March 14, 2008
Contact:  David Bennett
WCUL for Ascend United
 206.340.4828

Ascend United Gives $3,500 Gold Bar to Promotion Winner

Technology Credit Union’s Michael Luckin adds 100g of precious metal to his collection

Au Program Manager Phillip Slater stands in front of a vault door with the 100g gold bar given to Technology Credit Union’s Michael Luckin.

FEDERAL WAY (Wash.)--- Ascend United, the top selling broker of credit union charge-off debt in the United States has helped make one lucky credit union professional $3,500 richer. Michael Luckin, a senior vice-president at San Jose, California’s, Technology Credit Union was the winner of the “Au: the Gold Standard” promotion and walked away with a solid gold bar weighing 100g (3.5 oz.) and valued at $3,500.

Like all things that seem “too good to be true,” Luckin was a bit skeptical at first.

“After hearing that I’d won and the shouting in the background, it began to register that the call was legitimate,” Luckin said. “I’m going to add this piece to several other coins that I have and put it in a safe deposit box.”

Au gave the gold bar to Luckin after he registered for the “Au: the Gold Standard” promotion on the company’s newly launched website Ascendunited.com during the three week period between January 24 and February 14. His name was chosen randomly from among hundreds of other entries.

“Helping credit unions boost their bottom lines is what Au does best,” said Phillip Slater, Program Manager for Au. “We feel great that Au has been able to do the same for a lucky credit union person.”

According Slater, “Au: the Gold Standard” promotion fulfilled two critical goals: assist in Au’s rebranding effort and increase awareness about company services and the straight forward world of debt sales.

Ascend United in January completed the relaunch of its website, which has undergone extensive redesign to help financial institutions better understand debt sales, how to participate in Au’s aggregated sales, and to facilitate the company’s services to clients.

“The sale of debt—charged-off and performing—has been a common and accepted practice in the banking industry for years,” said Slater. “However, most smaller financial institutions have been left out due to the small size of the loan pools and their distrust of the buying community.”

As a Washington Credit Union League owned CUSO, Au changes that equation by giving those financial institutions an option that they can trust.

And that element of trust has earned Michael Luckin more than a $3,500 gold bar. Even after he was notified, his wife continued to tell him that he’d been duped. So they made a friendly wager: if the contest was legitimate and he had won the gold, she would take him to dinner.

“In this case I had the last laugh and it will cost her taking me out,” Luckin said. “And, now that I have the gold in my hands, (my colleagues) aren’t giving me grief anymore, either.”

At $1,000 per ounce and rising, and in addition to the actual dollar value and the free dinner, Au may have helped Luckin earn something else: the new nickname of “Lucky Luckin.”

For more information on Au and the not-so-mysterious world of distressed debt sales, visit ascendunited.com.

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About Au
From strategy analysis and design, through implementation and results testing, Ascend United (AU) facilitates improvements to all phases of debt collection and recovery. AU offers a wide range of products for all types of financial services companies, including management of third-party collection programs, training, consulting and unique debt sales and aggregation services.

About Phillip Slater
Phillip Slater is Program Manager for Ascend United. He has been in the collections industry for more than 25 years and currently focuses on Au’s business development and consulting practice. His leadership has helped make Au the top selling broker of credit union debt in the United States. Contact Phil at pslater@ascendunited.com or 206.340.4843.