Credit unions to cut mailing costs with QAS

Credit union staff will be able to use address verification software to cut down on returned mail, under a new partnership between software company Experian QAS and IT company Symitar. Experian has become a member of Symitar’s Vendor Integration Program, allowing users of Symitar’s Episys core processing system to make use of its QAS Pro Web software.

The software will mean both newly captured addresses and existing addresses can be standardised and verified as staff work with their database.

The move should mean improving efficiency and cutting costs associated with returned mail, the software provider said, while also boosting customer service.

David Northridge, vice president of client retention at Experian QAS, part of Dublin-based Experian plc, said: “By verifying the member’s address up front, credit unions can do more to improve the member on-boarding process and ensure the delivery of time-sensitive communications.”

One of the latest credit unions to sign up to use Experian’s QAS address verification software has been Seven Seventeen Credit Union, the largest in the state of Ohio and one of the largest credit unions in the US.

The credit union will use QAS Pro at all points where an address can be changed or captured, with 120 employees set to use the software.

Cheryl D’Amore, senior vice president of Administrative Services, Seven Seventeen Credit Union, said as well as improving the company’s address database, it was expecting to take advantage of discounts from the US Postal Service available for mail that is properly addressed, labeled and sorted.

“With the help of Experian QAS, we found that 4.3% of the addresses in our database were problematic, which reduced the probability of delivering mailings to those addresses,” Ms D’Amore said, adding: “We expect this tool to reduce our returned mail rate significantly.”