AMOCO Federal Credit Union (AMOCO), headquartered in Texas City, Texas, is a member-owned cooperative. Today, AMOCO is one of the largest credit unions in the Houston/Galveston area, with more than $1.4 billion in assets and over 100,000 members.
In 2022, AMOCO replaced its legacy loan origination system with the Empower® LOS by Dark Matter and adopted the Regulatory Assist℠ compliance engine to support compliance testing.
Michelle Still, AVP of mortgage lending who oversees origination, underwriting and servicing and Jennifer Cooper, AVP of mortgage lending, who oversees processing and closing, worked closely with Dark Matter’s implementation team and dedicated business consultant Kim Jones during implementation training. “Kim has been such a huge part of getting us to take advantage of everything Dark Matter has to offer,” says Still, a 19-year-veteran at the credit union.
Jones brings a strong background in technology and mortgage lending to her Dark Matter consulting role. Her ability to “talk the talk” of mortgage lending was particularly useful as Still and Cooper began using the Empower LOS.
The Empower LOS has helped AMOCO modernize its loan origination process and unlocked new levels of efficiency and compliance. Empower’s robust capabilities enable seamless workflows across origination, underwriting, processing, and closing, helping AMOCO’s team save time and enhance member satisfaction. The system’s customization options allow AMOCO to tailor processes to meet its unique operational needs, supporting its mission of delivering exceptional member experiences.
Cooper says that her team worked closely with Jones to get the greatest value from their investment in Regulatory Assist. According to Cooper, “Kim broke down the functionality into very understandable terms and even wrote up a migration tracker so we could go in and follow her steps exactly, which will be very useful in the future. That was a huge, huge lightbulb moment for us.”.
The Regulatory Assist℠ compliance engine ensures that each loan undergoes comprehensive compliance checks, reducing risks and the frequency of manual reviews. For a lean team like AMOCO’s, Regulatory Assist minimizes the time spent on regulatory tasks and provides peace of mind with its precision and reliability. Together, Empower and Regulatory Assist empower AMOCO to serve its members more efficiently while staying ahead in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.
“We’re a very small shop, and it’s been Michelle and I pretty much for the whole implementation trying to take all this information in and absorb it to understand the system and the depth of what Empower can do and how to make it do what we needed,” adds Cooper.
“Kim is our biggest cheerleader, always telling us we ‘know more than we think we know.’ She gives us best practices on how to track things, why we should track them, and the easiest way to do that,” continued Cooper. “She’s gone way above and beyond. Thanks to her, we’re convinced Empower is the right system for us.”.