What do credit union members contact you about?
Agent resolves most member questions once the member is verified, takes intake only on fraud, and hands off anything that needs judgment about a member’s finances.
Lending drives much of the volume: federally insured credit unions held $485.4 billion in auto loans at the end of June 2026, according to the NCUA’s quarterly data summary. Eligibility questions are unique to the model, because each credit union’s field of membership decides who can join.
| Conversation type | Can Agent resolve it? | Hand off when | Data Agent needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership eligibility (“Can I join?”) | Yes. Checks employer, county, school, association or family link against your field of membership, then links to the application. | It needs a judgment call: a former employer group, an address on a county line, an unclear family link. | Field-of-membership rules, employer group list, eligible counties |
| Membership application status | Partly. Reports the status and any missing document. | Identity checks fail, the file is in manual review, or it was declined (reasons come from staff, in writing). | Account-opening platform status |
| Loan payment amount, due date, posting | Yes. Amount due, due date, last posted payment and ways to pay. | The loan is past due, hardship or bankruptcy comes up, or a payment hit the wrong loan. | Core loan record, autopay status |
| Payoff quote and lien release | Yes. Payoff amount with its good-through date, and lien release status. | The title is late past your stated timeframe, or a dealer disputes the figure. | Core payoff calculation, title tracking |
| Skip-a-payment | Yes, within program rules, after stating the fee and getting consent. | The loan doesn’t qualify and the member wants an exception, or hardship comes up. | Program rules, days past due, skip history, fee |
| Card controls: lock, unlock, travel notes | Yes, where your card platform allows it. | Card details may be stolen, or verification fails. | Card status and controls |
| Unrecognized transaction or fraud | No. Logs what was reported and when. | Always, immediately. | Verified member, transaction date and amount |
| Shared branching and surcharge-free ATMs | Yes. Which transactions work, what to bring, how to find a location. | A shared branch deposit or payment hasn’t posted. | Network rules, locator links |
| Share certificates and dividends | Yes. Maturity dates, renewal, grace period, published rates. | “Which term should I pick?” (advice), or a penalty waiver request. | Certificate records, rate sheet, penalty policy |
How does an AI agent handle a loan payment or skip-a-payment request?
Loan payments make a good first procedure: they repeat monthly, the answers come from the core, and the risky cases are easy to name. Agent turns each line of this example into a step that calls your systems through the Aftersales API.
Example procedure: loan payments and skip-a-payment
- Verify first. Members signed in to online or mobile banking are already verified. Anywhere else, send a one-time passcode to the phone on file. Never ask for a full Social Security number, card number, PIN or password.
- Find the loan. If the member has more than one, ask which, by loan type and last four digits.
- Answer. Give the amount due, the due date and the last posted payment. For a payment made today, explain when it posts.
- Ways to pay. List the options in the “Ways to pay your loan” article and quote fees only as published.
- Skip requests. Check the loan is current, is an auto or personal loan and hasn’t skipped in 12 months. If so, state the fee (Example: $30), explain that interest keeps accruing and the term extends a month, and wait for a clear yes.
- Courtesy waivers. Waive at most one late fee per member in 12 months, up to $25.
- Hand off when the loan is past due; when job loss, illness, a disaster, bankruptcy, deferment or a collector comes up; when sentiment turns negative; or when the member asks whether to refinance or pay off early. Say who will reply and when, and attach the loan and what you already did.
Example conversation (mobile banking chat)
Member: Can I skip my car payment this month? December got away from me.
Agent: You can, Dana. Your auto loan ending 4417 is current and hasn’t skipped this year. Skipping the December 15 payment adds it to the end of the loan, interest still accrues, and the $30 fee comes from your savings ending 0012. Shall I set it up?
Member: Yes please. Honestly January might be hard too, I got laid off.
Agent: Done, your next payment is due January 15. I’m sorry about your job, Dana. I’ve passed this to our loan servicing team with your loan details, and someone will message you by noon tomorrow to talk through options.
Test it on your own member questions. Load your field of membership and rate sheet into Agent and read its answers before any member sees them.
What guardrails does a credit union need before an AI agent talks to members?
Decide what Agent never does and what always goes to a person. Aftersales does not make a credit union compliant; your compliance officer maps these rules to your policies.
Agent never
- Gives financial advice. It quotes the published certificate rate but won’t say whether to choose it, refinance or consolidate debt. It offers a loan officer instead.
- Makes or explains credit decisions. Lenders decide, and denial reasons go out in writing under Regulation B’s adverse action rules.
- Argues about a transaction. “That charge isn’t mine” is a notice of error. Regulation E accepts oral notices and its deadlines run from receipt, so Agent logs the time and hands off. The CFPB’s 2023 report on chatbots in consumer finance flagged missed disputes as a core risk.
- Asks for secrets such as PINs, passwords, full card numbers or full Social Security numbers.
Always hand off
- Fraud, scams and account takeover
- Hardship, collections, bankruptcy or repossession
- Deaths, estates, powers of attorney and guardianship
- Suspected elder financial exploitation
- Legal language (garnishment, levy, subpoena, attorney) or a regulator named in a complaint
- Persistent negative sentiment, or a request for a person
Member data
NCUA’s Guidelines for Safeguarding Member Information include oversight of service providers and its cyber incident notification rule gives 72 hours to report, including incidents that start at a vendor. Aftersales offers a GDPR DPA and hosts data in the US, connector permissions are revocable, and Scale adds SSO and SCIM (see security).
Which channels should a credit union open to an AI agent?
Start where members are signed in, add channels for general questions, and keep phone with your people.
- Online and mobile banking chat. Members are authenticated, so loan, card and certificate answers come straight away. Confirm with your digital banking provider, and with us on a call, how the messenger embeds.
- Website chat. Eligibility, joining, rates, branches and the routing number. No account data without a passcode check.
- SMS. Replies to payment reminders and card alerts, with consent to text and opt-outs honored.
- Email and secure messages. Payoff letters, documents and anything a member wants in writing.
- Social DMs and WhatsApp. Outage updates, events and members abroad. Account questions move to a signed-in channel.
- Phone. Stays with your team. On Growth and above, the Inbox takes calls too, including warm or cold transfers and recording consent.
Agent replies in 31 languages, which helps where your field of membership includes immigrant communities or bilingual branches.
Which credit union systems does an AI agent need access to?
Agent reads what a member service representative would check and writes only where you approve. Each system below links up through the Aftersales API or webhooks, so confirm specific connectors for your core and card platform on a call.
- Core processing system: member, share, certificate and loan records. Read-only first, then actions such as skip-a-pay enrollment.
- Digital banking platform: sign-in status and the chat window members see.
- Card management platform: card status, lock and unlock, travel notes.
- Loan origination and account opening systems: application status and missing documents.
- Knowledge: field of membership, rate sheet, fee schedule and shared branching rules, one source for Agent, staff and your help center.
- Salesforce if you manage member relationships there, plus Slack and Jira for internal handoffs.
Already on Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud or Freshdesk? Agent can run inside it on its own, with no seats and no migration, at $0.99 per resolution with a minimum monthly commitment.
What does an AI agent cost for a mid-sized credit union?
You pay for seats plus $0.99 per conversation Agent resolves. Conversations it can’t help with are free.
Example assumptions: 8 member service seats on Growth, billed annually; 4,000 conversations a month across in-app chat, website chat, email and SMS; Agent resolves 40% in month one; staff take phone calls in the same Inbox.
| Line item | Month one (40% resolved) | At Aftersales’ 90-day median (71% resolved) |
|---|---|---|
| Growth seats (8 × $69) | $552 | $552 |
| Agent resolutions at $0.99 | 1,600: $1,584 | 2,840: $2,811.60 |
| Lite seats for branch managers and lenders (up to 20) | $0 | $0 |
| Total per month | $2,136 | $3,363.60 |
Aftersales list prices, October 2026. 71% is Aftersales’ median Agent resolution rate after 90 days; yours depends on your procedures and data access.
Scale ($109 a seat, $872 for eight) adds SSO, SAML and SCIM. Copilot for all eight reps adds $232 ($29 each). Monthly billing costs 20% more. See pricing.
What does a 30-day AI agent rollout look like at a credit union?
Move to each stage only after reading the last one’s transcripts.
Days 1 to 7: prepare
Tag 90 days of past conversations by topic. Load membership rules, rates, fees and hours into Knowledge, and collect Aftersales’ security documentation and GDPR DPA for your vendor review.
Days 8 to 14: connect and write procedures
Connect the core and card platform read-only. Write five procedures (eligibility, payments, payoffs, card controls, shared branching), set guardrails, and test with staff posing as members.
Days 15 to 21: public questions
Go live in website chat for eligibility, joining, rates and branches, reviewing transcripts daily.
Days 22 to 30: signed-in members
Open Agent inside online and mobile banking, switch on skip-a-pay and card lock once answers are accurate, and report resolution rate and cost per conversation from Insights to the board.
Our resolution rate guide explains what counts as resolved. Other sectors are in the AI customer service hub.