Newark Firemen FCU (NFFCU) has completed their conversion to the CU*BASE GOLD core platform with CU*SOUTH.

With the lights of Manhattan shining across the Passaic River, Newark Firemen FCU serves over 2,100 members with $18M in assets. Organized in 1940, NFFCU was chartered to serve the firefighters of the City of Newark, as well as their families. In 2006, a SEG expansion extended service to the firefighters of Irvington Township.

Outstanding member service is of the utmost importance to NFFCU, especially as the men and women firefighters of both Newark and Irvington risk their lives on a daily basis.

“Visit any firehouse in this area, and you’ll see memorials to the heroes of 9/11,” says CU*SOUTH CEO Leo Vaulin. “CU*SOUTH is proud to serve the members of two firefighter credit unions in northern New Jersey – Newark Firemen FCU and Elizabeth (NJ) Firemen’s FCU.”

With its mission to be the “go-to” financial institution for the fire departments, one of the new system’s greatest feature updates was It’s Me 247 online banking, including mobile, text, online membership applications, and loan applications with auto-decisioning options.

“One of the key selling points for serving our members with the CU*BASE platform was the amount of online capability,” says NFFCU CEO Gene Benick. “These functions make it easy for firefighters to post transactions, even from the firehouse.”

Keeping up with the changing needs of the CU’s members was a priority in Mr. Benick’s decision to upgrade core systems to CU*SOUTH: “We fed our old system data, data, data… but got very little in return. With CU*BASE, we feed it data that then helps us better serve our members.”

Mr. Benick is no stranger to core conversions: “I was very impressed by the amount of preparation by the CU*SOUTH staff. In past experiences, conversions were more like, ‘Here’s this number, and does it agree with that number?’ There’s a lot more to it, and CU*SOUTH’s attention to detail made me very confident.”

Partnering with a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) made for an easier training experience.

“Our training was conducted by CU*SOUTH staff who actually work in a credit union. They’ve been in the trenches, and they know what it’s like. That made it very easy for our staff to relate.”