The $80 million York, Penn. Heritage Valley FCU learned to survive against bigger financial institutions by supplying innovative services to members, and educating and lending to those underserved by other options.
“Our tag line is ‘effortless banking.’ Every day we focus on how we can make our members experience utilizing our products and services effortless,” Jeremey Sterner, Heritage Valley’s vice president of information technology, said.
Technology gives Heritage Valley an advantage, Sterner explained. “It does level the playing field. He added the credit union tries to stay competitive by delivering similar products and services, including online and mobile, that the bigger banks and credit unions in the York area provide.
Heritage Valley, Sterner asserted, was one of the first credit unions in the area to offer remote deposit capture through mobile. In addition, the credit union offers mobile apps for Apple and Android devices, a mobile-friendly version of online banking, and the capability to send and receive account information via SMS text messaging.
“We always say we’re small but were mighty. Technology is what keeps us competitive,” Sterner said.
One competitive advantage for Heritage Valley is it is one of a few credit unions of its size with its own IT department, which includes Sterner as vice president and two other associates. “The advantage of having someone in-house in charge of IT is it allows the credit union to control the costs of our technology spending,” Sterner noted.
Heritage Valley also stays true to the credit union foundation by serving members usually ignored by other financial institutions. “We truly live the credit union mission of people helping people,” Sterner said. “The credit union does this by offering financial education to those that may not get it otherwise and through its lending practices, which offers access to loans that other financial institutions will simply not approve.”
The Monett, Mo.-based Jack Henry & Associates’ Symitar core, which includes more than 700 credit union customers, helps Heritage Valley’s remain current with technology and member demands.
Heritage Valley converted to Symitar Episys core platform some time ago in 2004. “There were several different factors that led to our decision to move to the Symitar core,” Sterner mentioned. One was the acquisition of their previous core vendor. At that time, the credit union anticipated a forthcoming conversion due to a consolidation of platforms and products from the vendor side.
Read more about how Heritage Valley Federal Credit Union survives among the big financial providers in the May 17, 2017 print issue of CU Times.
