Important Dates

 

November 11

Veterans Days

 

November 17 - January 10

Visa Peak Season Freeze

 

November 27

OneBridge offices will be closed.  Client Service can be reached at 800-322-4035.   Happy Thanksgiving!

 

December 25

OneBridge offices will be closed.  Client Service can be reached at 800-322-4035.  Have a safe and happy holiday!

 

January 1

OneBridge offices will be closed.  Client Service can be reached at 800-322-4035.  Happy New Year!

 

 

OneBridge News in Review

 

L G & W FCU Launches Their New Credit Card Program with OneBridge

 

Quincy Credit Union Extends Their Relationship with OneBridge and OneBridge is Live with UltraData® Enterprise

 

 

AFD RTC Update

On October 3rd, Visa implemented their Real Time Clearing (RTC) for Fuel Program.  However, no merchants were prepared to begin processing RTC for Fuel transactions on the live date. The latest update from Visa was that merchants should be ready by peak season freeze, November 17.  OneBridge continues to keep a close watch for these new transactions.  We will let you know when we begin to see RTC for Fuel transactions. 

Fourth Quarter 2008

  Issue XXI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this Issue:

 

 

Maximize Your Marketing Budget in 2009 and Beyond

Are you looking for highly effective yet affordable ways to grow your Visa credit and debit card programs?  Well there's an easy solution. 

A portion of the fees you pay to participate in Visa Inc. support the development of some truly best-in-class marketing programs and tools.  And these marketing and promotional resources are available to you at low and sometimes no cost.   

The available programs and tools are too extensive to cover here in detail.  So we have pulled together what we think is a comprehensive list with brief explanations.  As you look for ways to maximize your marketing budget in 2009 and beyond, please take advantage of these resources to catapult your marketing effectiveness and grow your portfolio.

Visa Smart Moves for Effective Card Marketing - Best Practices
Ensure your success with a step-by-step, strategic approach to card marketing

Apply "Real World" Marketing Tactics
 Visa Smart Moves for Effective Card Marketing helps issuers plan and implement consumer and business card marketing and management programs.  This valuable resource offers you a step-by-step approach to consumer and business card best practices and tactics to maximize the revenue potential of your card portfolio. 

Visa updates Smart Moves on an ongoing basis, giving you access to the most current best practices in card marketing and management.  Issuers can access the latest Visa Smart Moves Guides by visiting Visa Online:

§         Visa Smart Moves Business Card Marketing Guides

§         Visa Smart Moves Consumer Check Card Marketing Guides

§         Visa Smart Moves Consumer Credit Card Marketing Guides

§         Visa Smart Moves Hispanic Segment Opportunity Guide


Card Marketing - Consumer Focus
Visa has developed complete programs that focus on growing your reach in the consumer market.  These easy to use programs will guide you on strategy development, planning, and marketing materials.  They include ready to use sample messages that cover a variety of card uses, features, opportunities, and occasions. Visa Check Card - Self Mailer

§         Visa Check Card Marketing Resources

§         Visa Consumer Credit Card Marketing Strategies & Programs 

§         Sample Visa Credit Card Statement Messages

§         Visa Signature Consumer Credit Card 

                                                                              Visa Check Card Self Mailer
Loyalty Marketing
 Whether as a supplement to OneBridge Point2Point Rewards, or as a first step towards building greater loyalty through discounts and rewards, the Visa developed programs are a great resource you can leverage. 

Merchant Premiums Program
You have access to a range of discounted gift cards and certificates from some of the top names in the retail, restaurant, travel, entertainment and other industries at a cost less than face value.  They're the ideal incentive for creating successful card promotions by motivating a variety of cardholder and employee behaviors. 

Sample promotions:

logo_sm_chevronlogo_sm_circuitcitylogo_sm_marriottlogo_sm_fandango

§        Increase usage by targeting cardholders who use their card fewer than five times per month and offer them a $10 Chevron Gift Card to make 10 transactions per month.

§        Promote using the card in a new way.  You could offer a $20 Circuit City Merchandise Card to motivate cardholders to use their Visa card for automatic bill payments. 

§        Reward or thank long-term customers for their loyalty, responsible use of credit, etc.

§        Decrease attrition by offering an attractive premium to cardholders who exhibit exit behaviors such as paying down an outstanding balance or who are no longer using their card.

Merchant Offer Programs
The Visa Merchant Offer program is simple to use and can help you increase usage with a range of targeted discount offers from leading merchants, tailored to specific cardholder segments and delivered via statement inserts, direct mail, and your website.

Visa negotiates offers from a wide assortment of nationally recognized merchants which results in deals like 20% off a purchase, $10 savings on a $50 item, free shipping, upgrades and more.  You can choose from market-ready materials or create your own customized materials using a Visa Online tool.  With the online publishing tool an issuer can create custom inserts, letters, web pages, and banners.  It includes access to an image library with free photos and copy selections. 

Instant Visa Rewards
Instant Visa Rewards is updated three times a year and provides 25-30 discount offers from nationally recognized merchants (e.g. retail, entertainment, travel, food, etc.) in the Winter, Summer, and Fall, to help drive card usage throughout the year.  You can communicate the offers to cardholders through pre-designed direct mail or customized marketing materials. 

Visa Rewards Online
With Visa Rewards Online you can provide cardholders with online discounts from a wide variety of leading merchants through your own offer-based web pages.  You choose which offers to include, and you can update your web pages as often as you like.  And there's no cost to participate!

Visa provides banners and buttons that you can place on your website to drive cardholders to these special offer pages.  You can also include your own proprietary offers. 

Annual Retail Branch Programs
You can boost acquisition and card activation with Visa's market-tested, turnkey retail marketing program.  It offers comprehensive acquisition and activation solutions modeled from best-in-class retail organizations.  Select from a suite of solutions that meet your card program goals, including:

§         Employee Training and Incentives to motivate employees

§         Consumer-tested Customer Promotion to boost card acquisition

§         Program Implementation Tools to help you plan your promotion

§         High-impact segment based materials to build customer interest

§        Online Assets Library where you can download final art files to create your own custom program materials

Targeted Marketing
Targeting specific consumer segments and promoting specific new uses of your Visa card (like Bill Pay and Tax Payments) can help build loyalty while also building portfolio volume.  Marketing resources for these kinds of focused campaigns are also available from Visa. 

Make a Smart Move today!  Log on to www.us.visaonline.com and start taking complete advantage of your Visa brand partnership.  You will positively maximize your marketing budget in 2009 and beyond.  As always, we encourage you to contact OneBridge Client Service for assistance.

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Capital Credit Union Live with UltaData
In our first quarter issue of Touchpoints, we announced adding Harland Financial Solutions UltraData® Enterprise to our growing list of core system interfaces with live processing starting in September of this year.  We are pleased to have converted Capital Credit Union to the real-time interface with Harland's UltraData® Enterprise.  Capital went live with the interface on September 2, 2008.

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Review Your Holiday Risk Management Settings
As we approach the holidays and peak spending periods, now is a good time to review your risk management settings.  Please evaluate your STIP limits and Velocity Monitors used to trigger Fraud Scout calls and soft blocks.

If you have areas within the United States or outside the country blocked, we recommend reminding your cardholders of these restrictions as well as steps they should take to remove these limitations, if allowed by your financial institution.

Your OneBridge STIP Activity Limits, Real-Time authorization filters as well as your Near Real-Time rules for Velocity Monitoring can be located within Gateway Navigator under the Risk Management Menu option.  All administrative users have access to this menu option.

Additionally, as your staff takes time off for the holidays, you should review who has access to view and modify these options.  Your management team is always free to contact OneBridge Client Service and request that we make the change on your behalf. 

Please contact Client Service via email clientservice@onebridge.com or by phone 800-322-4035, option 1 if you need any assistance making modifications.

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Instant Issue
Another solution aimed at growing your portfolio

In an increasingly competitive payments market, issuers are challenged to effectively advance their offerings to cardholders and create enduring loyalty, while also maximizing their ROI. Among the solutions aimed at achieving this goal is Instant Issue of cards. Instant Issue programs are flexible and can be tailored in many ways to meet most issuers' needs and standards. 

According to a Visa Check Card Instant Issue Study, cardholders preferred the convenience and security of Instant Issue cards to cards received through the traditional mail channel, with 78% of cardholders indicating that Instant Issue was "more convenient," and 70% indicating it "felt safer".

Further, in examining the Instant Issue of Visa check cards through the branch channel, the Visa study uncovered that earlier activation was a major advantage of Instant Issue compared to mailed cards. Cardholders who received their Visa check card via Instant Issue used their cards for signature-based purchases 7 to 8 days earlier than those who received Visa check cards in the mail. 

Benefits of Instant Issue

·        Increase interchange revenue by speeding up activation and usage of your Visa credit and debit cards.

·         Increase satisfaction by allowing cardholders to select their own PIN and leave the branch with a personalized card they can use immediately. 

·        Enhance cardholder experience by quickly and easily replacing lost, stolen or damaged cards with minimal disruption to cardholder usage.

·        Gain market leadership recognition with your cardholders in a complex financial services market by catering to their preferences.

·         Reduce card and PIN mailing costs by eliminating the mail as your primary delivery channel.

Where OneBridge Fits in the Process

OneBridge supports Instant Issue in partnership with Dynamic Card Solutions, located in Denver, Colorado. DCS is the leading instant issuance provider for Visa® and MasterCard® debit and credit cards. Their CardWizard® solution enables you to issue ATM, debit, and credit cards "on the spot." CardWizard® works with a variety of card issuance terminals and PIN pad devices to create a flexible card issuance environment that offers options including card personalization, cardholder PIN selection, and secure system auditing and monitoring.

Key Features of CardWizard®

·        Personalization. Supports fully personalized or pre-embossed/encoded cards.

·        Security. Financial keys are securely stored in an encrypted file or in an external, tamper-resistant device fully compliant with Visa instant issuance security standards as well as PCI security recommendations.

 ·       Reporting. Reports can be generated "on demand" for individual users or branches and/or for all users or branches

·        Configuration Flexibility. The software can support instant and/or central issuance of cards as well as manual and automated environments.

How It Works
CardWizard® is available for use in two distinct environments: a stand alone, manual environment; or integrated with your host account processing system where the account and card records reside.  Whether operating CardWizard® in a manual or automated environment, a fully secure transmission to a plastic card embossing component produces a ready to use card.  CardWizard ® also supports contactless plastic cards.

Regardless of which environment you operate, at the heart of CardWizard® is the Enterprise Server application.  Installed on a stand alone server used solely for the production of cards, the application manages the card production requests, logging, reporting, and database storage.  And a feature called KeyManager securely stores keys used to calculate PIN offsets and CVV values.

Once a card is issued by your host system and CardWizard®, there are two ways to update OneBridge Gateway Credit or Debit Connection.  Either the host or CardWizard® can deliver a real-time message to OneBridge containing the appropriate information to add the cardholder record to our system.  

Visa Resources Related to Instant Card Issuance
Visa offers you helpful insight on the benefits of instant issue and how to effectively plan and implement a program.  For more detailed information please click on the following links:

Visa Check Card Instant Issuance Study - Visa Consumer Debit Products partnered with Runge & Company, an instant issuance consulting firm, to conduct a study to evaluate how instant issuance at account opening affects cardholder behavior and the effect instant issuance has on cardholder perceptions about security and convenience. This document summarizes the results of the study. In addition, it provides issuers with a roadmap to navigate and understand key considerations associated with evaluating and implementing instant issuance.

Instant Card Issuance Security Standards Manual provides detailed information regarding security requirements you must adhere to.  To request a copy of this manual you must contact Tamiq Haniff via email at THaniff@visa.com.

Unembossed Visa Card Design and Branding Guide - Specifications for production of unembossed Visa card products.

Visa Instant Card Issue (ICI) Financial Calculator (XLS) - This companion Microsoft Excel-based tool allows you to incorporate your own key revenue and expense driver assumptions to help you evaluate a business case for instant card issuance.

Instant Issue Program Implementation Guide focuses on practical tips and information for issuers contemplating Instant Issue cards in branches, retail, or other locations such as campuses, malls or work places.

You may also want to consult the Visa U.S.A. Inc. Operating Regulations, published twice a year to keep members apprised of the changes in Visa USA's operating requirements, rules, and policies.

*****************
For more information about implementing an Instant Issue program utilizing CardWizard®visit Dynamic Card Solutions at www.INSTANTissuance.com, for access to Visa resources visit www.visaonline.com or call OneBridge today at 1 .800.322.4035.

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PBF STIP Balances Risk and Cardholder Satisfaction

Did you know that OneBridge has an alternative to activity and dollar parameters based stand-in processing (STIP)? It's as simple as sending us open-to-buy records in your Cardholder Information File (CIF).  We call it Positive Balance File Stand-In Processing or PBF STIP for short.  If you have low tolerance for risk and therefore a conservative strategy with parameter based STIP, PBF STIP may be a better alternative for you. 

How does PBF STIP benefit you?  It can reduce your risk during STIP while improving your cardholders' experience because of potentially fewer declines.  Authorization decisions are based on the open-to-buy data you send to OneBridge and not a more generic one size fits all limit.

PBF STIP can be implemented as quickly as your host account processing system can send open-to-buy records in the CIF.  If you are interested in taking advantage of this stand-in processing alternative or would like additional information, please contact OneBridge Client Service via email clientservice@onebridge.com or by phone 800-322-4035, option 1.

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Conference Review

As OneBridge continues to grow, we are committed to expanding and solidifying our relationships with core account processors.  True to this commitment, here's a recap of the conferences we attended the second half of this year.

Symitar:  In August OneBridge attended the 23rd annual Symitar Educational Conference & Technology Expo in San Diego. Symitar is one of the credit union industry's leading core technology vendors and the exposure OneBridge gained during the 3-day conference was on track with our growth strategies. We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to continue building awareness of OneBridge in the credit union market.  Sharing information about our comprehensive suite of products and services resulted in a great number of credit unions welcoming us in to take a look at how we can become their trusted partner in payments. We look forward to sharing the OneBridge value proposition with these and other Symitar clients and building longstanding relationships with them. 

Harland UltraData:  OneBridge attended Harland UltraData's Users Conference held in Orlando, FL mid-September.  OneBridge was one of the select vendor partners to exhibit at the conference.  As with the Symitar conference one month earlier, this presented an excellent opportunity to meet with UltraData's client base and introduce the OneBridge advantage for payment processing. We gained tremendous exposure by exhibiting at the conference and have a solid book of sales leads as a result.  The conference was definitely a success for OneBridge and we look forward to many future successes with UltraData.

Share One Customer Conference:  In late October, OneBridge attended the Share One Customer conference in Memphis, TN.   OneBridge is a preferred vendor partner of Share One and was one of only 9 companies invited to exhibit at their Customer Conference, and the only payments processor. 

The conference was well attended from credit unions across the country.  OneBridge clients in attendance included JM Associates FCU, L G & W FCU, Service 1st CU, and Touchstone FCU.

Like OneBridge, Share One is known for "high touch" client service and they are confident in their ability to provide exceptional satisfaction.  Share One invites prospective clients to attend their conference.  They get the opportunity to hear candid feedback first-hand from the large group of clients in one setting.  Now that's confidence in your products and service!  And the results show.  Jim McCorkle, President/CEO of Touchstone FCU in Wilmington, MA, was one such prospective client who came to the conference.   By the end of the conference Jim signed a contract and Share One gained a new client.  Touchstone plans to convert to Share One's NewSolutions product July 31, 2009.   

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Visa News

Visa Announces Financial Results
Visa announces financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full-year 2008.

Visa NFL 2008 National Promotion*
(September 1 - December 31, 2008) - Order materials while supplies last!

* To access this news item, you must register with visaonline.  If you already have a username and password, please visit www.visaonline.com and search for the topic.  If you need to register with visaonline, please visit www.volenroll.com.

Client News
We love when great things are happening with our clients!
 
Greenwood Credit Union celebrated its 60th Anniversary in October!


Industry News
  Here are some interesting stories related to the payments industry that made headlines recently.  A link to the full article is included below each summary. 

Debit cards may soon overtake credit cards, which is why banks are scrambling to boost their profitability.
The Steady Ascent of the Debit Card
businessweek.com 

Both credit union and community banks are poised to see strong credit card marketing opportunities as the country continues to move through its ongoing economic crisis, according to credit unions and bank experts.
CUs May Realize Card Opportunity From Changing Economic Landscape
cutimes.com

Congress' passage of the financial rescue passage is good news for all segments of the economy, including credit unions.
What the Bailout Means for Credit Unions
creditunions.com

 Credit Unions as a whole are healthy, with strong balance sheets.
America's credit unions: Secure, Strong
cuna.org

 The Third Quarter of 2008 will most likely be looked back upon as a watershed historical moment when the core of American financial landscape fundamentally changed.
A Preliminary First Look at CU Performance in a Tumultuous Third Quarter
creditunions.com

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