeting at the gorgeous Gaylord Palms Resort—it’s not too late! You have until February 18, 2005 to register—so don’t delay!
After all, “A World of Opportunity” awaits you!
For example, we have a variety of nationally known speakers at this year’s meeting, including National Credit Union Administration Chairman JoAnn Johnson. We are confident you will want to hear her thoughts regarding the industry, and the prospects our industry will experience within the next few years. You will also not want to miss Pat Williams, Senior Vice President and Co-Founder of the Orlando Magic—one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in the country. His experience and influence in the NBA is legendary, and Pat will share with you his practical and proven techniques for immediately increasing your productivity in a leadership capacity.
We always get fantastic feedback from our members regarding our breakout sessions—and this year’s topics will not disappoint! We have representatives presenting from Visa, First Data, and PSCU Financial Services to name a few, that will discuss industry trends, how to get the most out of your card programs, ways to prevent fraud and tips for growing your card portfolio.
And, if you are curious to find out what new solutions can help you enhance your credit union’s mix of member services, check out our Solutions Fair. Products and services include PayLynx, CreditAbility, DebitAdvantage, AdvisorsPlus, CURewards, and CUAlways. Product Managers will also be available to answer any questions, and various vendor partners will be on hand to provide you with additional information on their services.
Of course, our meeting is not all work—we manage to have a little fun, too! This year, we will be holding our Annual Cocktail Party and Dinner on Wednesday evening instead of Thursday evening, as in past years. Why the switch? So we can take all of you to Cirque du Soleil “La Nouba” at downtown Disney! This mesmerizing theatrical experience is one of the hottest tickets in Orlando, and is a must see for anyone who wants a truly dazzling night of spectacular entertainment. The show will be followed by a post-theater reception.
Runners, you will not be disappointed—our Fun Run/Walk is back, and will be held at the magnificent Falcon’s Fire Golf Course, only minutes away from the Gaylord Palms Resort. And golfers, you will be visiting Falcon’s Fire, too, as our Annual Golf Benefit will be held at this 4-star rated, Rees Jones signature designed course.
So just to recap—our 2005 Member Forum & Annual Meeting offers you nationally recognized speakers, amazing breakout sessions, the hottest social events, a spectacular place to play golf—and most importantly, the opportunity to network with your peers. Oh, and our meeting is held at one of the most luxurious resort and convention centers in Orlando! As far as Member Forums and Annual Meetings go, it doesn’t get much better
than this!
So make your plans to attend by registering online at www.pscufs.com. See you in Orlando April 6-8!
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Dun & Bradstreet Raises PSCU Financial Services’ Credit Rating
 We are happy to report that Dun & Bradstreet has raised its credit rating for PSCU Financial Services from fair to good, which reflects our growing asset size and stability. We are also proud to share that we have exceeded $200 million in assets!
As you may know, Dun & Bradstreet is a leading provider of global business information, tools and insight used by businesses to make critical business decisions.
Dave Serlo said this credit rating increase is excellent news and confirms the confidence that our many member-owners have placed in us. “Our steady growth indicates the success that we have had in expanding the scope of our Contact Centers, launching new Web-based solutions and developing consulting services that use proven techniques to improve cardholder retention and increase profitability.”
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Visa U.S.A. Board Of Directors Approves Revisions To U.S. Operating Regulations
The Visa U.S.A. Board of Directors, at its fall meeting, approved Operating Regulations revisions to the current exchange rate disclosure requirement. Significant changes relate to the Exchange Rate Disclosure
Requirements, Healthcare Eligibility Service on Visa prepaid cards, and the expanded use of Preauthorized Payment Cancellation Service. Please take a moment to review the following information, effective dates and actions required.
Exchange Rate Disclosure Requirements
To align with recent revisions to the Visa International Operating Regulations, changes have been made to
the Issuer exchange rate disclosure requirements. By April 2, 2005, Issuers are required to disclose to each of their cardholders, in writing, that the exchange rate between the transaction currency and the billing currency used for processing international transactions is:
- A rate selected by Visa from the range of rates available in wholesale currency markets for the applicable central processing date—which may vary from the rate Visa itself receives, or
- The government-mandated rate in effect for the applicable central processing date
These changes support implementation of the International Service Assessment fee for international transactions that take effect in April 2005, and reflect elimination of the one percent currency conversion fee previously assessed to members for cross-currency transactions.
In the meantime, Credit Unions are advised to consult with their legal counsel to ensure compliance with the exchange rate disclosure requirement and any existing laws related to such disclosure.
Healthcare Eligibility Service – Visa Prepaid Cards
On October 18, 2004, Visa’s Operating Regulations were revised to support the creation of the Health Care Eligibility Service. This optional service, available for health care Visa prepaid cards, allows a health care merchant to process an authorization message that will in turn be routed to the insurance provider for verification of the cardholder’s health coverage and the required co-payment account, if applicable.
To support the Health Care Eligibility Service, the Operating Regulations have been revised to:
- Establish liability and indemnification provisions for the Health Care Eligibility Service
- Require an Acquirer to disclose Health Care Eligibility Service requirements in its merchant agreement or as a separate addendum
- Add a definition for “Health Care Eligibility Service”
Expanded Use of Preauthorized Payment Cancellation Service
Currently, a consumer Visa check card issuer that participates in the Preauthorized Payment Cancellation Service is allowed to place stop payments on certain preauthorized transactions.
On October 2, 2004, Visa’s Operating Regulations were revised to extend the Preauthorized Payment cancellation Service to encompass all Visa cards—including consumer check card, consumer credit card and all commercial Visa products. Most importantly, a new decline response code “R3” has been added, which enables an Issuer to decline authorization requests for all preauthorized transactions, regardless of the merchant identity, on the basis of the account number and/or the dollar amount. Additionally, the requirement to complete the Preauthorized Payment Cancellation Service Request form has been eliminated.
Additional communications from PSCU Financial Services will be sent to you in the coming months regarding Preauthorized Payment Cancellation Service and other Visa Operating Regulation revisions. Please feel free to contact your Account Executive, or visit our MemberConnect Web site if you have any questions.
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Important Information Regarding FACT Act
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT) is an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The Act was signed into law in December 2003 and took effect in December 2004.
Regulations that impact Financial Institutions include the following:
- Creates significant consumer protection measures in the area of identity theft. Financial Institutions will need to rewrite existing policies and procedures to accommodate the new protections.
- Expands and makes permanent existing FCRA preemptions of state law. Uniform national law now overrides state laws.
- Creates a new notice of action taken for borrowers who receive a loan on terms less favorable than those available to most other borrowers.
- Places new restrictions on sharing customer information with affiliated institutions.
- Requires truncation of account numbers on printed receipts for both debit and credit cards.
- Creates new standards for those who furnish information to credit reporting agencies (CRA), including a prohibition on furnishing or refurnishing identity theft information.
- Requires a notice to a consumer before furnishing negative information (or no later than 30 days after) to a CRA.
- Limits creditor use of medical information.
When are the regulations effective?Certain sections of the regulations have specific effective dates—some shorter, while others are longer. Discussions with regulators indicate that while final regulations must be effective within 12 months,
mandatory compliance dates may be extended as necessary to allow for operational changes, form development, or other situations.
Action Required
Little action is required from our members at this time. The following steps will help ease compliance issues:
For additional information regarding the FACT Act (including information regarding Identity Theft), please visit our Web site at www.pscufs.com, or feel free to contact your Account Executive if you have questions.
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Reminder To Annual Activity Summary Participants
During the months of January through April, First Data will be producing and mailing to your cardholders their 2004 Annual Activity Summary statements. The year-end summaries provide your cardholders with a record of their card usage for the past year and can be used to aid your cardholders with basic record keeping, budgeting, identification of business expenses, and income tax preparation.
For those credit unions not already participating in the Annual Activity Summary statements, deadline to enroll in this valuable service is September 1, 2005.
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Total Debit Solution Is The Best Solution To Support Your Debit Processing Needs
As PSCU Financial Services begins the New Year, we are excited to provide you with more good news regarding our new enhanced DebitAdvantage™ processing platform. While many processors started to wind down at the close of 2004, PSCU Financial Services was in high gear putting the final touches on our enhanced Total Debit Solution. We are extremely pleased that our first member-owner credit union will begin processing on the enhanced platform beginning this month!
In addition, we have approximately 30 member-owner credit unions scheduled to begin processing on the new DebitAdvantage platform by the end of August 2005. We would like to take this opportunity to provide you with some insight as to why PSCU Financial Services and these member-owners believe the new Total Debit Solution is the best solution to support their Debit processing needs.
Our DebitAdvantage platform offers a full array of processing options designed to provide maximum flexibility. Our Total Debit Solution provides complete turnkey services including ATM driving and monitoring, debit card processing, online card management and card issuance, authorization plus stand-in, settlement and reporting, and gateway connections. The System’s flexibility affords your credit union alternative processing options to enable you to assume control of specific aspects of your transaction authorization and terminal driving process:
- Full Service (FS) Processing – First Data Debit Services drives your ATMs, holds your cardholder files, and authorizes your cardholders’ transactions
- Authorization Processing (AP) – First Data Debit Services drives your ATMs; you hold your cardholder files and authorize transactions
- Co-operative Authorization Processing (Co-Op) – First Data Debit Services drives your ATMs and holds the cardholder files; you authorize transactions
- Intercept Processing (IP) – You drive your own ATMs, hold your cardholder files and authorize your cardholders’ transactions, and route other institutions’ “foreign” cardholder transactions to First Data Debit Services
First Data Debit Services makes debit processing easy for you by providing:
- Single online authorization point for all ATM, POS and signature debit activity simplifies implementation and saves you time and money
- Single set of cardholder files and message formats minimizes impact on your operations personnel
- Same set of transmission lines that handles ATM and POS authorizations helps reduce telecommunications costs
- Single settlement point consolidates and streamlines all debit card processing
- Stand-in processing
- Dedicated Call Center staff trained to provide premier servicing
- Complete chargeback processing, supported by a copy request and retrieval service
- Online access to transaction information
- Online completion messages (signature and PIN)
First Data Debit Services’ Access WorkStation (AWS) is designed to provide you with 24/7 online, real-time access to a wide variety of support applications that will increase your control and day-to-day management of your Debit and ATM programs:
- Card Management & Authorization (CMA) Service – Access CMA to order new PIN-secured and signature debit (classic and business) cards, and maintain existing card records
- Transaction Repository – Search for transactions done on your ATMs and/or by your cardholders. Results can be imported into spreadsheet programs or other standard reporting packages for later review and creation of customized reports and graphs
- Consolidated Adjustment System (CAS) – Through an online single point of entry system, you can make adjustments, when needed, to transactions done on your ATMs or performed by your cardholders
- Tracker Online – Real time ATM incident management Database monitors ATM incident information directly on your desktop. Send
commands to any of your ATMs. View and update service instructions
- Real-Time Transaction Summary (RTS) – Provides real-time access to critical terminal summary information
- Settlement Transaction Summary (STS) – Provides next-day access to critical terminal summary data for both issuers and acquirers. You can run one of the 10 predefined queries or create and save unique queries
- Graphics Distribution Plus – Start leveraging the advanced graphic capabilities of your ATMs to strengthen customer relations and attract
new customers
We at PSCU Financial Services and First Data believe DebitAdvantage’s Total Debit Solution provides the best integrated processing solution available in the marketplace today. Why not make a new year’s resolution to discover what the Total Debit Solution can do for you and your members? More information on the power of the DebitAdvantage Total Debit Solution can be found at www.pscufs.com or by contacting your Account Executive.
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CUAlways Connects With qbt
PSCU Financial Services has partnered with NY-based software developer qbt to enhance the power and versatility of CUAlways, PSCU Financial Services’ 24 x 7 member service support program. qbt specializes in integrating financial service applications and data processing platforms. Using qbt’s MultiPointTM Integrator, CUAlways can now seamlessly integrate to an expanded range of credit union data processing systems, including Summit, Symitar, OSI, and Users. With qbt’s technology, more and more credit unions can leverage CUAlways’ capabilities to provide greater levels of service and availability for their members without incurring the expenses of additional labor, facilities, or technology. And with the ability to process loan applications, CUAlways provides even greater value to credit unions looking to grow their business and strengthen the bonds with their members. For more information, please call 800-863-7728 or contact us at cualwayssales@pscufs.com.
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Order Summer Seasonal Convenience Checks Today!
Don’t delay—the deadline to enroll in the Summer Seasonal Convenience Checks mailing is March 4, 2005. Seasonal Convenience Checks give your cardholders personalized check access to unused credit lines. By giving your cardholders easy access to additional funds, they will be able to enjoy summertime activities without financial worries! Enroll in three or more Seasonal Convenience Checks campaigns and save even more! Ask your PSCU Financial Services Account Executive for more details or visit our MemberConnect site at www.pscufs.com.
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MemberConnect Security – Web Administration
On the left-hand side of the home page of MemberConnect, you will see a heading for Applications. Under this heading is the very vital Web administration Application. This application is in place to provide the best security for you and your employees when using MemberConnect internally, for access to your credit union reports, downloads (such as customizable marketing collateral), applications (such as CardConnect), etc. By using this application, you can:
- Log on to MemberConnect
- Add/change/delete users and passwords
- Log off MemberConnect (always remember to log off when you are done with a session on MemberConnect!)
There is also an Administration Guide to help you understand how to use the application to its full potential.
It is critical to remember that when you add a new employee who needs access to MemberConnect and its report functions, that you add that username and password using the Web Administration Application. Also, when you add a new solution to your offerings, you will need to ensure that all appropriate users have access to that information via MemberConnect. Conversely, when an employee leaves your financial institution, you will need to ensure you delete that username and password from your database for obvious security reasons.
Reviewing the Web Administration Application and the Administration Guide will help you to keep the best security practices in place. Keeping MemberConnect secure benefits all member–owners and their employees.
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