First Union National Bank of Roanoke, Virginia

The Challenge

First Union National Bank of Roanoke, Virginia (now part of Wachovia) handles between 2,000 and 2,500 return/refund and municipal payments per day. They asked Prelude for a solution to better issue and manage this high volume of payments generated from multiple internal systems.

The Solution

PayPilot allows First Union to process and track the lifecycle of all those payments in a data-driven, scalable environment by integrating the company’s disparate applications into one streamlined system. The software is grafted onto First Union’s systems so that it can use existing terminology, import information from multiple sources, process all payments, print out payments with MICR ink on blank safety stock, then export updated information back to all of the various systems. The database of information can be accessed at any time by authorized First Union staff for manual input of information, queries, reporting, or printing file copies.

The Results

According to Eric Bucher, Chief Technology Officer of Prelude Systems, “Our analysis shows that First Union saves at least half of its payment processing costs by using PayPilot, and has significantly reduced the risk of fraud by eliminating the need for pre-printed check stock.”

“First Union is committed to enhancing payment products to better serve our customers, as well as to utilizing new technology to save resources,” said Cheryl Fuquay of First Union. “We’re impressed with how PayPilot integrated with our current issuing systems, since we didn’t have to spend valuable time and money training our system operators on new terminology and procedures. We’re also pleased with Prelude’s accessibility and responsiveness to our needs.”