Helping Signature FCU to reduce fraud and streamline member onboarding.

About Signature Federal Credit Union

Founded in 1970, Signature Federal Credit Union is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative serving individuals, associations and businesses nationwide.

The credit union provides savings, loans and everyday banking services, returning profits to members through competitive rates, lower fees and personalised financial support focused on long-term financial wellbeing.

The challenge

Before ID-Pal, Signature FCU relied entirely on manual identity checks to onboard new members. Every application had to be individually reviewed by a small team, with staff collecting ID documents, verifying addresses, and cross-checking information through external data sources.

Maricar Sharper is the Associate Director of Business Development, Projects, and Compliance at Signature FCU, and explained: “We were vetting each application separately and manually,” adding that the process involved reviewing “ID and two forms of address verification” alongside checks through TransUnion’s TLO platform.

That manual approach created delays for both staff and members. Because applicants had to become members before applying for loans, slow onboarding directly impacted lending timelines. “It could take up to two days to vet an applicant before, and that meant there was a delay there before they could apply for the loan,” said Sharper. “We felt that we were losing business.”

Without an automated solution in place, spotting inconsistencies in applications and verification relied heavily on staff experience and manual review. That created friction for genuine applicants while still leaving room for bad actors to slip through. As fraud attempts became more frequent, the team needed a way to tighten controls without adding headcount or creating longer wait times for members.

The solution

Signature FCU implemented ID-Pal to strengthen fraud prevention while speeding up onboarding for legitimate members.

With an integration directly into CreditSnap, ID-Pal now sits at the very beginning of the onboarding process. As Sharper explained, “it’s basically the next thing after they input their PII (Personally Identifiable Information). They have to pass an ID-Pal check before final approval for account creation or loan funding.” That early-stage verification acts as an immediate filter for suspicious applicants before accounts or loans progress further.

Over time, the platform became embedded across multiple departments beyond onboarding. Lending, compliance, and member services teams all use ID-Pal when identity concerns arise.

“We have made a concerted effort to let our team know, if they have any question at all about the person’s identity, to send a request from ID-Pal to the individual. So, it’s become a really important tool for us across the business,” said Sharper. The platform is now used to support everything from risky loan reviews to verifying large wire requests and investigating suspected impersonation cases.

ID-Pal has helped us mitigate fraud and move genuine members through much faster. And the customer service is huge for us. Even with the time difference, ID Pal gets back to us so much quicker than any of the other vendors that we're currently using."

Maricar Sharper, Associate Director of Business Development, Projects, and Compliance

Signature Federal Credit Union

The benefits

For Signature FCU, one of the biggest advantages of ID-Pal has been its impact on fraud prevention.

Sharper explained that many suspicious applicants simply abandon the process once asked to complete identity verification. “If it is a fraudulent application, a lot of times they won’t even submit the check in the first place,” she said. “That stops the journey right there. It’s helped us mitigate fraud and move genuine members through much faster.”

The credit union has also seen major operational improvements. What was once a slow, heavily manual process is now far more streamlined, allowing legitimate applicants to move through onboarding and into lending much faster. Sharper described the process as “seamless” since integrating ID-Pal with CreditSnap.

Beyond onboarding, the platform has become a widely used verification tool across the organisation. Compliance teams regularly review ID-Pal reports during fraud investigations, while staff use the platform to validate identities linked to suspicious account activity. “We rely on ID-Pal heavily,” said Sharper, adding that the system is now used “within different departments.”

The relationship with the ID-Pal team has also stood out. Despite the time difference between the US (where Signature FCU is located) and ID-Pal’s Dublin headquarters, Signature FCU highlighted the responsiveness of the support team as a major factor in the partnership’s success.

“The customer service is huge for us,” said Sharper. “Even with the time difference, ID-Pal gets back to us so much quicker than any of the other vendors that we’re currently using. The responses are detailed, timely, and it’s genuinely appreciated.”

Looking ahead

Signature FCU sees ID-Pal as a long-term part of its onboarding and fraud prevention strategy. Even as Signature FCU explores new deposit and lending platforms, Sharper made it clear there are “no intention of moving” away from ID-Pal, pointing to both the reliability of the technology and the strength of the partnership behind it.