- Before
- Decides about 35 exceptions a day above branch authority from calls and email, with the core, a rate survey and the FHLB sheet open side by side.
- Now
- Opens a thread the agents have already priced against funding, retention and like members; approves, counters or declines with a reason code.
Deposit pricing for one member, from request to signed disclosure
Thursday, October 22, 2026, at the Harbor Point branch of Norrell Federal Credit Union, a sample $6.8 billion credit union with 38 branches. A member's $350,000 certificate matures on Saturday and an online bank has offered more. Here is how the deposit pricing decision is made, screen by screen, in the working solution.
- 019:52 AM
A rate request becomes a thread
Dana Whitfield · Branch Manager, Harbor PointEllen Marchetti, a member for 17 years, sits at Dana's desk with a written offer of 4.60% APY for 12 months. Dana writes one sentence and attaches the letter. Twenty-three seconds later six agents have replied with a counteroffer of 4.45%, one plain line each with a source, and the request waits on Marisol Ortega with a 2-hour clock.
“Member asks 4.60% on a $350,000 12-month certificate to match an offer.”
- 02The relationship
Only what pricing needs from the core
Relationship agentThe agent reads 14 of 212 member fields from the core banking system: $1,200,000 in deposits across six accounts, a $410,000 mortgage, 17 years of membership, and earlier exceptions of +20 bp in October 2024 and +25 bp in October 2025. Tax ID, date of birth, address, transactions, credit score and income are never read for pricing, and every view is logged.
Access log: Dana Whitfield 9:50 AM, Relationship agent 9:52 AM, Marisol Ortega 10:16 AM.
- 03Other money
Priced against FHLB and brokered funding of the same term
Funding agentFor 12 months the cheapest other money is a 4.38% FHLB advance, from the 8:00 AM rate sheet; brokered certificates cost 4.52%. The 4.45% counteroffer costs $1,050 a year over the 4.15% board rate and $245 a year more than borrowing from the FHLB; the 4.60% ask would cost $770 more. Borrowing would also take $15,750 of FHLB activity stock.
Rates read today only, each with the time it was read.
- 04The chance it stays
84% at the counteroffer, with its band
Retention agentModel RET-3.2 puts the chance the $350,000 stays at 84% at 4.45% (78–90%), 91% at the 4.60% ask and 31% at the board rate. Its back-test is on the same screen: in Q3 2026 it predicted 79% and 81% stayed, across 1,180 certificates. It never uses age, sex, race or national origin, marital status, ZIP code or branch location.
The agent recommends only when the band is ±10 points or narrower.
- 0510:16 AM
How members in like circumstances were treated
Marisol Ortega · Deposit Pricing ManagerMarisol opens the Consistency agent's comparison: 46 like requests in 90 days, 43 approved at +20 to +40 bp, with a median of +30 bp, the same as the counteroffer. The 4.60% ask, at +45 bp, is above all 43 approvals. No branch differs from the median by more than 5 bp, and phone, branch and online requests are approved at the same median.
Compared on product, amount, term and offer only. An outlier is flagged, never blocked.
- 06Before deciding
A rate dial that recalculates everything
Marisol Ortega · Deposit Pricing ManagerSet to the full 4.60% ask, the dial shows what it would mean: $1,575 a year over the board rate, $770 against FHLB funding, a 91% chance the money stays (±6 points), and a Rate Committee decision. The rate ladder moves with the dial, and a counter at another rate carries a reason code and an override code.
“+45 bp is above your +40 bp authority. Counter lets you send it to the Rate Committee as an urgent e-vote.”
- 0710:21 AM
Approved with a reason code, by someone who did not ask
Marisol Ortega · Deposit Pricing ManagerMarisol approves 4.45% as checker with reason code PX-02, “Matches a verified written offer, within the like-circumstances range”, and a note. The dialog names who requested the exception, who approves it and what happens next: the disclosure is generated from these terms and the core books the rate under this approval. Dana requested it, so Dana never could.
“Verified written offer at 4.60%; counter at the like-circumstances median.”
- 0810:21 to 10:27 AM
Disclosed, accepted and booked in the same thread
Dana Whitfield and the core banking systemThe Disclosure agent posts TIS-26-10418: 4.45% APY, dividend rate 4.36%, maturing October 24, 2027, 9 of 9 required items checked. At 10:26 Dana writes that Ellen accepted; at 10:27 the core banking system renews certificate ··7741-C03 at 4.45% under approval A-26-10418. Marisol's waiting list drops from 7 to 6.
“Member accepted 4.45%. She is signing the disclosure now.”
- 09Signed
The Truth in Savings disclosure equals the approval
Disclosure agentGenerated only after approval and only from the approved terms: dividend rate 4.36%, APY 4.45%, compounded and credited monthly, a 180-day early withdrawal penalty and automatic renewal with a 10-day grace period. Before release the agent checks each item 12 CFR 707.4(b) lists, that the terms equal the approval, and recomputes the APY. Dana delivered it at 10:24 and Ellen e-signed at 10:26.
Kept seven years, at least two under 12 CFR 707.9(c).
- 10On the record
Who, what, when, why, on which evidence
The audit trailThe trail for REQ-26-10418 holds 10 entries, from Dana opening the request at 9:52:08 AM, through each agent's reason and evidence, to Marisol's approval and the core booking. One export pack serves NCUA examiners, internal audit, the Supervisory Committee or ALCO, with member numbers masked.