Fulfilling CDFI Mandates With the Help of Data Analytics

From the beginning, your credit union has dedicated itself to being a community development financial institution with a sincere focus on serving members with excellence. But did you know that diving deeper into data analytics could help you succeed in that mission? In addition, data analytics can enable you to grow your members and if interested, help you to acquire or maintain your CDFI certification, all while acquiring staff buy-in. Credit unions of all sizes can gain incredible insights from their data and use it to make wiser business decisions. Let's outline how you can use this technology to your advantage to save time, money, and effort.

Leveraging Data For CDFI Certification

One benefit of using data analytics is that it allows credit unions (CUs) to ensure that they are targeting the right members and lending opportunities according to CDFI census tracts. Older, more manual approaches tend to be more reactive than proactive when it comes to strategizing and targeting when it comes to certification. However, with data analytics, you can see your membership and loan origination each month and get a clear picture of where they are. This not only helps you obtain (or maintain) your certification but also allows you to determine whether your current strategy is better for the short or long-term and if you're on track with market demographics.

Improved data analysis also gives credit unions indicators to help them assess how they're serving members in local CDFI census tracts and decide if they need to change their marketing approach to attract prospects. When it comes to existing members, data analysis allows employees to view credit score movements and patterns to help pinpoint risk levels during the loan underwriting process.

Without the convenience of having unhindered access to cross-organizational data, setting lending goals and strategizing tend to be delegated to management, which can often muddy communication throughout the credit union. But when staff members can view each loan portfolio and watch it shift over time, they catch on to member behavior and begin to appreciate the technology and buy into the culture. With data analytics, you'll no longer feel like you're blindly throwing a dart at a board during loan goal-setting. Rather, you get a solid set of data that shows your staff how you can grow and how you're going to get there.

Pairing Data Analytics With CORE Software

Chances are, you probably still have a few manual data analysis processes at your CU, such as uploading and extracting data. However, it's possible to increase your efficiency by converting to CORE software that can automate this task. Instead of wasting valuable time pulling data manually, your employees can spend their time examining the data that's already provided for them. Data analytics doesn't have to be intimidating. All it takes is taking the data you have and using it to make better decisions for you, your staff, and of course, your members.

Learn More At The FLEX & SavvyMoney Data Analytics Webinar

Mark your calendar! This Thursday, on August 18th at 2:00 p.m. EST, we'll be joining our partner, SavvyMoney, in a special webinar dedicated to data analytics. If you're a credit union interested in boosting your lending strategy and harnessing the power of your data, this event is for you. We'll be teaching you how to use this technology to pinpoint lending opportunities based on your lending standards and your members' credit. Click below to register.