How Desert Financial Credit Union Doubled Recoveries and Cut 15 Hours of Manual Work a Week with MBSI

The Challenge

Over the past five years, Desert Financial Credit Union has scaled rapidly, but its collections and recovery technology have not kept pace. The team was operating with significant blind spots across the repossession lifecycle, creating inefficiencies that were difficult to quantify and even harder to fix.  

"We had every challenge you can imagine. There was a lack of visibility across the board." — Jon Muller, AVP of Collections, Servicing, Facilities, & Construction, Desert Financial

Key pain points included:

• No visibility into vendor performance. The team had no reliable way to measure whether repossession vendors were performing well.  

• Inefficient, manual assignment processes. Repossession assignments were tracked and managed manually, leading to inconsistency, errors, and lost time.

• Limited reporting and no performance benchmarking. Leadership had no centralized system to track accounts assigned for repossession.  

Why Desert Financial Partnered with MBSI

Desert Financial evaluated multiple vendors through a rigorous, committee-based selection process. Ultimately, three factors drove the decision to select MBSI:

1. Ease of Partnership

Desert Financial's collections director was in the middle of an active vendor search when they met MBSI at an industry conference. MBSI's responsiveness, proactive approach, and smooth evaluation process quickly set them apart.  

2. Right-Sized Technology with a Low Lift

With finite IT resources, Desert Financial needed a solution that didn't require a heavy implementation burden. MBSI's platform was designed to be self-serve, requiring minimal involvement from the credit union's technology team, a critical factor for getting the project approved and moving quickly.  

3. Collaborative, Transparent Culture

Desert Financial wasn't just looking for software. They were looking for a partner with shared accountability. MBSI's willingness to be direct and to collaborate on solutions rather than just sell features set them apart.

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Results: Increased Efficiencies with Access to Actionable Insights

Desert Financial was able to get started with RecoveryConnect within a week of implementation. The lift was minimal, allowing their collections team to begin using the platform almost immediately without extensive IT involvement. Within 90 days of using the platform, the team noticed a shift in operations and saw results.

Increased Operational Efficiency by Reducing Manual Work

• Saved 10–15 hours per week in manual work through automated assignment and reassignment processes
• Eliminated the need for staff to manually track coverage areas, vendor availability, and assignment distribution

Measured and Validate Vendor Performance & Accountability

• For the first time, Desert Financial can measure, validate, and benchmark repossession vendor performance with real data
• The team can now see vendor performance peaks and valleys over time and allocate assignments based on results, directing a higher percentage of work to top-performing agents

Access to Reporting & Visibility for the First Time

• Out-of-the-box reporting gave leadership real-time visibility into the recovery lifecycle
• Custom reporting enhancements were built collaboratively with MBSI in response to specific team needs
• Invoice processing efficiency improved alongside operational reporting

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Notable Metrics

• ‍2x Increase in recoveries in 90 days
• Reduced manual work by 10 -15 hours per week due to automations

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A Growing Partnership

Desert Financial's experience underscores a truth that many credit unions discover too late: technology features matter, but partnership matters more. The right tech partner reduces friction, delivers transparency, and earns trust, making it easier to build the business case, faster to implement, and more likely to actually get used.

"I look at it as: you can have a vendor, but a partner collaborates with you to create solutions. That's what MBSI did for us." — Jon Muller

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About Desert Financial Credit Union

Desert Financial Credit Union is a $9.5 billion state-chartered credit union headquartered in the Phoenix metro area, serving members across all of Arizona. As the state's largest local credit union, Desert Financial is known for its commitment to member experience and operational excellence.

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For more information on how MBSI helps credit unions modernize collections and recovery operations, visit www.mbsicorp.com or contact us at sales@mbsicorp.com.

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