About 80% of payments required an employee to step in, most of the time over the phone. That meant longer wait times for members and less time for staff to focus on other priorities. The online system didn’t help much either—logging in, answering security prompts, and navigating multiple screens caused many people to give up before finishing their payment. This led to more late accounts, more manual follow-up calls, and higher costs to train and maintain a team just to keep the process moving.
The Challenge
Collecting loan payments shouldn’t feel like a full-time job, but for LAFCU, it did. Members were stuck with slow, outdated options, and staff spent countless hours helping them through a process that should have been simple.
The Solution
LAFCU needed a payment process so easy that members would actually look forward to using it. When their partner Eltropy introduced MessagePay, they saw exactly how to make it happen.
With MessagePay, members receive a personalized text reminder with a secure payment link. If their payment method is already saved, they can reply “yes” and it’s done—instantly posted to their account. The rollout was quick, the platform integrated smoothly with LAFCU’s existing systems, and staff could start sending payment reminders several days before the due date. Members avoided late fees, protected their credit, and enjoyed a faster, easier experience, all without extra effort from the call center team.
The Results
The shift was dramatic—and it showed up fast. Payments surged, late accounts dropped, and the call center finally had room to breathe.
Annual loan payments jumped from 3,000 to 25,000. Self-service use climbed from 20% to 88%, and late payments fell by nearly 90%. Even though they were processing far more payments, LAFCU actually saw 6,000 fewer payment-related calls a year. That freed up staff for higher-value work like loan applications and new member services. For members, paying off a loan became as simple as sending a text, and for LAFCU, it turned a major pain point into one of their biggest success stories.
See how easy it is to simplify payments and reduce the work for your team
Get a one on one demo and see exactly how MessagePay works, from the first text to the final payment. We’ll walk you through the full experience, answer your questions, and show how it fits into your current system without the usual complexity.
