Shoppers Charge Accounts and Unicorn Financial Services to continue using Fiserv's PLUS System to Provide Enhanced Credit Management Strategies to Their Clients
Shoppers Charge Accounts and Unicorn Financial Services to continue using Fiserv's PLUS System to Provide Enhanced Credit Management Strategies to Their Clients
June 13, 2005
Shoppers Charge Accounts and Unicorn Financial Services to continue using Fiserv's PLUS System to Provide Enhanced Credit Management Strategies to Their ClientsLAKE MARY, Fla.--June 13, 2005--Fiserv Credit Processing Services, a unit of Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV), announced the renewal of agreements with Shoppers Charge Accounts (SCA), one of the top private label lenders in the industry, and Unicorn Financial Services, a company focused on helping doctors grow their practices.
Through these relationships, SCA and Unicorn will continue to use Fiserv's PLUS® System to provide, among other services, immediate turnaround on credit applications.
"The PLUS System offers both companies a tremendous amount of value," said Tim Smith, vice president of client services for Fiserv Credit Processing Services. "It's a system that's known in the marketplace for both its flexibility and functionality. These clients have benefited from the opportunity to offer a wide variety of credit-related programs on the same processing platform. These benefits, along with our ability to manage the software in a secure and stable environment, result in a powerful combination of service and technology."
Headquartered in Tallahassee, Fla., Unicorn Financial Services is a nationwide consumer finance company that provides patient financing programs to doctors and dentists, who in turn offer Unicorn's attractive monthly payment plans to their patients as an alternative to cash or a credit card to pay for elective medical or orthodontist procedures.
"We had decided early on that we preferred to outsource our account processing," said David Ochs, vice president of information technology for Unicorn Financial Services. "We were looking for a reputable service bureau to do those functions for us.
"Because I had a previous relationship with Fiserv at another company, and the fact that they were intrigued by our business model, we were able to come together," Ochs added. "Unicorn is an evolving company and Fiserv has been responsive to our needs. Fiserv helped us gain market share and be successful by working with us to roll out our products and to implement the changes in our products that were necessary."
Shopper's Charge Accounts began operations in the 1930s. Hudson United Bank purchased the Mahwah, N.J. company in 1994. Originally, it was a private-label provider for small, upscale apparel and jewelry retailers; it has since grown to be the sixth largest private-label credit card company in the country.
"We started with Fiserv in October 1999," said Bob Noren, senior vice president of Shoppers Charge Accounts. "We've been a VisionPLUS user since 1990 and for the first nine years we processed it ourselves through our own company, but when we decided to outsource, we found Fiserv to be an excellent fit. What made them stand out from the competition was the depth and breadth of the company's services as well as their expertise in managing the VisionPLUS software."
Noren said communication is one of the key reasons for the long-standing relationship with Fiserv. "We have a weekly conference call with the team that is assigned to us to review the projects and issues that are pending," he said. "The president of Fiserv Credit Processing Services visits us each year, and we visit and audit them each year as well. In addition to a true partnership, we also have the results in the uptime that we were looking for, the processing is ready early in the morning, and they consistently meet the standards we set for them. Fiserv has been SCA's partner during our significant growth in recent years. We are confident that as we continue to grow, they will be there for us."
Smith agreed that the communications and dedication of Fiserv support personnel and the flexibility and robustness of the PLUS System strengthened the relationships and led to the recent renewals with Unicorn and SCA. "We are very reactive and client focused," he said. "We were able to take their individual business requirements and translate them accurately and swiftly into a modification that was implemented into production. It allowed them to facilitate sales in their marketplaces based upon the support we provided them."
This has not only resulted in the longevity of these relationships,, Smith said, but it also explains the deep market penetration of the PLUS System. "One of the things about the PLUS System is that we have a core process that has remained solid over the years," he said. "But we have always allowed our customers to modify it to meet their specific business requirements. We've also added several product offerings to the PLUS System that bring more value to our client relations. For instance, we can go to the credit bureau, pull a report and, based on user-defined criteria and information summarized from the credit report, automatically make a credit decision on an application within five seconds. That type of response is critical when you have a consumer at the point of sale ready to make a purchase."
Shoppers Charge Accounts Co. is a division of Hudson United Bank. Hudson United Bancorp is a $7.8 billion asset company with over 200 branch offices in New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. Hudson United Bancorp's subsidiaries offer a full array of innovative products and services to commercial and retail accounts. These include imaged checking accounts, 24-hour telephone and Internet banking, loans by phone, alternative investment products, insurance products, private label credit card programs, and a wide variety of commercial loans and services including asset-based loans, SBA loans, international services and cash management services. Wealth management services are also provided to individuals and businesses. Public sector products and services are provided to local and state governments, municipalities, and educational institutions, civic and non-profit organizations.
Unicorn Financial Services is a leading nationwide provider of medical and dental patient financing services. Over 5,000 doctors and dentists offer Unicorn financing to their patients. For almost 10 years, Unicorn has helped doctors grow their practices by providing flexible, affordable financing programs for elective medical and dental procedures. Unicorn offers doctors a variety of value-added services, all designed to help doctors attract more patients and increase revenues.
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) provides information management systems and services to the financial and health benefits industries, including transaction processing, outsourcing, business process outsourcing and software and systems solutions. The company serves more than 16,000 clients worldwide, including banks, credit unions, financial planners/investment advisers, insurance companies and agents, self-insured employers, lenders and savings institutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv reported $3.4 billion in processing and services revenues for 2004. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry in the 2004 FinTech 100 survey by the American Banker newspaper and the Financial Insights research firm. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com (http://www.fiserv.com/).
Through these relationships, SCA and Unicorn will continue to use Fiserv's PLUS® System to provide, among other services, immediate turnaround on credit applications.
"The PLUS System offers both companies a tremendous amount of value," said Tim Smith, vice president of client services for Fiserv Credit Processing Services. "It's a system that's known in the marketplace for both its flexibility and functionality. These clients have benefited from the opportunity to offer a wide variety of credit-related programs on the same processing platform. These benefits, along with our ability to manage the software in a secure and stable environment, result in a powerful combination of service and technology."
Headquartered in Tallahassee, Fla., Unicorn Financial Services is a nationwide consumer finance company that provides patient financing programs to doctors and dentists, who in turn offer Unicorn's attractive monthly payment plans to their patients as an alternative to cash or a credit card to pay for elective medical or orthodontist procedures.
"We had decided early on that we preferred to outsource our account processing," said David Ochs, vice president of information technology for Unicorn Financial Services. "We were looking for a reputable service bureau to do those functions for us.
"Because I had a previous relationship with Fiserv at another company, and the fact that they were intrigued by our business model, we were able to come together," Ochs added. "Unicorn is an evolving company and Fiserv has been responsive to our needs. Fiserv helped us gain market share and be successful by working with us to roll out our products and to implement the changes in our products that were necessary."
Shopper's Charge Accounts began operations in the 1930s. Hudson United Bank purchased the Mahwah, N.J. company in 1994. Originally, it was a private-label provider for small, upscale apparel and jewelry retailers; it has since grown to be the sixth largest private-label credit card company in the country.
"We started with Fiserv in October 1999," said Bob Noren, senior vice president of Shoppers Charge Accounts. "We've been a VisionPLUS user since 1990 and for the first nine years we processed it ourselves through our own company, but when we decided to outsource, we found Fiserv to be an excellent fit. What made them stand out from the competition was the depth and breadth of the company's services as well as their expertise in managing the VisionPLUS software."
Noren said communication is one of the key reasons for the long-standing relationship with Fiserv. "We have a weekly conference call with the team that is assigned to us to review the projects and issues that are pending," he said. "The president of Fiserv Credit Processing Services visits us each year, and we visit and audit them each year as well. In addition to a true partnership, we also have the results in the uptime that we were looking for, the processing is ready early in the morning, and they consistently meet the standards we set for them. Fiserv has been SCA's partner during our significant growth in recent years. We are confident that as we continue to grow, they will be there for us."
Smith agreed that the communications and dedication of Fiserv support personnel and the flexibility and robustness of the PLUS System strengthened the relationships and led to the recent renewals with Unicorn and SCA. "We are very reactive and client focused," he said. "We were able to take their individual business requirements and translate them accurately and swiftly into a modification that was implemented into production. It allowed them to facilitate sales in their marketplaces based upon the support we provided them."
This has not only resulted in the longevity of these relationships,, Smith said, but it also explains the deep market penetration of the PLUS System. "One of the things about the PLUS System is that we have a core process that has remained solid over the years," he said. "But we have always allowed our customers to modify it to meet their specific business requirements. We've also added several product offerings to the PLUS System that bring more value to our client relations. For instance, we can go to the credit bureau, pull a report and, based on user-defined criteria and information summarized from the credit report, automatically make a credit decision on an application within five seconds. That type of response is critical when you have a consumer at the point of sale ready to make a purchase."
Shoppers Charge Accounts Co. is a division of Hudson United Bank. Hudson United Bancorp is a $7.8 billion asset company with over 200 branch offices in New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. Hudson United Bancorp's subsidiaries offer a full array of innovative products and services to commercial and retail accounts. These include imaged checking accounts, 24-hour telephone and Internet banking, loans by phone, alternative investment products, insurance products, private label credit card programs, and a wide variety of commercial loans and services including asset-based loans, SBA loans, international services and cash management services. Wealth management services are also provided to individuals and businesses. Public sector products and services are provided to local and state governments, municipalities, and educational institutions, civic and non-profit organizations.
Unicorn Financial Services is a leading nationwide provider of medical and dental patient financing services. Over 5,000 doctors and dentists offer Unicorn financing to their patients. For almost 10 years, Unicorn has helped doctors grow their practices by providing flexible, affordable financing programs for elective medical and dental procedures. Unicorn offers doctors a variety of value-added services, all designed to help doctors attract more patients and increase revenues.
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) provides information management systems and services to the financial and health benefits industries, including transaction processing, outsourcing, business process outsourcing and software and systems solutions. The company serves more than 16,000 clients worldwide, including banks, credit unions, financial planners/investment advisers, insurance companies and agents, self-insured employers, lenders and savings institutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv reported $3.4 billion in processing and services revenues for 2004. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry in the 2004 FinTech 100 survey by the American Banker newspaper and the Financial Insights research firm. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com (http://www.fiserv.com/).