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As expectations for fast and secure payment experiences continue to rise, credit unions need more than a processor. They need a partner who understands the industry. An integral part of the LEVERAGE family, LEVERAGE Payment Solutions (LPS), delivers smarter payment solutions designed specifically for credit unions. With more than 30 years of experience in the payments industry, LEVERAGE Payment Solutions supports over 200 issuers across 34 states, combining national-scale technology with highly personalized service. Credit unions gain access to modern payment tools while partnering with professionals who understand the operational demands of managing successful card programs. CREDIT & DEBIT CARD PROCESSING P2P PAYMENTS REWARDS PROGRAMS ATM SOLUTIONS CHARGEBACK MANAGEMENT ADVISORY SERVICES Trusted by credit unions nationwide to strengthen cardholder growth and improve profitability, LEVERAGE Payment Solutions delivers smarter payment solutions. |
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Credit unions rely on strong partnerships to stay competitive, strengthen member relationships, and adapt to changing expectations. Two organizations within the LEVERAGE family, Growth by Design (GBD) and LEVERAGE Payment Solutions (LPS), provide specialized services that help credit unions grow strategically while improving operational performance and member experience. Growth by Design is a full-service marketing agency offering end-to-end support in branding, web development, graphic design, video production, copywriting, and strategic campaign development. By blending creative execution with transformational strategy, the agency delivers high-quality content designed to resonate with members and support long-term credit union growth. GBD’s Marketing Services Include:
As Kristi Arrington, Vice President of Growth by Design, explains: “One of the things that makes us unique is that we meet our clients where they need us. There’s no one-size-fits-all.” The customized approach allows Growth by Design to bring intentionality to every project, ensuring marketing initiatives are strategic, impactful, and aligned with member needs. Alongside marketing support, LEVERAGE Payment Solutions helps debit and credit card issuers manage payment programs more effectively without sacrificing the personalized support often missing in processor-direct relationships. LPS simplifies payment operations while maintaining a strong focus on security, efficiency, compliance, and issuer success. LEVERAGE Payment Solutions Provides:
The LPS team remains highly engaged with issuer partners, working alongside internal teams to ensure payment programs are optimized and nothing is overlooked. As the organization notes: “The card processing industry has undergone massive changes over the last 10–20 years. Our expertise enables us to help issuers succeed and serve their cardholders at the highest level.” For credit unions seeking stronger marketing impact, smarter payment strategies, or both, these specialized services offer practical solutions built to support growth, member engagement, and long-term success. |
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Vinay Bhaskar, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Compliance, Scienaptic AI Sarah's screen lights up with an unusual alert Tuesday morning. The AI system flagged a small business application that came in overnight, but this was not the typical risk warning or compliance issue. Something different. The applicant is a food truck owner whose bank statements show wild income swings. Traditional scoring would see the volatility and immediately tighten terms or decline. But this AI dug deeper. It noticed the swings follow a pattern: higher earnings during local festival weeks, concert seasons, and summer months. It cross-referenced local event calendars and realized this is not volatility. It is seasonality that makes perfect sense. The system did not just spot the pattern. It calculated a seasonal adjustment factor, ran scenario analyses for different approval amounts, recommended the appropriate step ups to initiate, and even drafted talking points for Sarah's call with the applicant. This is not your typical lending AI. It is not just AI/ML, it is not just Gen AI. This is what happens when artificial intelligence moves beyond prediction to thinking and action. Welcome to the age of agentic AI. The problem with smart but static systems Most AI in lending today is either on the ML side in terms of analysis, or on the “Gen AI” in terms of summary and responses. It is like having a brilliant analyst who never speaks unless spoken to. These systems can spot fraud, calculate risk scores, and process applications at lightning speed. But they are fundamentally reactive. They wait for humans to ask the right questions, feed them the right data, and interpret their outputs. This creates a strange bottleneck. Your AI can analyze thousands of loan applications overnight, but it cannot tell you that your current auto loan pricing is losing good customers to the credit union down the street. Or it cannot tell you that member X is paying an auto loan to an outside lender, so it has prepared a personalized offer for them. It can spot suspicious transaction patterns, but it cannot adjust fraud thresholds when new attack vectors emerge. You end up with incredibly sophisticated tools that still require constant human prompts, supervision, interpretation, and adjustment. It is like hiring a PhD professor who can answer students’ questions but can never teach. What makes AI "agentic" Agentic AI flips this dynamic. Instead of waiting for instructions, it pursues goals. Instead of delivering raw analysis, it proposes and takes actions. Instead of staying frozen in time, it adapts to changing conditions. Think of it like the difference between a GPS that only shows you where you are versus one that actively reroutes when traffic builds up. Both use sophisticated mapping technology, but one thinks ahead while the other just reports current conditions. In lending, this looks like AI that does not just evaluate loan applications but actively optimizes your approval processes. It spots when your pricing is off-market and suggests adjustments. It notices when certain member segments are being underserved and proposes new products. It identifies bias in decision patterns and recommends corrections. It reads submitted documents and tells you the summary. It even asks for those documents to begin with. Real-world impact Here is what this looks like in practice: Auto lending that thinks ahead Fraud detection that evolves Member outreach that makes sense The human factor still matters Sarah still makes the final call on that food truck loan. But instead of spending her morning digging through bank statements and calculating debt ratios, she can focus on understanding the owner's expansion plans, community impact, and long-term viability. The agent handles the number crunching and document reviews; she handles the relationship building. This division of labor is what makes the technology powerful. Machines excel at pattern recognition, data processing, repetitive task execution, and scenario analysis. Humans excel at context, empathy, and complex judgment calls. Agentic AI simply ensures both sides are playing to their strengths. Building trust through transparency This is not just good practice. It is essential for building the trust that makes human-AI collaboration work. Your loan officers need to understand why the AI is making certain recommendations. Your members deserve clear explanations for decisions that affect them. Your regulators need to audit the logic behind automated choices. The competitive advantage Most importantly, they will make better use of human talent. Instead of burning out loan officers with repetitive analysis, they will empower them to build relationships and solve complex problems. The future of lending is not about choosing between human insight and machine intelligence. It is about combining them in ways that make them both more productive and more powerful. Agentic AI is how we get there. The question is not whether this technology will reshape lending. It is whether you will help shape how it does. Co-author: Adam Saad, Head - Product Management, Scienaptic AI |
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Looking for a high-impact way to showcase your company at ENGAGE? FOCUS (Future of Credit Union Solutions) gives exhibitors the opportunity to take center stage in the VISION Hall and present directly to credit union leaders, decision-makers, and industry professionals. This exclusive 10-minute presentation opportunity is designed for exhibitors ready to spotlight innovative tools, services, and strategies shaping the future of the credit union movement. Scheduled during high-traffic breaks in the VISION Hall, FOCUS presentations allow participating exhibitors to deliver a concise solution pitch that captures attention, sparks conversation, and extends brand visibility beyond the exhibit booth. What’s Included:
This is a valuable opportunity to place your brand in front of C-Suite executives, volunteer directors, and key industry influencers in a format built for engagement, visibility, and connection. Interested in participating? Email partnerexperience@the-league.coop for details. |
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Tammy Schultz, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing, TruStage Have you ever noticed how often you say “change” in daily life? “I changed my mind,” or “Let me change clothes.” Yet, when change comes from leaders, coworkers, or the industry, it often feels unsettling. Why? Because the changes we control feel manageable, while imposed changes feel uncertain and out of our hands. Understanding this difference is key to helping ourselves and our teams embrace change with confidence. Now that 2026 is here, I find myself reflecting on change—both personally and professionally. Each year, I go back to the goals I wrote 365 days earlier to see how close I came to achieving what I envisioned for my organization, for the teams I lead, for my family and myself. After that reflection, I’m reminded the start of a year invites us to reset intentions, re center on purpose, and make progress where it matters most. For me, change has never been an abstract idea. It’s a way of life. I grew up as a military kid, moving every two years. New schools, new friends, new neighborhoods, new cultures. Those early experiences taught me resilience, adaptability and gave me a continued yearning for constant learning. These skills have shaped how I live, how I lead, and how I help teams navigate what’s next. Change, at its core, means to make something different—to alter, to transform. In my personal life, that often looks like the choices I can control (plans, routines, outlook). Professionally, it’s learning to lead through what I can’t control—market shifts, technology waves, economic cycles—and helping people feel confident and supported in the process. That distinction is the foundation of my leadership philosophy. As we enter 2026, I feel hopeful. Credit unions face challenges, digital transformation, evolving member needs, competitive pressures, and economic volatility. But this industry also holds tremendous promise. By embracing change with clarity, empathy, and a collaborative spirit, we can thrive. Lessons for leading through change (while bringing your teams along with you) Here are the principles I rely on to make change constructive and lasting. Start with empathy Communicate with clarity and authenticity Collaborate early and often Celebrate milestones Stay visible and accountable Balance change with stability Turning change into opportunity Change is not something to fear. It’s something to understand, manage and celebrate. For all of us in the credit union movement, the new year is a chance to apply these lessons and build a stronger, more resilient future—for the sake of the industry and, most importantly, for the members we serve. TruStage® is the marketing name for TruStage Financial Group, Inc. Its subsidiaries and affiliates. Corporate headquarters are located in Madison, Wis. The views expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of TruStage. TruStage® CORP-8739792.1-0126-0228 |