ODP Repayment Plans: How to Manage Fresh Starts

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ODP Repayment Plans: How to Manage Fresh Starts

Offering structured repayment options is a powerful way to help your customers recover from a negative balance while protecting your institution’s bottom line. In ODP Manager, these are managed through Fresh Start Repayment Plans.

These plans allow customers to repay an overdrawn balance in up to four payments while retaining the use of their checking account. For community financial institutions (CFIs), Fresh Starts serve an essential purpose: boosting collections on overdrawn accounts that might otherwise face a charge-off.

To understand why these plans are structured so specifically, it helps to look at the compliance history that governs them.

The Regulatory History: Reg Z, Reg B, and Incidental Credit

The “four-payment rule” utilized by ODP Manager is not arbitrary. It is carefully engineered to align with the historical definitions of incidental credit under federal lending regulations.

The Birth of the “Four-Installment Rule” (Regulation Z)

When the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and its implementing Regulation Z were enacted, the goal was to ensure full transparency regarding the cost of consumer credit. However, regulators recognized that not every deferred payment arrangement was a traditional loan.

To separate formal credit from informal accommodations, Reg Z established that a transaction only qualifies as “consumer credit” requiring extensive disclosures if it meets a specific threshold. It must either:

  1. Impose a formal finance charge.
  2. Be payable by written agreement in more than four installments.

If an institution extends credit that carries no finance charge and is payable in four or fewer installments, it falls outside the heavy disclosure requirements of Reg Z. This exemption became known as incidental credit.

The Operational Relief under Regulation B

When the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B were implemented to prevent credit discrimination, the framework adopted a similar stance. Reg B officially defined incidental credit as an extension of consumer credit that:

  • Is not made via a credit card account.
  • Carries no finance charge.
  • Is payable by agreement in four or fewer installments.

Recognizing that incidental credit is usually offered as a courtesy, Regulation B grants limited exceptions from certain strict procedural rules. For true incidental credit, institutions are exempt from certain rigid requirements regarding formal adverse action notices and strict record retention mandates.

By capping the Fresh Start Repayment Plan at a maximum of four payments without adding finance charges, ODP Manager allows CFIs to assist overdrawn account holders and maximize recoveries without the operational burden of treating the workout agreement as a formal consumer loan.

Streamlining the Fresh Start Process in ODP Manager

When a customer requests assistance, your team can quickly review the account against your institution’s specific criteria to determine eligibility. Once approved, tracking the agreement is completely seamless within ODP Manager.

ODP Manager Reminder ➔ Check Core System ➔ Verify Payment ➔ Update ODP Manager

By simply entering the repayment schedule start date, total balance, and number of payments, ODP Manager automatically calculates the correct payment amounts and due dates. From there, your team can:

  • Populate agreements: Generate the Fresh Start agreement directly from the automated repayment schedule.
  • Export documentation: Save and export individual account Fresh Start information as a PDF for easy record-keeping.

Proactive Payment Tracking & Reminders

Keeping track of manual payment schedules can drain your staff’s time. ODP Manager solves this by creating individual payment reminders that clearly display when a payment is due or overdue.

These reminders prompt users to verify the core system and ensure the payment was made as agreed. If successful, users can instantly log the payment dates and amounts directly into ODP Manager.

Handling Defaults and Charge-Offs

If a customer fails to make a payment as agreed and falls 10 or more days past due, the Fresh Start plan enters default. At this stage, the checking account should be closed and charged off.

ODP Manager accelerates this offboarding process:

  1. Enter the account number to automatically prefill the customer’s name and address.
  2. Generate the Fresh Start Default letter instantly.
  3. Notify the customer that their account has been officially closed, charged off, and reported to the appropriate agencies.

Robust Compliance and Tracking Reports

To maintain clear compliance visibility, the platform includes a Fresh Start Tracking report that lists every account currently assigned a Fresh Start ODP Status Code.

Operational Best Practice: Ensure your team assigns the Fresh Start ODP Status Code to accounts the moment the ODP Limit is removed and the repayment plan is initiated.

Additionally, ODP Manager can display a comprehensive list of all active repayment plans. This dashboard helps users easily track loan amounts, payments made to date, and outstanding balances.

Need to share these insights with your leadership team or auditors? All summary reporting can be exported to PDF or Excel in just a few clicks.

Optimize Your ODP Strategy Today

Have questions about unlocking the full potential of ODP Manager’s Fresh Start Repayment Plan features? Contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com for more details.

 

Vendor Risk Assessment Tools for Community Banks

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Vendor Risk Assessment Tools for Community Banks

Automate the vendor management process, save time, and build a practical compliance framework with Strunk’s centralized Vendor Manager.

Third-party relationships play a critical role in community financial institutions. However, managing vendors effectively requires more than just maintaining a list of contracts and contacts.

Regulatory expectations continue to evolve. Because of this, community banks and credit unions must establish a structured, repeatable approach to vendor oversight. Strunk’s Vendor Manager solution helps institutions streamline the entire vendor lifecycle while strengthening risk management and regulatory compliance.

A Single Source of Truth for Vendor Data

At its core, the platform centralizes vendor information. It creates a unified hub for:

  • Contracts and contacts
  • Due diligence documentation
  • Risk assessments
  • Ongoing monitoring activities

Built-in document management capabilities allow institutions to securely store and organize critical vendor records. This ensures information is easily accessible during regulatory examinations, independent audits, and internal reviews.

Advanced Risk Assessment Frameworks

One of the solution’s key benefits is its ability to help institutions accurately assess and understand vendor risk.

The platform features automated calculations for inherent and residual risk scores, providing a consistent framework for evaluating third-party relationships. By identifying risks before controls are applied, and measuring the effectiveness of mitigation efforts, institutions gain greater visibility into their overall vendor risk profile. This allows leadership to focus resources where they are needed most.

Eliminating the Administrative Burden Through Automation

Manual vendor tracking is prone to errors and oversight. Strunk reduces this administrative burden by streamlining routine tasks, including:

  • Automated OFAC searches for compliance verification
  • Streamlined document requests and vendor survey generation
  • Automated email notifications and reminders

These automated workflows help ensure critical activities are completed on time. This drastically reduces manual effort while supporting strict compliance with shifting regulatory expectations.

Shifting from Reactive to Proactive Monitoring

Ongoing monitoring is an essential component of effective vendor oversight. Strunk’s Vendor Manager solution helps institutions continuously evaluate:

  1. Financial condition: Track the fiscal health of critical third parties.
  2. Relationship status: Maintain clear insights into partner alignment.
  3. Performance metrics: Ensure vendors are meeting service level agreements (SLAs).
  4. Compliance obligations: Verify adherence to industry regulations.

Customizable review questionnaires promote organizations maintaining a proactive view of vendor health. This allows teams to identify potential concerns before they escalate into significant risks.

Audit-Ready Reporting and Governance

Comprehensive reporting provides management and boards with meaningful insights into the institution’s third-party risk program. Users can quickly generate reports on:

  • Vendor inventories and risk ratings
  • Due diligence status and contract renewals
  • Monitoring activities and other key performance metrics

This high-level visibility supports informed decision-making. More importantly, it demonstrates a strong governance framework to regulators and auditors alike. 

Build a Stronger Compliance Foundation

By combining centralized data management, risk assessment tools, automation, ongoing monitoring, and robust reporting, Strunk’s Vendor Manager solution helps community financial institutions build a more efficient, effective, and compliant program.

The result? Greater confidence in your third-party relationships and a stronger foundation for managing risk across the entire organization. Contact Strunk at 800.728.3116, email info@strunkaccess.com or visit our site to learn more.

Bank Revenue Growth: What Your 2026 Plan Is Missing

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Bank Revenue Growth: What Your 2026 Plan Is Missing

At a recent bankers conference in Florida, a speaker shared a survey detailing the highest priorities for bankers in 2026. The audience consisted of bank vendors looking to align their products with what bankers want.

After 42 years in the banking industry, the results flabbergasted me. Nowhere on the top ten list was making more money.

The Tech Distraction vs. The Bottom Line

Unsurprisingly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the role of Bitcoin dominated the list. Both are critical as bankers navigate a shifting competitive landscape and fight nonbanks for loans and deposits.

However, it seems those surveyed weren’t thinking like bank shareholders. Increasing franchise value was completely absent from the conversation. Innovation is vital, but a bank cannot innovate without profitability.

Driving Profitability for Over Three Decades

Strunk has helped community financial institutions maximize their revenue since 1993. We provide proven programs designed to boost your bottom line:

  • Overdraft Privilege (ODP) Program: Historically one of the best fee income ideas in the industry, it remains a pillar of non-interest income.
  • Secure Checking Program: Significantly increases fee income while providing high-value benefits directly to consumers.
  • Loan and Deposit Pricing Solution: Optimizes your interest income structure, with the potential to increase net interest income by 25 bp.
  • Risk, Policy, and Vendor Manager Programs: While these tools don’t directly drive fee income, they dramatically boost operational efficiency and protect your franchise.

Make Income Your Top Priority Again

Increasing income should be at the forefront of every banker’s strategy. Strunk has spent over three decades helping financial institutions do exactly that.

Ready to maximize your profitability? Contact the Strunk team today at info@strunkaccess.com to see how we can strengthen your institution’s financial future.

ODP Manager Software: How to Optimize Account Inquiry

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ODP Manager Software: How to Optimize Account Inquiry

Maximize Efficiency with ODP Manager Account Inquiry

The hosted ODP Manager software provides a centralized hub for managing imported account data. Whether you need a high-level overview of multiple accounts or a deep dive into a specific file, the Account Inquiry feature simplifies your workflow.

Flexible Data Visualization

Stop digging through spreadsheets. Customize your workspace to see exactly what you need:

  • Custom Views: Select specific data columns to display only relevant information.
  • Dynamic Filtering: Use Groups or individual filters to isolate accounts meeting specific criteria.
  • Easy Export: Generate customized reports by exporting your filtered lists directly to Excel.

Comprehensive Account Management

Gain a 360-degree view of both open and closed accounts. Within the individual Account Inquiry screen, users can review:

  • Core ODP Information: Contact details and event history.
  • Compliance & Plans: Access Reg E Opt-In/Opt-Out status, Fresh Start Repayment Plans, and Charge-off items.
  • Communication: View internal comments and reminders.
  • Documentation: Aggregated individual account data can be downloaded as a PDF for easy sharing or filing.

Customizing Your Inquiry Experience

To improve performance and relevance, institutions can customize how their data loads. By default, the system displays Open Accounts from the most recent import.

Pro-Tip: Tailor Your Load Times

If your institution manages a high volume of accounts, you can request two specific customizations from Strunk:

  1. Change Default Groups: Designate a specific group to load automatically upon login.
  2. Search-First Loading: Set the system to only display results after a specific filter (like an account number) is entered. This significantly reduces load times for larger databases.

Need Assistance?

If you have questions about optimizing your Account Inquiry settings, the Strunk Support team is here to help.

Contact us: support@strunkaccess.com

Overdraft Privilege Program: 10 Reasons to Use Strunk

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Strunk’s Overdraft Privilege (ODP) program has supported the industry for over 40 years. Many banks continue to leverage this strategy, which has proven to be one of the most successful fee income programs in banking history. By treating the daily overdraft process as a dedicated line of business through Strunk’s proven program, your institution can achieve greater efficiency and compliance.

1. Drive Revenue Without Raising Prices

The primary advantage of Strunk’s program is its ability to substantially increase fee income for your institution without requiring a price hike for your customers.

2. Ensure Regulatory Compliance

In a complex shifting landscape, Strunk ensures your program remains compliant with all applicable laws, regulations, and industry best practices.

3. Automated Decision Making

Manually reviewing accounts is inefficient. This program automates the daily “pay/don’t pay” and “charge/don’t charge” decisions for accounts with negative balances.

4. Advanced Reporting & Transparency

Strunk provides the data-driven insights necessary to manage your ODP effectively:

  • Coverage Oversight: Reports ensure every eligible customer receives an ODP limit for checks and ACH items.
  • Performance Metrics: Utilization and opt-in reports track performance by branch and product type.
  • Customer Awareness: These reports help the bank ensure customers are fully informed about the program.

5. Empower Consumer Choice

Rather than the bank making assumptions, this program gives consumers the power to choose how they want their accounts handled.

6. Essential Point-of-Sale Access

A formal ODP program provides a safety net at the register. It allows consumers to complete essential purchases—such as prescription drugs or groceries—using a debit card that might otherwise be denied at the point of sale.

7. Support Customers with “Fresh Start” Loans

When customers struggle to repay an overdrawn account, Strunk offers a responsible solution. The “Fresh Start” four-month installment loan provides an opportunity to help customers regain their financial footing.

8. Streamlined Collections

The program generates compliant collection letters. These communications are automatically triggered based on the specific amount of time a customer’s account has remained overdrawn.

9. Comprehensive Employee Training

Implementation includes training for your staff on the specific benefits of ODP and the mechanics of how the program functions.

10. Proven Customer Satisfaction

Despite common misconceptions, consumer complaints regarding overdraft fees and published charges are historically small. Running a compliant, automated program is ultimately beneficial for both the bank and the customer.

With over four decades of experience, Strunk specializes in enhancing customer service while simultaneously boosting fee income. Ready to optimize your bank’s performance? Contact Strunk at 800.728.3116, email info@strunkaccess.com or visit our site to learn how we can help your institution make more money efficiently.

An Updated Dashboard Experience in Risk Manager

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Strunk recently released an enhanced dashboard experience within Risk Manager, designed to give you clearer, more actionable insight into your organization’s risk posture and compliance activity. This dashboard brings together critical data points into a single view, helping your team monitor, prioritize, and act with confidence.

Expanded Visibility Across Risk Areas
Building on existing insights for enterprise risk assessments and policy management, the updated dashboard now includes summary level visibility across three additional focus areas:

  • Cyber Risk Assessment
  • Vendor Management
  • Issues Tracking

These additions provide a more comprehensive snapshot of your organization’s current risk environment.

Key Insights at a Glance

The new dashboard surfaces meaningful indicators to support faster, more informed decision making. Users can now quickly view:

  • Latest cyber risk assessment results to understand your current cybersecurity posture
  • Vendor risk level distribution to identify concentrations of higher risk relationships
  • Overdue vendor management items by category to keep critical tasks on track
  • Open issues by priority to focus on what matters most
  • Issues coming due by timeframe to stay ahead of upcoming deadlines
These at-a-glance visuals are designed to reduce complexity and bring clarity to day-to-day risk management activities.

Designed for Better Oversight and Efficiency
Whether you’re preparing for an exam, reporting to leadership, or managing ongoing compliance responsibilities, the enhanced dashboard helps your team stay aligned and proactive. By consolidating key metrics into a centralized view, it enables:

  • Stronger oversight and transparency
  • More efficient workflow management
  • Improved prioritization of tasks and resources
Available Now
The enhanced dashboard is now available to all Risk Manager users. We encourage you to explore the new experience and take advantage of the added visibility it provides. For questions or assistance, please contact Strunk Support.

Loan Pricing Solutions Increase Income

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Loan pricing solutions have historically been used by larger regional banks but now community banks can compete for the best commercial loans as well. Loan pricing tools will help you win more deals at rates that are competitive for both the bank and the borrower. Now is the time to look at what is available in the marketplace.

Commercial loans come in all shapes and sizes and borrowers are more sophisticated now more than ever, especially those who have excellent credit. They can go anywhere and get a loan at the rate they desire. How can you compete for the best credits when regional banks are pricing them at rates that seem below your comfort level?

Generally, costs associated with loan underwriting and servicing are not considered since it is hard to determine what they are. What type of return do you want from the loan or the relationship that the borrower has with your bank? The Strunk loan pricing tool will help you determine the structure (rate/term/fees) of the loan to meet your profitability goals.

Strunk’s loan and relationship pricing solution is designed to model all types of commercial loans factoring in costs associated with the loan, pricing for risk, and providing a return that is satisfactory to the bank. The program accounts for deposits the borrower may have with the bank as well as other loans.

The loan pricing model is easy to use and training your lending staff is paramount to getting buy-in for the solution. The goal is to increase net interest margin while also giving bankers a tool to win more deals.

Contact Strunk at 800-728-3116 or email at info@strunkaccess.com to learn more about loan pricing solutions offered by Strunk. You will be glad you did.

Navigating the Newest Enhancements in Policy Manager

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The landscape of document administration is shifting, and Policy Manager is evolving right along with it. Recently, several new features were integrated into the platform to streamline oversight and simplify the editing process. From enhanced reporting capabilities to a more intuitive approval workflow, these updates are designed to save time and reduce the manual effort typically associated with policy maintenance.

One of the standout additions is the robust ability to generate Policy Log PDFs. This feature provides administrators with granular control over their audit trails. Whether you need to review the history of a single specific policy, an entire policy chapter, or every change made across the system within a specific window of time, the tool adapts to your needs. This flexibility extends further, allowing for time frame filtered logs even when narrowing your focus to a single chapter or document.

Transparency is key when managing organizational standards, which is why the new “Draft Status” and filtering tools are so impactful. Now, when a user modifies a policy, the document is automatically assigned a draft status until it receives formal Board Approval. To make managing these pending updates easier, a new “Has Draft” checkbox has been added to the primary policy list. By selecting this, administrators can instantly isolate every document with a pending change, allowing them to quickly generate PDF Redlines to send to the Board for final review.

Finally, the actual process of building out policy content is now faster and more automated. Creating a Sub-Provision is now easier than ever before. While using the “Update All” feature, users will notice an “Add Sub-Provision” button conveniently located beneath each provision. Selecting this button automatically creates and correctly numbers a new sub-provision directly under the section you are currently working on, ensuring the document remains organized without extra clicks.

Strunk can help automate your policy management process. Contact Strunk at info@strunkaccess.com, call us at 800.728.3116, or for more information visit https://strunkaccess.com/compliance-software/#policies. Stay tuned for more updates in the future!

Why Vendor Risk Assessment Surveys Matter

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Strong vendor oversight begins with asking the right questions. Vendor risk assessment surveys are a critical component of an effective third-party risk management program, helping financial institutions evaluate vendors’ operations, financial stability, cybersecurity, compliance, and business continuity. To simplify this process, Strunk’s Vendor Manager solution is designed to improve how surveys are created, shared, tracked, and scored.
Through the platform, standardized surveys can be sent directly to vendors based on their specific risk levels. You can easily track which surveys are outstanding and which are complete, providing transparency without manual tracking or long email threads. Additionally, Vendor Manager enables institutions to score residual risk at the question level based on vendor responses. This allows teams to assess a vendor’s controls and quickly identify areas that may require further review or additional safeguards.
A more recent feature is a set of available onboarding questions designed to help institutions quickly gather key information when establishing a new vendor relationship. These questions provide a practical starting point for evaluating vendor risk and ensuring consistent data collection during the onboarding process.
Another powerful enhancement is the ability to customize survey questions. Every institution’s vendor management program is different, and this capability allows organizations to tailor their surveys to their operational needs. Whether adding new questions or modifying existing ones, teams can ensure their surveys collect the most relevant information.
Vendor Manager provides significant value for financial institutions wanting to execute a structured vendor management program with confidence. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Strunk at info@strunkaccess.com for more details.

How can Banks make more money without raising prices?

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Banks across the country charge fees for all types of services…have you ever looked at the service charge schedule of a bank? Typically, those charges stay the same for years and are never reviewed for potential increases. Just go to a bank’s website and click on service charges and most banks publish their fees. Notice at the bottom of the page the date of the update to the fee schedule. Many times, it has been 5+ years since any changes have been made.

At Strunk we developed a program thirty years ago that increases fee income substantially without raising prices. Our Overdraft Privilege program focuses on the volume of checks/debits that overdraw an account rather than the fee the bank charges. Of course, we don’t want to encourage consumers to overdraw their account, but we don’t want to discourage them either.

Overdraft Privilege gives consumers a choice on how they want their account handled, rather than the bank deciding how the consumer wants their account handled. For checks and ACH items that overdraw and account, those debits are typically not returned to the merchant since fees pile up when that happens. Conversely for debit card and other electronic transactions that overdraw the account, consumers must opt in for those overdrafts. It’s been like this since July 1, 2010.

There are two components to generating fee income for a bank. 1) the fee being charged and 2) the number of “uses” for that service. ODP is all about the “uses” and not the fee.

Let Strunk revitalize your old ODP program to generate some additional income. Contact Strunk at info@strunkaccess.com or call us at 800.728.3116.

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.