Vendor Manager Contracts

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A significant chunk of an organization’s operations are made possible through connections with third-party vendors, and the strength of these ties has a direct impact on revenue. Contracts with vendors may be just as significant in this system as those with clients. There are many differences in how businesses handle the acquisition of goods and services. While a fragmented and ineffective system might have the opposite and damaging effect, one that centralizes data and streamlines workflows can significantly enhance outcomes and enable more profitable long-term third-party relationships.

With Strunk’s Vendor Manager software and a vendor contract management plan in place you may mitigate potential risks and increase the value of your vendor relationships. Having a central area to store your vendor contract information is crucial for effective vendor management. Having access to this information will make your procurement process more efficient. Using Strunk’s Vendor Manager software has several advantages, including helping you arrange your vendor contracts, summarizing the significance of each contract, and assisting you in producing alerts and notices of Renewals.

Strunk’s Vendor Manager software also provides a place for you to store your vendor’s contract and most importantly their due diligence material. A contract scorecard is also included in the vendor management software from Strunk. This scorecard will assist you in locating any gaps in your contract and provide a space for you to record proposed improvements. The scorecard in Strunk’s vendor management software allows our clients to assign a service score for each provision by using a master service level agreement to include clauses that are common in vendor contracts. Organizations can guarantee that each step of the contract lifecycle takes place automatically based on a set process by automating their vendor contract management and compliance using a contract tracking system like Strunk’s.

 

Document Retention in ODP Manager

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As part of the daily use of the hosted ODP Manager software, users may generate or review documents such as letters or reports. ODP Manager includes features that make it easier for these documents to be retained for future reference.

Each time a user generates a letter, a PDF of the letter is saved and linked to the account’s event history. This makes it easy for letters to be retrieved by customer account or by date and letter type.

The ODP Manager solution allows you to export and save your institution’s reports as Excel or PDF files. The most up-to-date information is always viewable under the Reports section. Users are also able to access reports from the most recent seven As of Dates.

If past reports are retained for additional analysis, there is an alternative to manually exporting and saving copies of reports. If requested, Strunk can set up a Report Archive that includes any of the reports available in ODP Manager. The requested reports will be automatically archived after each import.

Once the Report Archive has been created, PDF files are automatically saved within ODP Manager after each import of the daily extract file. Archived reports are organized by As of Date and retrieved from the Archived Reports section. If your institution would rather download the reports from the archive to save to a network drive instead, a Download Archives link can be set up as an alternative.

Let the document retention features in ODP Manager streamline your ODP letters and report retention! Please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com with any questions or to find out more about using these features.

Monitor Fresh Start Loan Repayment Schedules using ODP Manager

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After the daily import of information in the extract file from your core processor, the Letters, Reports, and Account Inquiry sections of ODP Manager are updated. In addition to this updated information, the hosted software also allows you to add additional information about repayment plans manually to facilitate monitoring of account’s Fresh Start Loan payments.

If you choose to use the Fresh Start Loan repayment plan feature, after completing your Fresh Start Repayment Plan assessment and approval process, you can enter the repayment schedule information directly in ODP Manager. The data in this schedule can be used to fill in your Fresh Start Loan agreement and will make it easier to generate the document to be signed by your customer.

Once the repayment schedule has been created, Strunk’s Reminder feature will create reminders for each payment. Your Strunk software users will be able to monitor each day whether any FSL payments are due and can then check your core system to see if the payments have been made as agreed. After verifying that a payment was received, your users will track the payment date and amount in the ODP Manager software. The repayment schedule is then updated to show the payments made and the outstanding balance on the Fresh Start Loan.

Repayment plans can be viewed not only for each account, but also on a summary list that can be exported to PDF or Excel for reporting purposes. The repayment plan tracking feature in ODP Manager can help your users streamline Repayment Plan Agreement generation, Fresh Start Loan payment tracking, and repayment plan reporting.

Please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com with any questions or to find out more about using this feature.

How can vendor risk tiering improve vendor risk management?

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Understanding which providers represent the greatest “threat criticality” is an essential feature of any effective vendor risk management program, which is necessary to reduce risk and preserve business continuity. Vendor tiering allows for the implementation of this rating system that classifies vendors and doing so also imposes tighter security requirements on them.

You may improve your vendor risk management program, increase security, and build a more resilient business with the aid of vendor tiering. Vendor risk tiering improves vendor security and compliance. It makes it possible for your vendor management team to identify the vendors that offer the most risk and devote more time and effort to enhancing compliance. This enables them to streamline vendor risk management and concentrate on the areas that need the most attention, all the while making sure that any vendors you engage with adhere to the controls that need to be put in place.

Vendor risk tiering will also improve the onboarding process by incorporating vendor risk management in the onboarding process. Vendor risk tiering is essential for achieving your goals because it gives organizational structure and makes it simpler to evaluate vendors and guarantees that an efficient vendor risk management is in place.

 

Installment Lending Made Easy for Banks

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How easy is it for your customers to get an unsecured loan from your bank using your underwriting criteria? Many banks provide an online application form for consumers to fill out that can be four to six pages long. Then someone at the bank reviews the data, pulls a credit bureau report, and decides whether or not the loan will be made and on what terms. This process is cumbersome, inefficient, and very costly. So costly that many banks don’t even make loans for less than $2,000.

Industry reports show that 75% of consumers want to borrow money between 5:00 pm and 9:00 am each day…when your bank is closed. So how can the underwriting, funding, collection and reporting process be automated to make these loans profitably when consumers want the money?

Bring on Quilo…Quick Installment Loans. Quilo is a lending tool that allows your bank to make instant installment loans easily and profitably right from your website. The turnkey solution is easy to implement, monitor, and it will generate new customers as well. When was the last time you had a lending solution that provided a huge competitive advantage over your competition? How about Quilo for small businesses as well?

To see how Quilo will work for your bank contact Strunk at info@strunkaccess.com or 816-225-8793 for a 45 minute web demo.

Don’t Take Your Eye off of your Overdraft Program

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With all that is going on in our world, it is more important than ever before for the community financial institution to stay focused on the overdraft programs they offer. Account holders that utilize these programs and follow the guidelines properly should not fear that they will lose access to a valuable benefit of their checking account. There are several things that should be considered when administering an overdraft program.

Strunk’s ODP Manager offers helpful information that your organization can use to properly run a successful program. The Status Tracking report has information on the annual dollar amount of overdraft fees charged per active checking account and the annual amount of NSF fees charged per active checking account. Your organization is able to separate out OD fees from NSF fees through the daily file that is uploaded into the software. The program is also able to track waives and refunds so that your organization may track fees charged versus fees received. This would also help to capture the total annual dollar amount consumers receive in overdraft coverage compared to the amount of fees charged.

Strunk Heavy OD Users report will illustrate the prevalence of frequent users of overdraft. The Utilization Analysis and Opt-In Impact reports show the share of active checking accounts that are opted into overdraft programs for ATM and one-time debit transactions and those that have limits on their accounts.

Please contact Strunk at support@strunkaccess.com to see how ODP Manager might assist your organization in running a more effective and efficient overdraft program.

 

How Can Strunk’s Vendor Manager software help you understand which vendors receive customer data and what type of data they receiv

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Vendor Management has been a concerning issue for financial institutions for some time.  Regulatory agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council are scrutinizing how financial institutions (FIs) manage their outsourced vendors.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has declared that an institution can “outsource a service, but not the duty,” implying that financial institutions have the responsibility for compliance.  Because of this, it makes proper vendor management a critical duty for financial institutions, which must hold vendors to certain requirements.  It is important to understand which vendors that you engage with will have access to your customers data and what type of data will they have access to.

Risk is always present, recognizing and controlling the hazards associated with the vendor with whom a financial institution does business necessitates regular monitoring and review.  Strunk has created an area to capture what type of data that each one of your vendors collect.  Strunk’s Vendor Manager software also helps you mitigate your exposure by capturing the threat, likelihood of the threat, risk, and what control does the vendor have for that risk.  Monitoring these areas effectively will help prevent from operational disruptions, reputational loss, matters requiring attention, consent orders, litigations, and fines.

Automatic Uploads to ODP Manager

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ODP Manager depends on updated information from an extract file created by your core processor. This daily file is imported and updates the hosted ODP Manager software so that letters can be generated, and reports reviewed. Each user of the software can manually import this extract file by selecting the file to upload and committing the account data. In addition to this option, Strunk also allows institutions to set up an automatic upload process.

If your institution has the core extract file set up to generate automatically, you may be eligible to use the Automatic Upload. In addition to your extract file generating each day automatically to a specific location, there is a one-time setup process. During setup, a client that performs the upload will be installed and the user and file variables specific to your institution will be configured. Then a scheduled task will be created to initiate the import process after the extract file is updated and before your users go to work.

Your users will still retain the ability to manually import the daily data file if the scheduled process does not run as expected. Once the import has completed, the Automatic Upload process will send an email to your users – alerts can be sent to specific individuals or to a specified group email address.

Making this change should make your file import process more efficient. Get ready to benefit from immediate access to the updated ODP Manager information as soon as your users start their day. Please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com with any questions or to find out more about using this feature.

Overdraft Privilege Provides a Solution for Charging Multiple NSF Fees

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When a merchant transaction is presented for payment from a consumer account and is refused due to the customer’s insufficient funds to cover the transaction, financial institutions typically charge an NSF fee. When a merchant tries to present the same transaction again in order to recover the denied funds, he or she may be charged a re-presentment NSF fee. If a depository institution receives this type of repeated merchant payment transaction more than once, the depository institution may levy multiple NSF fees. If an Automated Clearing House (ACH) or other item is presented for payment and is denied owing to insufficient funds, certain financial institutions will levy an NSF fee for both the original presentment and each subsequent representation.

In recent class action lawsuits against financial institutions, the removal of key clauses pertaining to the assessment of representation fees was considered to be a violation of contract. Some lawsuits have been settled, with customers receiving refunds and legal fees.  Additionally, state, and federal financial regulators are reviewing DDA agreements searching for potential legal, regulatory and UDAP risks. With these potential risks it is important to review your deposit disclosures and contract language to ensure the way NSF fees are charged is being communicated clearly and consistent to what a consumer could reasonably expect.

This is a great time to make sure that you review your accounts and all of your customers/members that are eligible for Overdraft Privilege should be added to the ODP program unless they have opted out of the program.  By doing this it will minimize your risk for NSF fees being represented, because if your customers/members have an Overdraft limit their items will be considered for payment instead of returned.  Paying the item instead of returning it will ensure that the financial institution minimizes its risk for NSF re-presentments because the item is not returned.  Also, overdraft privilege provides a better service to your customers/members because they will not be faced with potential late fees, retailer fees and damage to their credit from returned items.

Accept Electronic Consent to Opt In for Regulation E

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ODP Manager helps you distribute your Consent Form for Overdraft Services to your customers that have not already opted in for Reg E by including the opt in form with Welcome letters, Reinstatement letters, and the Reg E Opt-in Followup letter. This makes it easy for customers that would like to opt in by mail, but there are three other methods for a customer to opt in: in person, by phone, or electronically. The Reg E opt in form will direct your customers to the appropriate mailing address, phone number to call, or to visit a branch, but are you prepared to accept an electronic response?

ODP Manager includes a feature which can assist you in obtaining your customer’s electronic consent to opt in to ODP coverage for ATM and everyday debit card transactions. Strunk can create a Reg E opt in form and Reg E opt out form that mirrors the content in your ODP Manager letters. You would then add links to these forms to your website.

When your customer visits your website and completes either the Consent Form for Overdraft Services or the Consent to Opt-Out, they will receive an email confirmation of their Reg E election. Also, this response will be tracked in ODP Manager and can be emailed to a designated email address at your financial institution.

Your ODP Manager users will review the new responses in ODP Manager, export a list of accounts that need an update to their Reg E election, and perform the appropriate maintenance in your core software – updating the account record to either opt in or opt out the customer’s requested account. By default, the hosted ODP Manager software displays new responses that have not been reviewed and exported. Prior submissions are also retained to allow your users to review previous responses.

If you would like to set up ODP Manager to accept electronic consent to opt in for Overdraft Privilege coverage for ATM and everyday debit card transactions, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com with any questions or to find out more.

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.