by Amy Kleinschmit, Director of Compliance

Have you checked your CU Policy Pro manual lately?  Remember each affiliated credit union has their own on-line policy manual that includes over 200 model policies. However, there are also monthly newsletters, referred to “OPS Notes,” that can be found in the “Library” section.  The most recent newsletters include “Regulation D – Monetary Reserve and Reporting Requirements” and “Reporting of Troubled Debt Restructured Loans – Clarification.”  Typically the OPS Notes information takes a policy and looks at it more in-depth, and does not usually require a change in policy information.   However, credit unions may wish to use the TDR - clarification OPS note to update their current TDR policy. Please note that these changes will be made to the master model content as part of the January 2013 update, and are NOT included as part of the master model content at this time. 

Also from CU policy pro, content and technical FAQ:

Q. Does the new Troubled Debt Restructurings (TDRs) rule change how TDRs are reported when the loan is part of a Chapter 13 plan? 

A. Yes, the new rule does change TDR delinquency reporting.  Chapter 13 bankruptcies would not be reported as delinquent based on the original terms, but rather on the restructured terms. The exception to this would be for member business loans (MBLs), which are still reported as delinquent until six consecutive payments are made.    This month's edition of OPS Notes includes the amended verbiage to this policy to reflect the new rule.  This updated verbiage will be included in the master model content as part of the January 2013 update, but credit unions are free to amend their respective TDR policies to reflect this information at any time.

Q. We are a credit union under $10 million in assets.  Do we need to include the Interest Rate Risk policy in our manual?? 

A. While the rule provides asset thresholds for which credit unions are required to have an Interest Rate Risk policy, the Interest Rate Risk Management policy (Policy 5300) does not include them.  If your credit union falls below the $10 million asset threshold, your credit union will not be required to have this policy.  However, it may be a good idea to adopt it anyway to ensure that your credit union has a plan to deal with the risk.

Q:  When you are in MANUAL BUILDER, what is the difference between the Working, Master and Archive links in the top left navigation of the page?

A:  The Working Manual is used to maintain and customize the policies for your credit union. Your Working Manual was set up one of two ways, depending on when it was set up.

Method 1: The Working Manual was pre-filled with all 200+ model policies from the Master Manual. This set up is most typical for users set up prior to August 2012, although many credit unions who were originally set up with this method have since chosen to remove any unused policies from their Working Manual.  This can make customizing and updating policies much less overwhelming. Any model policy that is removed from your Working Manual can be added back from the Master at any time. 

Method 2: The Working Manual was set up with the chapter folder structure, but no model policies were added.  Credit Unions can bring in the model policies one at a time from the Master as they are ready to work with them.  This set up is most typical for users set up from August 2012 and beyond.

The Master Manual contains all available model policies. Any model policy can be copied from the Master Manual and placed into the Working Manual.

The Archive allows you archive policies from the Working Manual. Policies are typically archived when they policy has been in use by the credit union and is about to be changed in some way.  The Archive will be empty until someone moves a policy from the Working Manual into the Archive.

Q:  Our Board President would like access to CU Policy Pro and I am not sure how to give her that access?

A:  Many credit unions either give the board "employee" level access, or will create a unique level of access (often titled "board"), which will allow them to see the Manager folders on the home page.  Both "employee" and "board" (if created as described) are considered "read only" access levels - meaning that they can see only what is posted for them to see on the home page of CU Policy Pro, but cannot get into the MANUAL BUILDER area, which would allow them to edit the policies. 

If a user has "read only" access, in order to see anything meaningful once they have logged in, there must be information posted for them on the home page - this can be a published manual, or other documentation uploaded through the storage area.  This would be done either by a full admin or by someone who has been given rights to work in MANUAL BUILDER and/or STORAGE.

Training is available ANY time! Both new user training and advanced user training can be very beneficial and are available in short on-demand modules.

New user training can be found here: http://www.cusolutionsgroup.com/CU_PolicyPro_New_User_Training_387.html

Advanced user training can be found here: http://www.cusolutionsgroup.com/CU_PolicyPro_Advanced_User_Training_388.html

Please do not hesitate to contact Amy Kleinschmit with any questions or help you need with your CU Policy Pro manual. Amy can be reached at akleinschmit@cuad.coop or 701.214.9721.