How Happy State Bank Keeps Customers & Staff Safe During COVID-19

Happy State Bank, a leading Texas regional bank, partnered with Lightico six months before the coronavirus crisis struck the U.S. The partnership was born out of the bank’s desire to improve efficiencies, as cumbersome paper processes were no longer serving their goals, especially when completing processes involving multiple account holders. Since then, Lightico’s mobile-first platform has been enabling the bank to onboard and service customers completely virtually by sending customers a text message link that opens to a mobile environment, where end customers can eSign forms and upload supporting documents. Fast forward to the coronavirus outbreak. Like most service providers, Happy State Bank has closed its physical branches to keep its employees and customers safe from the highly contagious virus. Customers are sheltering in place. In this remote world, Lightico’s solution has been a lifeline for Happy State Bank, enabling their customers to easily manage their finances without risking their health. Here’s how Happy State Bank is leveraging Lightico’s solution during the pandemic –– in some very creative and agile ways.

Drive-thru account opening & credit card receipt

Happy State Bank’s physical branches may be shuttered, but its drive-thru banking is still fully operational. This reality, combined with Lightico’s mobile-first solution, has allowed drive-thru agents to send customers onboarding forms and documents via smartphone for them to sign. The bank prints them a debit card right then and there, and they’re done. This set-up means it’s no longer necessary for customers to meet tellers, touch ATMs, or check their mailboxes if they want to open a new account or recieve a new credit card.

Simplified loan modifications & deferments

Prior to Lightico, if Happy State Bank wanted to proactively offer its customers loan deferrals, it would send out the paperwork via snail mail. The problem was, responses would trickle in slowly over a period of time, and a great deal of manual work was required. With widespread remote working and growing customer financial concerns, Happy State Bank knew they needed to make applying for a deferment easy and virtual. Using Lightico, the bank created a special URL for deferrals that customers could apply to via an electronic form, which was created in less than 24 hours. Within two days, Happy State Bank received a flood of customer deferral requests that could be handled seamlessly and efficiently. While loan deferments are especially in demand right now, Happy State Bank has found that allowing customers to complete new account openings, take out new loans, change account details, apply for new credit cards, and modify existing loan and mortgage payments are also easy to facilitate via phone and eForms.

Service requests via text messaging

During the past six months, Happy State Bank has been using Lightico as a secure portal for conducting transactions with customers via text message, whether it’s sending documents and eForms back and forth, or simply communicating. Happy State Bank has found that the coronavirus crisis actually increased the number of transactions they completed with customers. In February, 250 sessions were completed. But as the pandemic started spreading throughout the U.S., that number quadrupled: almost 1,000 customers were touched through Lightico in the month of March. Happy State Bank attributes this increase in adoption to employees already having been comfortable using text message-based interactions before the crisis, and consumers’ existing preference for an intuitive text-messaging way of getting things done. Furthermore, over 21 million people in America lack advanced broadband internet access, and many are reliant on smartphones as their only channel of connecting to the Internet. Happy State Bank appreciates the universal reliability of communicating with their customers via smartphone text messaging, especially when homebound people may lack access to other channels, such as computers or post offices. "During the COVID-19 pandemic, we at Happy Bank are taking a hard look at all our tools to see how we can use them to help us better serve our customers. Lightico is proving to us that they are a true partner. Lightico is very valuable during this time." - Mark Murray, VP Business Systems Liaison at Happy State Bank

Through the Corona Crisis Happy State Bank ensures business continuity with Lightico

Through its partnership with Lightico, Happy State Bank is able to maintain business continuity while keeping customers safe from the coronavirus. Enabling banking customers to remotely access essential and time-sensitive banking services, such as loan deferments, mortgage extensions, and much more is now essential. There simply isn’t any face-to-face alternative. But even when the crisis is over, customers won’t be willing to go back to old paperwork processes –– and fortunately for Happy State Bank customers, they won’t have to. Happy State Bank looks forward to expanding how it serves its customers through digital and mobile solutions. Its digital transformation is only just beginning.