Smart Financial Consolidates Card Processing with TNB Card Services

To improve its card management, Smart Financial Credit Union is moving the processing of its PIN debit cards to TNB Card Services, which currently processes the credit union’s signature debit transactions and manages its credit card program.

The $392 million credit union, based in Houston, has relied on TNB for its credit card and signature debit processing for more than 16 years. In order to improve member service for its 36,000 debit cardholders and increase the efficiency of its card operations, Smart Financial is consolidating all of its card processing with TNB.

“With TNB’s processing capabilities, we can manage both PIN and signature transactions over the same platform,” said Corbin Wilson, vice president of electronic service delivery for Smart Financial CU. “Migrating to one processor allows us to streamline our card operation by eliminating redundancy and improving workflow performance.”

Corbin added, “We evaluated the financial implications of continuing to split our debit processing, but couldn’t identify any real advantages. The decision came down to efficiency and TNB’s processing platform, which offers more sophisticated fraud protection, 24/7 member support, and the ability to better service our members.”

Smart Financial’s debit cardholders will also be better protected as a result of the processing relationship with TNB. Both PIN and signature debit transactions will be routed through the Fraud Risk Identification Service, which will track member usage patterns and identify discrepancies that could indicate fraud.

“It is no longer necessary to process debit transactions over separate systems,” said Dusty Bowers, senior vice president and client relationship manager of TNB Card Services. “Using the same system for both PIN and signature transactions gives credit unions a single point of contact for settlement, authorizations, card activation, chargebacks, and call center support. This enables them to respond more rapidly to cardholder needs.”

Bowers added, “Processing debit transactions affects multiple layers of the credit union. As the reliance on debit cards continues to grow, streamlining debit card processing will become a necessity to ensure a cost-effective debit card operation.”

With more than 80,000 members, Smart Financial Credit Union has 17 branches serving Harris County (Houston) and neighboring Montgomery and Fort Bend counties.

About TNB Card Services
TNB Card Services, owned and directed by credit unions since 1976, provides electronic payments processing, as well as an agent issuing solution for credit unions nationwide. Serving more than 550 financial institutions of all sizes and managing more than 2 million cards, Dallas-based TNB enables credit unions to enhance member loyalty through credit union-branded card products. For more information about TNB, go to www.tnbcard.com or call Mark Fenner at 1-800-422-0733 ext. 6655.