Patience, Hard Work, and Dedication, AllSouth AllStar, Krystal

This month's featured AllSouth AllStar, Krystal, started her career four years ago as a teller at our Killian Road location. She trained as a member service representative and moved to our Northeast location until she was promoted to a member account support representative in our member account support department. Krystal has a wealth of knowledge which contributes to her ability to give the best service to our members and support other team members. Patience, hard work, and dedication are part of Krystal's mantra. She is committed to providing her best to ensure members and teammates get the help they need. This is what makes Krystal our featured AllSouth AllStar.
In our member account support department she handles areas such as IRAs, Overdraft Privilege, levies, and account research, to name a few. Our member support department, aptly named, is a key department and provides support to various credit union departments, but mainly they support our representatives at our locations. Krystal splits her day between mailroom duties and assisting the member account support team.

Krystal is responsible for all mailroom functions for the operations center. Here she carefully sorts and distributes incoming mail to all departments. Krystal explains that even though we provide Mobile Deposit services where members can deposit checks 24/7 using our Mobile Banking app, we have some members who prefer to mail in their transactions. Checks received by the mailroom for Mortgage or Auto Loan payments must be handled with care and diligence to ensure that the accounts are credited and loans are paid promptly. 

She is also responsible for asset verification received by email and fax daily. Asset verification requests come from many apartments that provide HUD housing assistance to verify information on our member's accounts. The member account support team is responsible for completing these requests that help the apartment complex decide if our members qualify for assistance. Krystal and her teammates also go online to Medicaid and Social Security to assist those agencies with their asset verification process.

Krystal helps with our internal quality assurance processes, which ensure that member accounts have the correct information and that accounts are updated with the valid mailing address, phone numbers, and emails. Keeping track of the small details is important because one mistake in an address number or a deposit could mean information or funds may be delayed getting to the member. Krystal enjoys working in the member account support area, and she feels encouraged by her team's patience as she learns. "I enjoy working with the incredible team and amazing manager," said Krystal.

Her manager Kristin said, "Krystal has a positive attitude and is willing to learn new things every day. She gets along well with her teammates and is friendly and helpful when assisting our locations and member service representatives with their questions. I am thrilled to have her as part of the member account support team."

Krystal's favorite quote is "Trust Your Journey". Everything we go through in life, whether positive or negative, is part of the journey we are all on. This quote has helped her cope with the loss of her mother last year. As a result, she can relate better to our members and team members in any situation. “It's important to listen to the person you speak with and never take things personally. It is true about anything in life,” said Krystal when talking about her work experience, describing why she enjoys her work.

She finds it rewarding to help members succeed with their finances, as she recalls when she was a member service representative at one of our locations. A member came in to see her about an item that he wanted to make sure would be paid, even though he knew he might overdraw his account and would be charged a fee for the item. Showing compassion, patience, and understanding the member's situation, she helped him by offering him another option. “The key is to give the members information and answer questions without being pushy; this allows members to make informed decisions when using our products and services,” Krystal explained. Once she discussed his options, he decided to open a Line of Credit. The member was happy because he was able to pay his most important bill without overdrawing his account using the funds from the Line of Credit. Plus, the Line of Credit provided access to extra funds to use at his discretion. “It all comes down to knowing your products and services, listening to understand what the member needs, and then taking the time to see beyond what looks like an unsolvable problem,” said Krystal. Working together to develop the best solution for our members is just one way we fulfill our mission and provide financial education and support for our members.

When Krystal is not working, she enjoys traveling with friends, watching movies at home, and trying out new restaurants. In addition, she enjoys being of service to her sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, cooking, shopping, and learning new makeup tricks. Krystal hasn't traveled much since many places are still dealing with the pandemic, but her dream is to one day visit Paris and France. She would also like to see the French Polynesian Island of Bora, Bora, and Egypt.