Blogs

By: Marcy Cauthon, AAP, APRP, NCP, Director, On-Demand Education

In 2021, EPCOR noticed a jump in members utilizing the EPCOR Electronic Resources License. Why, might you ask? We believe our members are finding that the license is a good fit and cost-effective solution for training a broad range of staff members.

By subscribing to the Electronic Resources License, your institution gets quite a bit for one low price. Members have found that the License has helped with training new staff and fulfilling annual training requirements. Members also love that when there is an ACH Rules change, the forms in the License are automatically updated and members have access to the most current information. Members have also shared that they like the fact that they don’t have to track when the changes happen or worry about needing to purchase a new form.

Features of the Electronic Resources License

Equip your organization with annual access to the Electronic Resource License and ensure your entire staff has a solid foundation in payments rules and regulations. One flat fee of just $200 - $665 (dependent on # of employees) covers your entire organization, providing each employee access to our entire on-demand training library and numerous publications and tools.

The courses included in the License are perfect for new employees or anyone who needs a refresher and can help you meet annual training requirements such as Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) training, Regulation E and more. The License includes suggested curriculums for everyone at your organization, from your frontline staff to your board of directors. The curriculums are organized by payment type and by functional area so that you can easily match a learning path to each learner’s profile.

Recent and upcoming additions to the Electronic Resources License:

• We’ve recently added a Check Indemnification Agreement to the Check Exception Resource Package to assist Paying Banks with requesting available funds resulting from the deposit of a forged signature/counterfeit check from Depositary Banks. The agreement indemnifies the Depositary Bank from any loss when they send full or partial funds back to the Paying Bank. This agreement helps the Paying Bank attempt to recover funds, but it is not a guarantee.

• We are partnering with the Payments Professor to bring you new faster payments curriculums that will be released by the end of first quarter including:
  • Real-Time Payments 101 which consists of 27 micro-course recordings totaling approximately 140 minutes and an RTP 101 Workbook.
  • Real-Time Payments: Risk, Rules and Regulations which consists of 24 micro-course recordings totaling approximately 160 minutes and an RTP Risk, Rules and Regulations Workbook.
  • FedNow, Know Now which consists of 18 micro-course recordings totaling approximately 130 minutes.

• We will also be adding a Payment Systems curriculum, including:
  • Payment Systems Rules and Regulations – Discover what rules and regulations govern the ACH, check, card and wire payment systems.
  • Payment Systems Risk – Explore the risks that accompany the ACH, check, card and wire payment systems.

Feedback from a Fellow Member

We spoke with Denise Bond, Operations Manager with First Westroads Bank in Omaha, NE and discussed how the License has been utilized within her institution over the last four years. Denise’s organization has subscribed to the License since 2018. First Westroads Bank is a $356 million bank with 55 employees.

First, when asked about the License in general, Denise said, "the pricing of the License is cost-effective compared to purchasing courses, publications and tools separately and I love the fact that the License is automatically renewed each year without having to fill out a new application and the License fee gets billed to us separately in the same timeframe as when we receive our dues billing each year."

When discussing how the License is used at her organization, Denise shared, "at my organization, the License is currently used by the Personal Banking Manager and the Operations Department, which is a total of six people. However, I really like the fact that the courses are laid out by job function or payment system which means other areas of the financial institutions can utilize the License as well." Publications and Tools seem to be what First Westroads utilizes the most, as they appreciate getting updated forms throughout the year when there is an ACH Rules update.

Currently, the only courses that any First Westroads employees are taking are related to ACH or check, however; the License has so much more to offer that it leaves a door open for them to expand their learning in the future. Denise also shared that she was unaware that once their institution had the License, each employee can choose to download all the courses, publications and tools through the EPCOR online store or they can go out and access just the courses, publications and tools they want to use from the online store. This allows each employee to decide how much they want to utilize what is offered in the License.

Getting Started with the Electronic Resources License

If you think the Electronic Resources License may be a good fit for your organization, you can find a complete content list, FAQs and more here. Our Member Support team is also happy to talk through the benefits of the License via phone (800.500.0100), email (memserve@epcor.org) or website chat (epcor.org). If you’re ready to get your organization enrolled, please complete our subscription form. We look forward to serving you throughout 2022!