The Growing Risk of Manual Issue Tracking

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In the highly regulated banking industry managing compliance issues often means juggling spreadsheets, shared drives, email threads, and PDFs. Whether it’s a customer complaint, an audit or exam finding, an internal incident, or a vendor-related exception, tracking such issues manually leaves room for human error, version confusion, lost documents or data, delayed follow-ups, and a lack of accountability and transparency.

That’s why Strunk provides a reliable solution to manage all incidents, issues, and compliance concerns. Issues Manager helps ensure problems are not just logged but they are resolved, documented, and prevented from recurring – all in one secure system.

What Issues Manager Does and Why It Matters

Issues Manager transforms issue tracking into a structured and manageable process:

  • Centralized issue database: Maintain a unified repository for all issues. Each incident is logged in one place organized by type and source. Read and edit access can be controlled at the user and group level.
  • Clear ownership and accountability: Define who is responsible for each issue. Assign owners, set priorities and due dates, and track progress towards resolution. That way nothing slips through the cracks.
  • Accessible attachments and documentation: Supporting documents – e.g. audit findings, incident reports, customer complaint files – can be attached directly to issues. That means when auditors, regulators, or internal reviewers ask for these, everything is already organized and linked.
  • Automated alerts and status tracking: Issues Manager supports automated email alerts when issue statuses change or when due dates approach. This helps confirm issues are addressed promptly, corrective actions are implemented, and closure is documented.
  • Reporting for internal and external needs: Generate reports tailored for auditors, regulators, or internal management, offering a clean, consolidated view of all issues, their status, history, and remediation progress.

Collectively, these features provide greater efficiency, improve compliance, and support risk reduction. If you are interested in leveraging these capabilities to upgrade your process, please email info@strunkaccess.com or visit us at https://strunkaccess.com/compliance-software to schedule a brief demo.

Is it Time to Reevaluate your Overdraft Payment Process?

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Strunk’s Overdraft Privilege program has been around for over 30 years and many banks still take advantage of the strategy that turned out to be one of the best fee income programs in our industry’s history. Other financial institutions decided to go back to the old “ad hoc” program. Now is the time to rethink that decision.

Consumers want a choice when handing their finances and ODP gives that choice to them. Do customers want their debit card transactions to be authorized at point of sale or do they want the transaction denied? Virtually all consumers want their paper checks paid rather than returned to the merchant. Strunk’s formal ODP program allows financial institutions to make this happen in a simple and compliant fashion.

Non-sufficient fund and overdraft fees have dropped dramatically over the past decade and today they are about a third of what they were in 2010. Electronic transactions make up about 95% of all debits that a bank processes which is considerably more than what it was at the turn of the century.

Running a compliant, efficient, automated daily overdraft program is good for both the customer and the bank. Consumer complaints regarding paying overdrafts and charging a published fee are very small. After over three decades of helping financial institutions enhance customer service and fee income at the same time we have learned a lot about consumer banking.

Contact Strunk at 800.728.3116 or email at info@strunkaccess.com to learn how we can help you make more money efficiently.

Generate ODP Manager Letters by Account Number

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In the hosted ODP Manager software, there are three letter types: Collection, Custom, and Ad Hoc. Collection letters are sent to accounts that are currently overdrawn. Custom letters are letters that are providing customers with information about their Overdraft Privilege program and options. The third letter type, Ad Hoc letters, allows users to generate specific letter templates as needed.

Ad Hoc letters do not require an account event to trigger the letter to show as due. They also can be used for situations where the file does not contain the necessary data to show a letter as due. In either of these situations, when an ODP Manager user has identified an account or accounts that should receive a letter, they are able to generate the letter by entering the account number(s). Letters can be generated one account at a time, or multiple account numbers at once.

Ad Hoc letters can benefit institutions in two ways. First, generating the Ad Hoc letter in ODP Manager allows users to eliminate the manual process of populating a letter with a customer’s name, address, and other account information – the hosted ODP Manager software can pre-fill this information once the account number is entered. Second, generating the Ad Hoc letter directly in ODP Manager allows users to track and retain the letter in the software – just like the Collection and Custom letters generated. This allows users to have a single location to look for letters that have been generated on an account.

The inherent flexibility of the Ad Hoc letter template feature may allow institutions to accommodate all Overdraft Privilege Program-related letters – not just letters included in the standard Collection and Custom letters. If users need to close and charge off an account before the standard number of days overdrawn, they can use an Ad Hoc letter to generate an Account Closed letter. If there are ODP-related letters that are sent in specific situations other than those covered by the standard letter templates, Strunk can create the letters as Ad Hoc letter templates. Ad Hoc letters can also be used to generate Fresh Start Repayment Plan agreements.

If you have any questions about using Ad Hoc letter templates in ODP Manager, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com for more details.

How Vendor Manager Helps You Streamline Vendor Management and Boost Efficiency

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Financial institutions often face the challenge of managing vendors with limited staff and resources. Strunk’s latest enhancements in Vendor Manager are designed to address these pain points, making thorough compliance and document tracking easier and more efficient than ever. Here’s a summary of the latest available features:

  • A new document status color-coding system provides a quick, visual way to assess the status of each vendor document, meaning less time spent searching for what needs attention.
  • An enhanced request and update workflow allows users to update multiple documents at once and manually send document update requests with a single click. Automated email reminders keep vendors on track, while the option to disable them or send manual requests gives you flexibility. The system auto-populates request dates, helping you stay organized without extra effort.
  • View an auto-generated list of suggested due diligence documents for each vendor, tailored to their assessed risk level. A convenient strike-through appears on the checklist as documents are added, providing an instant visual of completion. All due diligence documents, regardless of where or when they were added, will appear on the Due Diligence Materials tab for a centralized view.
  • The Overdue Items Report is another valuable addition. With this targeted visibility, users can quickly see which vendors require attention and ensure that overdue items are resolved. The report details specific actions needed for each vendor, sortable by risk level, allowing you to prioritize efforts and focus on what is most critical.

These updates make Strunk’s Vendor Manager an even more powerful tool, helping institutions save time, reduce manual work, and keep vendor documentation processes running smoothly. The intuitive interface and automation free up staff to focus on what matters most – building relationships and supporting your community.

If you have any questions about using the new features in Vendor Manager, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com for more details.

 

The Hassle-Free Way to Bank Vendor Management and Regulatory Compliance

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The average bank in the United States does business with nearly 100 vendors ranging from core processors to companies who mow the lawn or shovel the snow. Building relationships with vendors is key to running a successful institution. But, managing the vendor due diligence process can be a hassle and time consuming but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Like a lot of bank processes vendor management is sometimes outsourced to third parties and the fees associated with can be hefty. At the other end of the spectrum some financial institutions build their own excel spreadsheet and the process is handled in-house.

Strunk’s inexpensive Vendor Manager Solution provides two key elements to managing vendors:

1) provides a repository for all information relating to each vendor and

2) allows the bank to do regulatory required risk assessments on a consistent basis.

The tool keeps critical information such as financial statements, insurance documentation, contracts and service level agreements and provides a tickler system to notify bank personnel when updated documents are needed.

The risk assessor tool helps a bank determine what level of risk the vendor exposes the bank to: critical, high, moderate or low. In the case where the vendor is a critical or high risk, more documentation is required from the vendor to do a full assessment per regulatory requirements. The solution helps you assess the risk in an easy to use manner.

Contact Strunk at 800.728.3116 or email at info@strunkaccess.com to learn how our comprehensive but inexpensive Vendor Manager tool can help your bank.

Enhanced Risk Indicators for Elder Abuse & Financial Crime

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Strunk’s Risk Assessor frameworks have recently undergone an important upgrade, now incorporating both elder abuse and FinCEN-related risk indicators to further strengthen compliance and customer protection efforts. This update reflects the financial industry’s growing commitment to addressing vulnerabilities that may impact senior customers, as well as the need to keep pace with evolving regulatory requirements.

The addition of specific elder abuse indicators is particularly important, as it encourages financial institutions to closely monitor for irregular behaviors or interactions involving senior clients, track changes in transaction patterns, identify unusual account activity, and evaluate the institution’s overall customer base.

Alongside these elder abuse indicators, Risk Assessor now features new FinCEN-related risk indicators that emphasize various types of financial crime, such as check fraud, wire fraud, ACH and digital payment fraud, identity fraud, and loan and credit fraud. These enhancements are designed to help institutions better identify, assess, and mitigate risks and respond to emerging threats in the financial landscape.

Strunk’s goal is to provide financial institutions with robust tools that empower them to be more proactive and thorough in their risk management practices. The comprehensive set of new risk indicators is aligned with BSA/AML/OFAC and FinCEN guidance, offering deeper insights into both inherent risks and the effectiveness of existing controls. By leveraging these indicators, institutions can ensure stronger protection for vulnerable customers and improve regulatory compliance.

If your institution is ready to enhance its risk management capabilities, you can learn more about activating these indicators within your existing framework by contacting Strunk at 800.728.3116 or info@strunkaccess.com.

Periodic Review of Accounts for Overdraft Privilege

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To run a successful Overdraft Privilege program, at least 90% of eligible checking accounts should have an OD Limit. Strunk recommends that institutions periodically review accounts not currently in the ODP program to determine if the accounts now qualify for Overdraft Privilege. Performing this review at least quarterly (or more frequently if able) will help to maintain higher participation in ODP.

The Status Tracking report in ODP Manager includes all open accounts in status codes that indicate the account does not currently have an OD Limit assigned. The ODP Status Code indicates the reason that the account did not qualify for ODP. Users should review the Status Tracking Report by ODP Status Code to determine if any of the accounts now qualify for ODP, or if not, to verify or update the reason the account does not qualify. Reviewing the accounts grouped by ODP Status Code allows a more efficient process and allows users to review certain status codes more frequently if needed.

The ODP Requalification group on the report shows accounts that are no longer overdrawn and have a certain level of deposits in the last 30 days. These accounts likely will requalify for ODP unless the account has other circumstances that prevent it from being in good standing.

When an account meets the qualifying characteristics and is assigned an OD Limit, ODP Manager will show the accounts as due for a Welcome letter or Reinstatement letter.

If you have any questions about ODP Manager’s Status Tracking report, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com for more details.

Risk Assessments Made Easy for Banks

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The risk assessment process for community banks can time consuming and daunting but it doesn’t have to be that way. When Strunk demoed their Risk Assessment tool to regulators in Washington DC they said “community financial institutions struggle doing risk assessments and your program will help them with the necessary process”.

Whether your senior lender is looking at loan concentrations; your IT person doing the risk assessment for cyber security; or your operations team is working the on ACH or BSA risk assessment, generally those doing the assessment hate the process whether it is annually or more frequently.

Key Risk Indicators handed down by the regulators govern the risk assessment process and you must quantify risks and then determine the quality of risk management to determine the “residual risk”. The Strunk solution can help you do this and it is easy to use, automated and affordable. We provide over 950 key risk indicators so you don’t have to come up with your own.

Managing the board approval process for policies can also be a hassle. Our tool tracks changes and allows your associates to either read, make changes, or approve policies based on their log in credentials. When the regulators ask what changes have been made to policies since the last exam all you have to do is click on a button.

Tracking issues that arise from an outside audit or exam may be a manual process as well. Our solution helps coordinate those issues until they are resolved.

Lastly, vendor management is a hassle or in some cases outsourced to a third party vendor. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Contact Strunk at 800.728.3116 or email at info@strunkaccess.com to learn how our Enterprise Risk Management solution can help your bank.

Managing Fresh Start Repayment Plans in ODP Manager

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Fresh Start Repayment Plans may be available to customers to allow them to repay an overdrawn balance in up to 4 payments while still retaining the use of their checking account. Fresh Starts may also assist financial institutions in collecting on overdrawn accounts which may have been charged off otherwise. When requested, accounts are reviewed to determine if the account meets criteria to qualify for the Fresh Start.

Once an account has qualified, users can choose to enter and track Fresh Start Repayment Plan information in ODP Manager. Entering the repayment schedule start date, balance, and number of payments will allow the correct payment amounts and dates to be determined. The Fresh Start agreement can be populated directly from the repayment schedule. The individual account’s Fresh Start information can also be exported as a PDF. Individual payment reminders are created and will show when due/overdue in ODP Manager. This reminds users to check the core system to verify if the payment was made as agreed. If so, users can enter payment dates and amounts in ODP Manager.

If a customer’s Fresh Start payment is not paid as agreed (ten or more days past due), the Fresh Start is in default, and the checking account should be closed and charged off. The Fresh Start Default letter in ODP Manager can be generated by entering the customer’s account number to prefill the name and address. This letter notifies the customer that the account has been closed, charged off, and reported to the appropriate agencies.

ODP Manager also includes a Fresh Start Tracking report which will list all accounts currently assigned a Fresh Start ODP Status Code. The Fresh Start ODP Status Code should be assigned to accounts when the ODP Limit is removed when the Fresh Start Repayment Plan is initiated. In addition, ODP Manager can display a list of all currently entered Repayment Plans that can assist users in tracking loan amounts, payments made, and outstanding balances. This summary reporting can be exported to PDF or Excel.

If you have any questions about ODP Manager’s Fresh Start Repayment Plan features, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com for more details.

Regulation E and ODP Manager

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Consumers are required to opt in to include their ATM and everyday debit card transactions in Overdraft Privilege. Customers should be given the ODP Policy and A-9 Consent Form to opt in for Reg E at account opening but they may also opt in later. The four options to opt in for the ATM and everyday debit card coverage are: in person at a branch, over the phone, by mail, or electronically. Businesses are not required to opt in to have their ATM and everyday debit card transactions covered by Reg E.

For financial institutions that provide an account’s Reg E Opt In flag in the extract file, ODP Manager can determine if a consumer account has already opted in or has not yet responded with a Reg E election. If a customer has already opted in for Reg E coverage, their Welcome and Reinstatement letters will remind them that their Overdraft Privilege service includes coverage of ATM and everyday debit card transactions.  When a Welcome, Reinstatement, or Followup letter is mailed to accounts that have not yet opted in, these letters include the A-9 Consent Form to Overdraft Services and the information about opting in by mail, in person or over the phone, or electronically. By allowing customers the Reg E opt-in information when overdraft limits are assigned, when overdraft limits are reinstated, or annually in the Followup letter, ODP Manager may allow customers to have more opportunities to opt in for Reg E.

ODP Manager can also allow customers to submit their Reg E Opt-in election electronically. Strunk can create an online form that mirrors an institution’s A-9 form. This form would then be linked directly from an institution’s website. Email confirmations are generated when forms are submitted. The submissions are tracked in ODP Manager so that users can generate a list of accounts that need an updated Reg E election.

If you have any questions about Regulation E and ODP Manager, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com for more details.

An independent certified public accountant has examined Strunk’s operations and found them to be in compliance with the AICPA’s Trust Service Principles. It was determined that Strunk meets the Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy criteria for SOC 2 established by the AICPA.