Appalachian Community FCU Provides Financial Tools & Services to Underserved Communities with IMM’s eSignature Platform

IMM, the only eSignature provider that specializes in eSignature and digital transaction solutions exclusively for financial institutions, today announced Gray, Tenn.-based Appalachian Community Federal Credit Union (ACFCU) has successfully deployed IMM eSign for Credit Unions to provide modern, financial tools and services to underserved individuals and small businesses in rural areas of its community where traditional brick and mortar locations are not easily accessible.  The credit union is an award-winning, socially responsible financial cooperative serving communities in northeast Tennessee, southwest Virginia and eastern Kentucky.

ACFCU’s Vice President of Technology and Electronic Services, Joe Jackson, said, “Our partnership with IMM has been instrumental in advancing our mission to improve the financial health of our community, particularly the vast number of individuals and businesses in Southeast Kentucky, Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia that lacks adequate access to quality, financial services. We view IMM as an extension of our team and have found their in-depth knowledge of the credit union industry and the continued collaboration between our teams to be invaluable.”

ACFCU’s community includes a service area of approximately 260,000 residents, of which 26 percent live below the poverty line, and 28 percent are unbanked or underbanked. Many major banks have left the area due to a lack of population and the high cost of providing adequate bank services. With IMM eSign, the credit union can now deliver mainstream financial services and banking capabilities to this underserved market. Members can complete end-to-end transactions in a digital, self-service environment at a time and place that is most convenient to their schedule regardless of the branch’s operating hours.

Additionally, the lack of viable brick and mortar banking services had left many residents in this area vulnerable to predatory lending. Together with IMM, the credit union now provides traditional loan products to members in even the most remote locations. IMM eSign works seamlessly with the credit union’s online loan application and loan origination systems enabling users to complete and submit new account forms, loan applications or loan closing documents from anywhere that is convenient for the user.  In 2015, ACFCU originated $62MM in loans 95 percent of which ($60.2MM) were to underserved communities.

Jackson continued, “IMM’s unique ability to interface with our existing systems ensured the digital tools and services were quickly adopted by our employees and our members. The feedback we’ve received has been tremendous – the intuitive design ensures it is easy to navigate for all users, regardless of previous technical experience. This is pivotal to ensuring we are able to sustain our momentum and meet the long-term needs of our current members while continuing to reach underserved individuals and small business owners in our community.”

The credit union is in the midst of converting to Corelation’s Keystone core platform and cited IMM’s ability to easily and quickly integrate with existing business applications across the organization as a key advantage of IMM eSign.

“ACFCU is truly a leader in its community and is committed to innovation and leveraging technology to provide modern banking tools to a market that would otherwise not have access,” said Michael Ball, Vice President of Markets & Strategy for IMM. “The credit union can expand its geographic reach without adding new branches or resources. ACFCU is an excellent example of how digital technology can positively impact members, enabling them to quickly complete transactions at their convenience. Not only has the credit union been able to boost productivity across the entire organization, but it also has enriched the overall financial health of an entire region by providing innovative solutions to ensure members have access to modern banking tools and services even in the most rural communities. We are proud to partner with such a forward-thinking credit union – it is this type of innovative approach that propels the entire industry and makes a lasting impact.”

With IMM eSign for Credit Unions, institutions can deliver a complete end-to-end digital processing environment and eliminate virtually all cumbersome, paper-based procedures in favor of electronic transaction handling. Credit unions are using IMM’s Signature solutions to simplify the account opening process, streamline loan originations, lending disclosure delivery and facilitate digital loan closings. Valued-added self-service processes can also be provided to customers via IMM’s technology to accomplish account maintenance or service transactions such as address changes, wire transfer requests, or stop payment orders.

IMM eSign is used by hundreds of credit unions to power millions of eSignature and digital transactions each month.