Case Study: Unison Credit Union – Credit Union Compliance

The Challenge

Unison Credit Union has served communities in Northeast Wisconsin for almost a century, and recently added business lending to its services. The newly hired team felt confident about their processes, but required a third party firm to make sure they were adhering to credit union compliance policy.

But with a small portfolio, the Unison team struggled to find an experienced loan review company that was also affordable. Then, they discovered Enlighten Financial.

“Some of the accounting firms I talked with were double or triple of Enlighten’s cost,” said Chad Van Handel, Unison Credit Union’s Chief Lending Officer. “We were fortunate Enlighten was in the space because they certainly fit our needs, and I was very impressed with the service.”

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 at Enlighten boasts decades of combined experience working in both community and regional banking. Enlighten’s expertise — in both the real-world challenges of lending and in industry best practices — provided an added advantage for Chad as he hired his team and formalized their processes. “I knew we were in a pretty big growth mode, and there were some things that weren’t getting done as timely as possible,” Chad said.

The Results

Thanks to Enlighten’s cost-effective services, its professionalism, and its industry expertise, Chad said there’s no question its partnership with Enlighten Financial will continue.

Working with the team at Enlighten, he said, “has been super. They definitely helped us on our journey to get better.”


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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