Vanessa Zech and Bobby Cardenas from the Teller Plus+ team join host Lynne Jarman-Johnson for a behind the scenes look at Teller Plus+ and how the team serves you, our members and our community. Plus, our fraud expert Kristy Desimone talks about how to spot a scammer on our episode’s Money Minute Expert.

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0:00:06.1 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Welcome in. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson, and it’s Money, I’m Home. Boy, do we have a podcast for you today. It’s all about our behind the scenes look at Teller Plus+ and how we serve you, our members and our community. And then don’t forget at the end, we’ve got our Money Minute expert, and it’s all about fraud today, so stay tuned. Let’s get started. Our Teller Plus+ team is so amazing, and in studio today are Vanessa Zech, and Bobby Cardenas. You both literally have changed the face of what we do with our members every single day. Vanessa, let’s start with you. Tell us a little bit about how you came to Consumers.

0:00:42.2 Vanessa Zech: Oh, thanks, Lynne. So, I came to Consumers from Chemical Bank, if anybody remembers that name. That’s where I was previously managing an office. As mergers occurred and some changes were made, I started to look for something different that would really drive what my goals were. And I found out about Consumers, and saw the technology and I was really drawn to it. Something new, something exciting, but also people living the same values that I had within me.

0:01:14.2 LJJ: Vanessa, you are running the team that is the face of our organization, but it truly is something that is so unique in the industry. I think we’re, if not the largest, maybe one of the largest in the entire United States with a fleet of Teller Plus+.

0:01:29.3 VZ: Yes. Yep, that’s true. So, our team is a very large team. We have around 36 of us right now, and we’re always looking for more. And then across our fleet, we have over 100 stations, and we’re continuously adding to those.

0:01:47.3 LJJ: Bobby, you have been on the Teller Plus+ team from the inception. You’re amazing at what you do. You make people laugh. You’re in our TikToks quite often. Tell me a little bit about when you first started and the difference between then and even now with the technology.

0:02:03.4 Bobby Cardenas: Sure. So, the technology has grown a lot over the course of my time here at Consumers. I came in March 2 of 2020 is when I started. So, around a pretty wild time, I’d say for everyone around that time. And seeing the leaps that we’ve taken in terms of technology and rolling out the fleet that we have in place now, it’s been really rewarding to be a part of something so special. And it’s something that I take a lot of pride in too. Whenever I come into work and whenever I talk about how proud I am to be associated and to work with Consumers.

0:02:44.0 LJJ: I’ll tell you what, in the 2020s, we actually renovated all of our offices, so we’re almost kind of like a Starbucks in some respect with free coffee, free Wi-Fi and no traditional teller lines. Do you find that people are still like, what’s going on?

0:03:00.1 VZ: Yeah, people walk into our offices, they’re super excited, they kind of are taken aback by how open it is. But we have so many members that are like, “Wow, what’s this?” So, our office teams walk them up, walk them through the process, tap the screen and they get a fun greeting from somebody like Bobby. And they’re excited to be here and see what it’s like.

0:03:21.0 LJJ: Bobby, tell us a little bit about maybe something funny that has happened when you’re actually working as a Teller Plus+.

0:03:27.3 BC: Sure. So, when I answer calls, there’s always a little bit of that unknown just given with working with technology. Every once in a while, things can happen that are, I guess, a little bit unplanned for. So, I’ve had a few times where I’ve come on the screen and my camera has been way closer than what I’ve been aware of. And then typically, I’ll be able to tell right away by the reaction of the members what is kind of going on, or if the call is, I guess, going according to plan. I’ve also had it happen before where for some reason, my microphone kind of takes a little bit of break or a little bit of a break from working.

0:04:12.1 LJJ: It gets tired.

0:04:13.1 BC: Yeah. And then I’ll come out a little bit squeaky or I’ve heard people say that it’s a little bit like Alvin and the Chipmunks kind of style. So again, I’ll see the puzzling look on some folks’ faces, and then I’ll get a hint that, okay, well, something is not operating properly right here. And I’ll try and have some fun with it whenever I come across those situations, it just happens sometimes.

0:04:40.8 LJJ: Speaking of fun, we do have an absolute fabulous TikTok channel. And right now, there is a viral video that is out there all about Teller Plus+ sort of, let’s take a look.

0:05:01.8 LJJ: Over 1 million views. It’s crazy fun. I even understand there was a donkey once that went through the drive through.

0:05:08.1 VZ: Yeah. We had a donkey. We’ve had a monkey make an appearance. We have had a cat make an appearance. We’ve had parrots that have visited us. So, we see quite a few different sorts of members coming through the Teller Plus+ all of the time.

0:05:22.1 LJJ: Yeah. Bobo and Luna, I heard that they were fired because they kind of ate the money. Can that even happen? Bobby, tell us some of the inspirational times that you know that you really have helped somebody in a way that just really touched your heart.

0:05:39.1 BC: Sure. So, I find inspiration in a lot of the interactions that I have with our members. And I find each day, it’s kind of, members surprise me with different ways that they inspire me. I know that we have one member, one of the more memorable calls that I’ve been a part of has asked me for things that they would like to pray for me for, and I found that that was really touching. And recently in the Kalamazoo Portage area, we had a tornado that came through in some really inclement weather. And the conversations that I had with members around how they were trying to help their communities and trying to help each other out was something that I found was really inspiring and something that I just still remember to this day from those interactions of just communities getting together and trying to help one another out. And those are things that make me, a kid from Grand Rapids, proud to be a part of the community down here in Kalamazoo Portage area.

0:06:46.2 LJJ: That is amazing. People actually are tellers from all over. Majority of them work in the Kalamazoo market, but Vanessa, tell us a little bit about that. You could be at a Teller Plus+ machine in Coldwater, and you click on and you might get somebody who’s in Kalamazoo or your favorite person that you’ve had forever and all of a sudden they’re a video star.

0:07:06.6 VZ: Yeah, absolutely. So, like you said, most of our team is here in Kalamazoo, centrally located, wherever you tap in the teller station, you are going to get somebody here. But we do have some team members that started here in Kalamazoo, and life took them a different direction. So, we’ve got our longtime teller, Cindy, who is out at Port Huron, but we’ve got team members in Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee and Colorado. Yeah.

0:07:35.1 LJJ: That’s incredible. So, let’s hear what you guys are most proud of. We have such a amazing team, and if you haven’t gotten the gist, boy, if you would like to join our team, please do so because we are always looking for great, I want to say community stars, because that’s really what you guys are. Tell us a little bit about what you’re most proud of, Vanessa.

0:07:55.7 VZ: I’m most proud of my team and their growth. So, a lot of people come and join Teller Plus+, they’re excited to meet our members. They’re excited to build those relationships and connections, and then those connections take them a little bit further. They go out into offices, they go into our back-office departments, and they’re just so excited to help our membership in any way that they can. It’s really fun to see all of the exciting growth, and I’m just so very proud of our team.

0:08:22.7 LJJ: Bobby, what about you?

0:08:23.8 BC: Yeah, I’d have to piggyback off of that a lot. I’m very proud of the teammates that I work with, of the leaders in each department that I get to associate with too. I think the culture at Consumers is honestly second to none. Oftentimes, when I’m working here, when I’m coming into work at Consumers, it doesn’t feel like I’m coming into a job. It feels like I’m coming into a place that I really cherish. And being around folks who I really enjoy being in the company of. Whenever I’m around them, I cherish the moments that I spend with my team.

0:09:02.0 LJJ: I do think that the Teller Plus+ position is one of the hardest. If you have remembered being in lockdown and you were on Zoom calls 24/7. If you worked and you were on Zoom all the time, it is hard to always be on. It’s a difficult position in that sense. So that’s why when you’re talking to a teller, I want you to do me a favor and make them smile. Vanessa, what do you guys … You guys have a lot of fun.

0:09:29.3 VZ: We do. We play music in the department. We’re always coming up with games and activities. Bobby has been Santa for us multiple times. We love to decorate those blue backgrounds that you always see with fun themes and decor. So, we’re always trying to bring the energy for our whole team, and for our membership.

0:09:52.3 LJJ: Bobby, Vanessa, thank you so much for being with us and giving us a little peek behind the scenes. If you would like to join our family, just go on to consumerscu.org/careers. And hey, let’s get you in our team. We’d love to see you there. And hey, don’t forget, it’s now time for our Money Minute expert. Let’s hear about the latest scams that are trying to hit us now.

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0:10:20.1 LJJ: And now it’s time for our Money Minute expert. And that expert is Kristy Desimone. You know her, she’s our fraud specialist. You know what we want to find out today? How to spot a scammer. Kristy, take it away.

0:10:31.4 Kristy Desimone: So, an easy way to spot them right off the bat is they’re asking for a lot of personal information right away that someone wouldn’t normally ask you for.

0:10:38.8 LJJ: So, to give an example, it might be even your social security number?

0:10:42.4 KD: Yeah. So, they pretend they’re calling from a financial institution and all of a sudden they’re asking you to confirm your entire debit card number, your entire account number or your social security number.

0:10:53.8 LJJ: I heard about a brief one that is kind of scary. Somebody knocks on the door, they have a form about changing your electricity to help you save money, but …

0:11:02.6 KD: You say, no thank you. Because we don’t want to give out that information and you don’t want to write it down because we don’t know what they’re going to do with it.

0:11:06.9 LJJ: And that’s how to spot a scammer on our Money Minute expert.

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