The Tampa, Fla.-based bank needed a centralized application processing solution to efficiently service its 600 community bank clients around the country. Cypress will deploy Mark IV via its hosted application service provider (ASP) model, thus eliminating upfront hardware costs for TCM Bank, while providing the bank management with full systems control.

"There aren't many application processing solutions that could handle our needs, but Cypress' Mark IV offers the flexibility we require to manage credit card applications for our agent banks across the United States," said Tim Kaliban, executive vice president of TCM Bank. "We were very impressed with Cypress' lending knowledge and personal interaction with our management team. Mark IV should help us significantly increase our processing efficiency and reduce our costs to originate new credit card accounts."

Cypress' Mark IV is a software platform that automates the consumer loan application and decisioning process. With Mark IV, service associates electronically input application information and the software then quickly retrieves credit reports, efficiently reviews sources of repayment, and deploys the institution's loan policies. The result is a fast, quality loan decision.

Mark IV should reduce the amount of data entry that TCM Bank performs by automatically transferring applicant data to the bank's credit card processing system. The software also allows TCM Bank to combine several data sources and look beyond an applicant's credit score during underwriting.

"With the ongoing economic turmoil, more consumers are facing credit challenges, so we want to compile a complete credit picture for applicants before we make a decision. Mark IV easily assembles and reports that information," Kaliban said.

"We're excited that TCM Bank has signed as a Mark IV client," said Stephen G. Sargent, president and chief executive officer of Cypress Software Systems. "We offer our hosted version of Mark IV as an alternative to our licensed version so institutions like TCM Bank can witness the full benefits of our technology, without incurring costs for additional servers and other necessary equipment."