Red Canoe Credit Union | Case Study | Alloy

Red Canoe Credit Union partners with Alloy and Lumin Digital to transform member growth through digital account opening

From 100% manual review to scalable growth: How Red Canoe modernized digital account opening

At a glance

Industry
Credit Union
Established
1937
Headquartered
Longview, WA
Assets Under Management
$1.2B
Members
60,000+

Red Canoe Credit Union, a member-owned credit union headquartered in Longview, Washington with over 60,000 members and more than $1B in assets, partnered with Lumin Digital and Alloy to modernize its digital account opening experience. By automating identity decisioning and streamlining onboarding, the credit union increased application completion rates from 36% to 71%, reduced manual reviews from 100% to about 20%, and drove an 81% increase in fully funded digital memberships, all while strengthening fraud detection and improving the member experience.

A version of this case study was previously posted on Lumin Digital.

The Challenge: Increasing growth without introducing more risk

Red Canoe Credit Union faced a common dilemma: how to increase growth safely without exposing the credit union to fraud risk. The credit union serves members across a sprawling footprint in Washington State. Half of its branches sit in the Pierce-King County corridor. Two large counties in the middle have no physical presence, and the rest of the branches cluster in the Cowlitz market to the south.

“In order to grow, digital acquisition had to become a huge priority,” said Jerrod. “We were limiting ourselves to people who were willing to drive to a branch. That was our growth circle—and it wasn’t good enough.”

The digital front door existed, but it wasn’t working. Only 36% of started applications were ever completed. The process averaged more than eight minutes, workflow customization was limited, and 100% of applications were routed for manual review.

Red Canoe needed a digital account opening solution with auto-approvals, seamless enrollment and onboarding into digital banking, and marketing tools that could reach members inside the platform they already use. Lumin’s Digital Account Opening solution— integrated with Alloy for identity verification and fraud detection—offered that connected path.

The solution: Alloy and Lumin team up to transform Red Canoe's onboarding

Red Canoe chose Lumin for digital account opening and Alloy for identity verification and fraud prevention, giving the credit union a more connected path from application to onboarding. The combined experience replaced a heavily manual process with automated decisioning, built-in fraud checks, and a smoother member journey inside the digital channels members were already using.

The results: More members, less friction, reduced fraud, stronger engagement

Automation with Lumin and Alloy meant a fundamental shift in how Red Canoe processed applications—and that required trust.

“It was scary, for sure,” Erik said. “For the first six months, we looked at every single application to make sure we could tweak things and adjust workflows. We’ve now reworked how apps are processed. One person specializes in manual reviews; another specializes in declines and adverse action decisions.”

Digital membership growth

Red Canoe saw an 81% increase in new online memberships that were open and fully funded.

Submission rate

The percentage of applications that were started and submitted jumped from 36% to 71%, driven by a shorter, smoother experience that cut average completion time from more than eight minutes to about five.

Operational efficiency

Seventy-four percent of all applications submitted, whether approved or declined, are now auto-decisioned. Of those that are approved, 80% are auto-approved. When applications do require review, staff have far better tools.

Fraud detection

Before Red Canoe adopted Alloy’s Fraud Attack Radar, a bot attack slipped partially through. When a similar attack occurred after implementation, the system caught it, and the team activated a “Stop the Bleed” protocol that added friction and removed auto-approvals in one click.

Digital adoption and eStatements

“Our digital banking adoption rate for new members in the first 30 days, percentage-wise, used to be in the low 60s,” Amy said. “Since the system now drops auto-approvals straight into digital banking, 80% enroll in online banking at account opening.”

In-app marketing that converts

With Lumin’s CMS, the marketing team launched a January campaign encouraging members to start an emergency fund by opening a secondary savings account with auto transfers.

Looking ahead: A new way of thinking and building

The numbers matter. But for Red Canoe’s leadership, the deeper shift is organizational.

“With the prior tools, we were flying blind. Members would go into the old application, and it was a black hole. We had no indicators, no mitigation tools. Now we have a trusted data source and real insight. It was a quantum leap. We have levers and insights we didn’t have before.”

“When you have systems that are stifling, you build a culture of ‘no,’” Amy said. “After launching Lumin and Alloy, we’re instead building a culture of curiosity— ’How could we do this differently? How could we make this easier online?’ It’s shifting from telling members to call us to asking, ‘How can we build this with a digital delivery?’”

“Our digital banking on Lumin and Alloy is built for the person on the couch,” Erik added. “It’s for the person who thinks, ‘If I have to get up and grab my wallet, I’m not doing it.’”

About Lumin Digital

Lumin Digital is the leading, future-ready digital banking solution powering remarkable growth for financial institutions across the United States. Combining innovation, data, and speed, Lumin’s disruption-proof platform was born in the cloud to stay ahead of the evolving expectations of retail and business banking users. With Lumin Digital’s unique approach, our clients innovate and scale at their own pace, optimize digital banking ROI, and create a strong digital relationship with their customers. Lumin has received top marks from clients on the G2 Marketplace for digital banking software. For more information, visit lumindigital.com.