Delivering great service is about more than speed or efficiency; it's also about making it easy for callers to connect in the language they trust most.

In this blog post, Orlando Huerta, Velera’s MVP of Contact Center Operations, talks about how credit unions can create a language-specific experience, resulting in improved handle times and a smoother flow of interactions – while building trust and long-term loyalty among valued members.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

How to hire bilingual agents who are proficient in the target language and understand regional idioms and cultural sensitivities
Ways to provide new hires with culturally nuanced training, nesting, production and ongoing development
How to ensure a simpler and more intuitive entry point into the contact center for non-English speakers

In our diverse society, here’s a scenario that plays out every day: By the age of 8, Olivia was regularly making calls for her mom, who was not comfortable with her English language skills. Her mom would start the call, then Olivia would take the phone, listen carefully, answer what she could and ask her mom for answers to the questions she either couldn’t answer or didn’t understand. Olivia got very good at this very quickly; she was a straight-A student with excellent language skills. But still, she was only 8.

We are a multicultural nation and as such, our population functions with various levels of English proficiency. Delivering great service, therefore, is about more than speed or efficiency; it is also about making it easy for callers to connect in the language they trust most and ensuring that experience feels seamless from the very first interaction.

For credit unions serving diverse communities, bilingual support has moved well beyond a nice-to-have capability. Language is often the difference between a transactional interaction and a meaningful one; when members can communicate in their preferred language, conversations are clearer, hesitation disappears and confidence builds quickly. This becomes especially important in high-stakes moments such as fraud, in which clarity and trust matter most.

Building Your Bilingual Team

It takes an intentional effort to create a successful bilingual experience for members. I’ve worked in the credit union contact center industry for more than two decades and I’ve seen how investing in your bilingual team plays a central role in how trust is built, how issues are resolved and how long-term loyalty is created.

If you’re serving a diverse community, building a bilingual team may be a priority, but finding the right talent is rarely simple. In addition to hiring, the process also needs to include how those agents are developed – and, just as importantly, how members access support in the first place.

Hiring. Start with a targeted recruiting and assessment strategy.

Local outreach: Post listings in local foreign-language channels and reach out to community or cultural centers.
Academic partnerships: Connect with local high schools, community colleges and university career centers.
Language screening: Assess for language proficiency early in the hiring funnel to evaluate fluency, comprehension and accent clarity before investing time in formal interviews.
Assess cultural understanding: Ensure candidates understand regional idioms and cultural sensitivities, not just literal vocabulary.
Bilingual premium: Provide a clear hourly or annual pay differential to reflect the specialized skill set.
Remote flexibility: Widen your talent pool by offering remote work options, which help attract top-tier bilingual candidates.

Training and Development. Once on board, provide new hires with culturally nuanced training, nesting, production and ongoing development.

Language-specific practice: Coach agents in real-world scenarios in their target language, with practice based on actual interactions and supported by language-specific speech analytics.
Cultural awareness: Fluency alone is not enough. Delivering exceptional service requires cultural awareness, active listening and the ability to connect in a way that feels natural and authentic. When those elements come together, agents move beyond translation and create experiences that build trust.

Building this capability entirely in-house may not be practical for every credit union. In those cases, consider working with a trusted partner that offers an established team of skilled bilingual agents, financial services expertise and a technology platform designed to support seamless member experiences. The right partner can help expand language support while maintaining the service quality, security and consistency members expect.

Equal Access for All Members. Even the strongest bilingual program can fall short if support is complicated or unclear, so just as important as agent capability is how easily members can connect with the right resource. This is where dedicated language-specific telephone numbers make a meaningful difference.

Providing members with a direct, toll-free number in their language creates a much simpler and more intuitive entry point into the contact center. Instead of navigating an English-language IVR or waiting to be transferred, members are connected to a bilingual agent who can assist them – so the experience begins with clarity rather than unnecessary effort.

The benefits of frictionless access show up quickly. Members reach the right agent faster, reducing the need for transfers and shortening the path to resolution. Confidence increases because the experience reflects an understanding of their needs from the outset. IVR friction is minimized, which helps reduce call abandonment, and first-call resolution improves as conversations begin with the right resource.

For the contact center team, easier access means fewer transfers and more direct routing, which lead to more efficient handle times and a smoother overall flow of interactions.

Extending The Bridge to Valued Members

For credit unions serving diverse populations, bilingual agents can extend a bridge to valued members, offering support through common language and culture and helping them feel understood in moments that matter most. Looking ahead, expectations around accessibility and personalization will only continue to rise. Organizations that make it easy for members to connect in their preferred language, invest in their bilingual teams and remove friction from the first interaction will be better positioned to meet those expectations and build lasting relationships.

Technology can strengthen that experience by giving bilingual agents the tools and information they need at every step. Language-specific scripts and knowledge resources can support clear, consistent conversations. Smart routing can connect members with the right agent sooner while unified platforms can give agents a complete view of the member and their needs. Quality management, intelligent AI and workforce management tools can also support coaching, scheduling and service consistency across languages.

Technology enables the experience, but people define it. The strongest bilingual service brings both together, equipping skilled agents with tools that help them deliver clear, personal and trusted support.

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