Case Study: CoVantage Credit Union – Compliance Audit

The Challenge

With 19 locations spread across Northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan, CoVantage Credit Union focuses on providing outstanding value and exceptional service to all of its members. This sometimes includes providing loans that, on paper, might appear risky to a third party audit company with limited credit union banking experience.

That’s why, when searching for a new loan reviewer, CoVantage leaders prioritized real-world lending experience over the size of the firm. For its most recent audit, CoVantage chose Enlighten Financial. With decades of combined experience working in both community and regional banking, the team at Enlighten understands lending.

Enlighten Financial Solution

As for all its clients, Enlighten Financial’s loan review process includes:

  • Ensuring that risk ratings are properly identified and assigned;
  • Testing credit underwriting to confirm risk is mitigated;
  • Reviewing loan policy;
  • Identifying unknown issues for management to address.

The team’s recommendations were all “high level,” according to CoVantage Credit Union Vice President Rhonda Norrbom. She appreciated the team’s thorough review and its willingness to provide both detailed process changes and broader insights into best practices.

That doesn’t mean she accepted them all, of course.

“It’s easy to make a judgement on a piece of paper, but it’s another thing to actually see the quality of character of the borrower,” she said. “Sometimes we just do things because that’s what you do in a community of our size.” The team at Enlighten understood those decisions, she added, thanks to their industry expertise.

The Results

Given the timing of their review — late 2020, in the middle of the Covd-19 pandemic — Rhonda said she was particularly impressed with Enlighten’s team. She’s already recommended them to a credit union colleague, and will include Enlighten in their RFPs going forward.

“They were very professional in their communication and how they accommodated us,” she said. “They were great.”


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“The staff at Enlighten have been available for questions, in addition to the engaged work that they do. They've been very helpful as a resource beyond the major audit.”
— Meghann Kasper, Chief Credit Officer, Bank First
“Enlighten gives us a very good second set of eyes on our transactions. They're not afraid to challenge us on some of the work that we've done, which is what is needed. I don't need to pay somebody to tell me I'm good, I need to pay somebody to tell me where I've made mistakes.”
— Robert McPherson, VP of Risk Management, Peoples State Bank
“Enlighten provided industry best practices that weren’t going to show up in an audit report. They would say, ‘Hey, I noticed you do this. This is really unique, you do a really great job of it.’ And then they might add, ‘Some other clients that I have are doing something like this.’”
— Bill Beardsley, President, Michigan Business Connection
“By questioning some of our methodologies, Enlighten has helped us say, ‘Okay, this is where we need to train staff better and focus on so that they understand what they're doing better.”
— Robert McPherson, VP of Risk Management, Peoples State Bank
“The organization of the communication — before, during, and after the reporting process — was certainly better with Enlighten than what I've experienced with a lot of auditors.”
— Bill Beardsley, President, Michigan Business Connection
“The staff at Enlighten have been available for questions, in addition to the engaged work that they do. They've been very helpful as a resource beyond the major audit.”
— Meghann Kasper, Chief Credit Officer, Bank First
“Enlighten gives us a very good second set of eyes on our transactions. They're not afraid to challenge us on some of the work that we've done, which is what is needed. I don't need to pay somebody to tell me I'm good, I need to pay somebody to tell me where I've made mistakes.”
— Robert McPherson, VP of Risk Management, Peoples State Bank
“Enlighten provided industry best practices that weren’t going to show up in an audit report. They would say, ‘Hey, I noticed you do this. This is really unique, you do a really great job of it.’ And then they might add, ‘Some other clients that I have are doing something like this.’”
— Bill Beardsley, President, Michigan Business Connection
“By questioning some of our methodologies, Enlighten has helped us say, ‘Okay, this is where we need to train staff better and focus on so that they understand what they're doing better.”
— Robert McPherson, VP of Risk Management, Peoples State Bank
“The organization of the communication — before, during, and after the reporting process — was certainly better with Enlighten than what I've experienced with a lot of auditors."
— Bill Beardsley, President, Michigan Business Connection