Heritage South Community Credit Union Partners with Cotribute to Streamline Digital Account Opening Experience, Automate Loan Origination Process

Philip Paul

Cotribute, a leading digital growth platform for credit unions, announced today Heritage South Community Credit Union (Heritage South) has launched its consumer account opening and consumer loan application platforms. The credit union partnered with Cotribute to streamline the deposit onboarding experience, accelerate growth into newly expanded markets, enhance the overall member experience and strengthen fraud prevention capabilities. Heritage South, headquartered in Shelbyville, Tenn., has more than $351 million assets, 34,000 members and operates six branches across five counties and five cities in Middle Tennessee.

Following a strategic geographical expansion from three to five counties and five cities across Middle Tennessee, Heritage South needed a robust digital solution to reach new members. Cotribute's modular platform provided the credit union the flexibility to add the capabilities it currently needs with the option to easily add more modules in the future. Additionally, the modules reduce operational costs through automation and seamless out-of-the-box integrations with the credit union's existing business applications.

"Heritage South's story has always been about serving our community with our brand and promise of 'We Help When Others Won't,'" said Laura Parham, President & CEO of Heritage South Community Credit Union. "As the number of communities we serve has grown, we've had to explore new ways to deliver our products and services. Cotribute is an innovative platform that has enabled us to reach these new communities through multiple channels, supporting both our strategy and our execution. Their partnership has helped us scale our growth while simultaneously combating ever-increasing fraud."

Heritage South's legacy account opening solution presented significant challenges that hindered growth. The system was difficult for members to navigate with too many questions across multiple screens. On the back-end, the platform experienced frequent technical issues, particularly with ID verification, sometimes causing weekend applications to fail entirely and requiring staff to manually contact prospective members. The system also lacked modern marketing capabilities such as abandoned cart campaigns and seamless integration with Heritage South's mobile banking app.

With Cotribute's consumer digital account opening and loan origination modules, Heritage South can now provide members with an intuitive, frictionless experience that enables them to open a new deposit account or apply for a loan in just minutes with a few clicks. By serving a wider consumer audience across digital channels in its expanded geographical footprint, the credit union can more efficiently grow deposits at scale, expand its brand presence, and provide members a more engaging experience that competes with larger financial institutions and fintechs.

"Heritage South Credit Union has evolved from its origins in 1957 into a thriving community institution serving multiple counties in Middle Tennessee," said Wes Trundle, Vice President of Marketing, Heritage South Community Credit Union. "It has always strived to provide innovative solutions comparable to larger institutions while staying true to its roots. Their partnership with Cotribute underscores their commitment to offering modern, fast, and member-centric financial services."

These modules simplify the entire account opening process, providing easy, instant funding options, automated Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, sophisticated fraud detection, as well as automated anti-money laundering (AML), identity verification, OFAC checks and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requirements. Additionally, Cotribute's Consumer Loan Origination module streamlines the previously manual lending process, enabling members to quickly and efficiently access loans.
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"We are proud to partner with such a forward-looking institution like Heritage South that shares our commitment to accelerating digital transformation to provide members a superior experience," said Philip Paul, CEO of Cotribute. "Cotribute enables Heritage South to provide its members with instant, digital account opening, seamless deposit origination process and simplified loan origination processes from the very first touchpoint. The credit union will now be able to further streamline operations, automating manual tasks and eliminating back-office inefficiencies, allowing its staff to focus on providing an exceptional member experience across their expanded service area."

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