At the beginning of 2020, Tim Behunin took on the project of researching training resources to support compliance objectives at his credit union for the upcoming year. The challenge of compliance training for all credit unions—regardless of size—is to have the right information for all different levels of staffing, offered at the correct time, across multiple topics, as mandated by compliance regulations.

Behunin, compliance officer at America First Credit Union, was looking for new options for this challenge. His objective was to ensure the sizable staff of his credit union could continue to build a strong, common fundamental understanding of compliance.

In his research, he came across CUNA Training Bundle and made the purchase before COVID-19 hit. CUNA Training Bundle provides unlimited access to more than 250 webinars and more than 30 eSchools from at one all-inclusive price.

Behunin explained, “Based on the compliance content alone, I was really excited because of the potential. I saw that it included more than just compliance training, and that sounded like great opportunity. Initially we thought, wow, there are so many webinars and so many eSchools included.”

With a blended learning strategy, Behunin utilized the compliance webinars and eSchools with staff to learn, review and then participate in discussions with colleagues to ensure that employees had a chance to connect with each other and develop common knowledge of compliance material. Then COVID-19 arrived.

Safe, socially distanced training became the norm, but using the online compliance resources included in CUNA Training Bundle, the learning was able to evolve and continue. “It provided us a way to get a lot of people trained, even individually from their own desks,” Behunin said.

In the past, certifications earned at in-person trainings have enabled the America First CU team to deepen their knowledge in compliance as well as financial counseling. “Not being able to attend schools in person, [with CUNA Training Bundle] we still had people who were able to certify in compliance, and we’ve also had staff take webinars to increase their skills in providing financial guidance to members.” CUNA Training Bundle includes content to build the expertise of credit union staff such valuable designations as Credit Union Compliance Expert (CUCE) and the Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor (CCUFC). Behunin continues, “The people who have been certified through Training Bundle have all said what a good experience it was, how thorough it was, and how helpful it is to be able to have those credentials.”

Additionally, staff members from other departments contacted Behunin to ask whether specific compliance training topics were available, and he directed them how to find what they were looking for. “We’ve had quite a few people taking singular compliance webinars on topics they want to brush up on,” he said.

“My experience this year is that CUNA Training Bundle has provided a clear cost savings for us, and it’s been a really great way for us to get compliance training to people through an unprecedented event” Behunin said.