There are two primary reasons we charge this fee: Our belief that we should do our best to keep our fees down when credit unions do not earn. This is why, for example, It's Me 247 mobile web is offered free to our credit unions. It's also behind our constant pressure to reduce fees where CUs have no basis or belief they can charge for a defensive, relationship service. Charging for these services in this manner fund other areas where the direct expenses cannot easily be identified wi  More...

There are two methods used to track delinquent loans for reporting purposes in CU*BASE: Method One (for Collections tracking) We have always tracked delinquency in two separate fields for “Months” and ‘Days” in the member files. When a loan is 30 days delinquent, it shows as “0 Months, 30 Days” delinquent. When a loan is 31 days delinquent, it is “1 Month, 0 Days” delinquent. A month is always considered 30 days regardless of the actual number o  More...

There are several configurations that control the member’s ability to set up and maintain Automated Funds Transfer (AFTs) online. Does your credit union's Personal Internet Branch configuration allow the maintenance of AFTs? Are AFTs configured to show in online banking? Does the member's PIB configuration allow maintenance of AFTs in online banking? For existing AFTs: Is the record locked to prevent changes in online banking? 1. Does your credit union's Personal Internet Bran  More...

When you use the filter buttons on the File Maintenance Inquiry dashboard (Tool #159: Audit File Maintenance Inquiry (CUFMNT)), indicators note which programs, fields/columns, and files/tables AuditLink has flagged as “critical” for auditing teams to monitor on a daily basis. You can quickly sort by that indicator and select only those items for a quick scan of maintenance that directly affects member accounts. Below is a listing of these critical items. Columns/Fields Field Why   More...

GUAPPLE is short for GOLD Update Appliance. The GUAPPLE is a stand-alone network appliance that takes the place of the GOLD-Master update server PC. It is designed to seamlessly handle all of your GOLD software update retrieval tasks. No effort is required to retrieve software updates when using a GUAPPLE device. It will acquire GOLD update files automatically as well as custom loan screen updates, doing away with manually downloading and extracting software update files. One GUAPPLE unit  More...

Prior to the 16.10 release, the SSA began using multiple Company IDs, and it was recommended that credit unions consider using Automated Funds Transfers (AFTs) to handle distributions. Beginning with the 16.10 release a new cross-reference system will be implemented that will automatically funnel all incoming company IDs from the Social Security Administration and treat them as if they came from one, consistent company ID we’re referring to as the “Primary ID.” With the chang  More...

​ For General Support and CU*BASE Assistance: Use the AnswerBook to submit a question to the Client Services and Education team. You can access the AnswerBook via a CU*BASE session by selecting the @ symbol and asking a question, or by logging in and asking a question. You can also call 616-285-5711 or 800-327-3478 and follow the menu prompts to reach a representative. For Technical Support: Use the ConnectWise ticketing system to submit a question to the Network Services team. ConnectWise   More...

With the 16.10 release a new cross-reference system was implemented that automatically funnels all incoming company IDs from the Social Security Administration and treat them as if they came from one, consistent company ID we’re referring to as the “Primary ID.” In cases where the Depositor ID is the same, for example a husband and wife, these ACH transactions will be handled by the same master ACH distribution record under the Depositor ID since duplicate Depositor IDs are no  More...

Yes, by making use of both a Misc. Receipts and a Misc. Expense posting code, so that you can put the funds temporarily into a G/L then issue a check from that same G/L. Here are the key steps: First, configure two posting codes, using Tool # 534 Misc. Posting Codes Configuration. For the first one, choose the Receipts type and set up a code that will allow you to place funds into a G/L account. For the second one, choose the Expenses/Advances type and set up a code that will allow you to  More...

Trust accounts can be set up as either individual or organizational depending on the legal nature of the trust. Following are recommendations for handling situations when a member wants to set up a membership where the primary member and the first joint owner are, in essence, the same person. This happens most often for trust accounts. Currently in CU*BASE there are two ways to handle trusts: For trusts that use a person’s SSN (where you do not have a separate TIN for the trust), set up th  More...

General Requirements CU*BASE GOLD, CBX, and the associated cuasterisk.com software suite ( Station Control , ProDOC, SearchLink, etc.) require that the following networks be routed to the cuasterisk.com network (typically via a CU*Answers Cisco router): For all CU*Answers privately routed networks below, all ports/services should be allowed outbound from any device accessing CU*BASE or CBX. Required for standard Production connectivity: 63.150.21.96/27 63.236.240.16/28   More...

The NSF Statistics Dashboard (Tool #557) will track this information for you automatically. It is separated into the NSF category and the Courtesy Pay Category. Credit unions are using this dashboard to help predict averages of NSF/Courtesy Pay fee income and also to track how many members may be using the service. You can click on any of the origins (listed in blue text) and you can drill further to members who had more than X transactions in a specific month. There are a lot of graphical oppor  More...

Workflow Controls do not include an automatic flow to the teller posting system. However, there is an easy way to incorporate this into your procedures. First, set your Workflow Control configuration (Tool #1004 Workflow Controls: Open Mbrships/Accts ) so that the Open sub-accounts feature is turned off . When opening a new member, start from the first Teller Posting screen, using F21-Open from the first teller screen and processing the new membership until done. Using Cancel (F7) at that   More...

Make sure that drivers for the printer are loaded on the PC on which you are building the session. Test the drivers by printing a windows test page unless you are using a thermal receipt printer. DO NOT SEND WINDOWS TEST PAGES TO THERMAL RECEIPT PRINTERS! Once you know the printer is set up correctly, then perform the following steps: 1) Go to Start>Programs>IBM Client Access Express>Emulator>Start or Configure Session. 2) Select Configure. 3) Set the System Name to WESCPROD.  More...

If you or your member notice an account is not being updated (or the additional signer on a loan) you should first try to find out if the loan/additional signer was included in the file sent over to the bureau. You can do this for the most recent reporting cycle by running Tool #658 Print Loan Info Sent to Credit Bureau . If the member loan/additional signer information (defined by METRO 2 as the J1 segment or J2 Segment) is present in that file you need to look further into the following types  More...

If you: A) automatically deactivate online banking access for all new members, and B) expire online banking passwords due to non-use after 90 days, then how do you run an online banking promotion? After all, sending a marketing piece to members won't do any good if they're disabled or locked out from logging in. Of course you could have them call the credit union to get set up, but here's another idea: Set up a special promotional period! Pick a date to start your campaign. Advert  More...

Yes. You can pull a credit report for any service using the online credit bureau process. Using Tool #53 Process Member Applications, use action code CR to pull the report without creating a loan request and application. We can then create Member Services denial notices for debit cards, checking accounts, ATM cards, etc.

In this particular member's situation there was no activity in either October or November that triggered a statement. The credit union's quarterly (and year-end) statements are configured to produce a statement for every member, regardless of activity level, but monthly statements are more restrictive in an attempt to save postage costs, and not every member gets a statement every month. NOTE: CU*BASE statements have a considerable number of configuration options that allow credit unio  More...

Xtend, Inc. is a CUSO with a select group of credit union leaders independent of CU*Answers. Xtend consulting is about creative services, access to marketplaces that may be outside the scope of smaller credit unions or even CU*Answers, and the sharing of resources that no single organization is able to afford. Participating credit unions have discussed using Xtend operationally to improve share branching concepts, provide call centers, share human resources, set up combined member outreach pro  More...

There are several ways to obtain this data. To see the total number of active online banking members, use Tool #856 Tiered Svcs Monthly Comparison to display active user counts for any monthly period. (HINT: Click the Goal 4 button to display this data.) This can be done even if your credit union does not use Tiered Services for any other purpose. To print a report of usage statistics, use Tool #141 ARU/Online Banking Stats Dashboard To see online banking usage stats for a particular m  More...

If you need to allow an employee to perform upload and/or download tasks (FinCEN, AIRES, ALM, uploading G/L entries to post, etc.), you must first complete the iShield Security Access Request form and have it signed by your credit union’s designated Security Officer to sign. Once our Client Services team receives your signed form and verifies it, a request will be submitted to our System i administrators, and you will be notified when the new permissions have been granted. This process wi  More...

The previous tools used for uploading and downloading to and from CU*BASE will be retired when your credit union recieves the 20.07 CU*BASE software release. For online and Site-Four credit unions, that date is Sunday, July 12. Self-processing credit unions will receive the release the following Sunday, July 19. To replace the two tools, a new tool was introduced in November 2018, Tool #1375 Data Transfers (Upload or Download) . Following the release, this tool will be the default data transfer  More...

Simply put, it is a way for your members to continue using interactive services such as audio response and online banking, ATM/debit cards, and online credit cards for their financial needs, even while CU*BASE is off line for normal daily or monthly processing. CU*BASE uses a special style of stand-in processing that allows for continued use of CU*TALK audio response and It's Me 247 online banking services even during the night when we perform end-of-day and end-of-month processing. Refe  More...

A CUSO is a C redit U nion S ervice O rganization that directly provides services for credit unions. These organizations can be wholly owned (owned by an individual credit union) or multi-owned (owned by more than one credit union). These organizations generally sell stock, are for profit, and are taxable entities. Both CU*Answers and Xtend are multi-owned CUSOs.

The two reports are using different criteria to determine loan delinquency: Loan Delinquency Analysis With the 13.0 release in the spring of 2013, the Loan Delinquency Analysis Report (Tool #461) was changed to report loan delinquency in days instead of months per updated NCUA requirements (see below*). The current processing date is compared to the next payment date to determine the actual number of days delinquent. This is most commonly used report for obtaining delinquency information for  More...