Collections is an integral part of member service at a credit union. It is not evicting, taking cars or yelling.

“That perception is the furthest thing from the truth,” explains David Reed, partner at Reed & Jolly PLLC, Oakton, Va., who has seen collections within CUs as a third-party collections attorney, an in-house collections counsel and as an outside resource.

Often, Reed says, collections is seen as an island surrounded by nearby lands, also known as other departments. The rest of the credit union occasionally takes a boat to visit collections when necessary. However, Reed says a bridge needs to be built t…