Access to credit is the key to opportunity and upward mobility for millions of Americans, yet less than half of Americans have access to prime credit today. AI and machine learning are helping lenders identify creditworthy borrowers without increasing risk, but some have questions about how these new technologies apply to Fair Lending laws. Annie Delgado, Chief Compliance Officer at Upstart , has been actively engaged in working with regulators on fair lending practices and shares how Upstart wo...

What is the value of digital assets and how are they used? It’s not an easy question to answer- and it’s not just about cryptocurrency either. Is it possible to leverage digital assets in the lending space? Joe Keller, VP of Digital Assets at Visions FCU, details his experience in the metaverse and what digital assets can be of real value to both lenders and borrowers. Join us as Eric and Joe discuss: How do we assign and access the true value in the metaverse- using real estate as an example Ex...

In the current economic environment, finding an affordable home has become out of reach for many potential buyers. What if a realistic option was to co-own a home or property- instead of pouring money into your landlord’s mortgage? Underserved homebuyers and renters who can’t afford to buy a home on their own are now multiplying their buying power and making co-ownership a reality. Eric Chebil Founder and CEO of Cher, does all this for clients, realtors and lenders looking to co-own a home. Join...

Is the future of everyday transactional banking going to be on the blockchain? Are we closer to bringing traditional currencies into and out of the crypto space for a wider range of banks and customers? Sidney Powell shares his experience running and co-founding Maple Finance- a lending organization bringing capital markets on-chain. Join us as Sidney and Jeff discuss: Building an on-chain credit history and how grouping of funds can make lending more efficient and accessible Application and val...

There’s a lot of buzz about the “artificial intelligence revolution” and the impact it’s going to have on businesses as we know it. As AI and machine learning emerge in the consumer lending space, the technology has proven to provide dramatic wins for both lenders and consumers. This week we are running an older, listener favorite episode featuring Paul Gu, co-founder of Upstart.

Banking has seen some drastic shifts since the global pandemic- from the competition to attract and retain new talent, to meeting the needs of customers facing increasing inflation and uncertainty in this precarious economic climate. From his view over multiple institutions and as a public policy expert, our guest today, Ramon Looby, CEO of the Maryland Bankers Association gives us a nuanced look at the issues facing the banking industry. Join us as we discuss: Looby’s perspective as an industry...

In recent years there has been more reporting and recognition of the racial wealth gap- the large, and growing, gap in the percentage of family wealth in black households, as compared to white households. Banks like Carver State have been operating within the mission to serve the African American community since 1927 and are now leveraging partners to maximize their reach and accessibility. Our guest today, Robert James, Chief Executive Officer at Carver State Bank, gives our listeners a look at...

Credit unions are dedicated to not only serving their members’ financial needs, but to helping their members foster long-term, financial wellness. Our guest today, Brian Vannoy, Chief Credit and Risk Officer at Allegacy Federal, describes Allegacy Credit Union’s unique approach to both direct and indirect auto lending as well as personal lending, and how they create opportunities to influence their members’ lives for the better. Join us as we discuss: Allegacy’s unique approach to both direct an...

Digital strategies are not just for deepening relationships with your customers. The digital experience is also a way to refine and improve processes while also building community and trust. Today’s guests Mary Kate Loftus, Executive Vice President, Director of Digital Banking, and Tim Frederick, /EVP, Head of Mortgage Originations at M&T, know that digital touch doesn’t replace a human connection with a customer, but it can help define it. Join us as we discuss: The difference between digitizat...

Digital advertising is a given for any business in the world today, but how can credit unions connect the right products to their existing members and grow their member base? By increasing and honing their digital engagement tactics. Today’s guest Michael Hostetler, VP of Marketing at Crane Credit Union, shares how his credit union leverages data to thoughtfully market relevant products to members. Join us as we discuss: Using an entrepreneurial mindset to increase credit union member growth and...

In a market where the consumer is juggling multiple relationships with financial institutions, how can credit unions compete? Consumers want to better understand their financial well-being, which means they need a holistic picture across multiple platforms. Drawing on data from a mix of daily digital habits can provide just that, while also driving loyalty. Samantha Paxton, Chief Experience Officer at Co-op Financial Services, shares her experience in building these systems for credit unions and...

Providing consumers with their credit score is table stakes in consumer banking. Now, banks and credit unions can take this a step further to assess where and when consumers are coming back, and how to ultimately use this information to grow their relationships more deeply and into new products. Enter Array. Today, Jacob Bouer, Director of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at Array, joins us to break down the concepts banks and credit unions need to know to get the most new credit technologies an...

Data is critical to lending institutions, but financial institutions must remember that there are people behind the numbers. With a focus on fair lending practices, financial literacy and compliance - Britt Faircloth, SVP, Fair Banking Officer at Valley Bank, offers her insights on how financial institutions can partner with their compliance teams to offer the right products for their communities. Join us as we discuss: Using data to ensure products fit the needs of communities How compliance an...

It’s a changing world. You can’t do business as usual and expect it to continue to work for your customers. That’s why innovation around new market approaches are more important than ever, and that doesn’t happen by accident. It requires investment in new technology and the right team to understand and navigate it. David Houchen, Senior VP and CFO at First Federal Bank of Kansas City, explains that lenders can’t be offering the same things they did 15 years ago, and how partners open the door fo...

The potential crisis has everyone concerned, but there is also opportunity at junctures like this in the market. Perry Rahbar, Founder an d Chief Executive Officer of dv01, shares his insights on services that are most valuable during uncertain times. Additionally, Rahbar discusses how the mortgage crisis led him to found a unique FinTech data operation. Join us as we discuss: How dv01 was born out of the mortgage crisis dv01’s position as a data hub integrating with originators, banks and inves...

In the midst of rising rates, how are personalized loans and securitized loans poised to change or influence the lending landscape? Anand Cavale, EVP of Unsecured lending at Guaranteed Rate, with his varied background in engineering, banking and credit cards, shares his thoughts on the emerging trends in consumer lending and gives us background info on when the changes started. Join us as we discuss: Rising rates on credit cards may create opportunities for personals loans The move toward buy no...

How can lenders create a differentiated transaction experience for their borrowers with such a technically simple integration? Randy Kern, Chief Technology Officer at Marqeta, discusses how they are disrupting the payments industry with transaction-based decisioning and buy-now-pay-later, and how lenders can work to optimize both internal processes as well as the borrower experience. Join us as we discuss: Building more visibility between borrowers and their finances Moving the credit decision t...

"We should remember to always look back at ourselves and realize the power of what we can do if we push the ball forward," said Dave Girouard, Upstart's Co-Founder and CEO at Upstart's inaugural event - boosted. boosted was first in Upstart's annual conference to spur discussion around the future of AI and finance. Jeff Keltner, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Upstart, gives an insider view on what took place at boosted, including the line-up of A-list speakers in the FinTech sp...

Member loyalty isn’t what it used to be. Once upon a time, loyalty was the product of proximity, or due to a family or friend recommendation. But loyalty has changed. It’s gone from loyalty to a provider, to loyalty to an experience. On this episode of Leaders in Lending, we sit down with Rick Jarrar. Rick is the Chief Lending Officer at Kemba Financial Credit Union, and our conversation was all about: How to gain and retain member loyalty The evolution of the branch from transactional to adviso...

When you’re applying AI from scratch, there are a few lessons to keep in mind. One that stands out is to ensure the machine learning solution is well suited to the problem. Here’s the story of how we evolved our ML strategy at Upstart. Hear about how to apply AI in the lending environment from Leaders in Lending host Jeff Keltner, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Upstart: Challenges to overcome at the beginning stage of the ML journey Why feature engineering and first-party data ...

Credit unions take pride in satisfying the needs of their members. However, many credit unions are overlooking a key way to bring more value to their members—partnering with fintechs. Charles Krawitz, Senior Vice President, Chief Capital Markets Officer & Head of Commercial Lending at Alliant Credit Union, joins the show to talk about how fintechs enable credit unions to innovate product offerings and better align with the needs of members. We discuss: What it means to be an innovator in the cre...

There are two lending spaces that tend to be underappreciated by many financial institutions: unsecured consumer lending and auto refinancing. Jay Fee, Vice President of Consumer Banking at PenFed Credit Union, has considerable experience with both. He joins the show to discuss the mechanics of unsecured consumer lending and auto refinancing, and why financial institutions should make the most of these opportunities. We discuss: The history of the unsecured consumer lending and auto refi space...

As the CEO & Co-Founder of Sandbox Banking, a company that connects financial institutions with fintechs, Ravi Balasubramanian has an excellent vantage point for all the innovation happening in the banking industry. In this episode, he shares the big trends he sees, his advice for banks making strides into digitization and his bold prediction for the future of cryptocurrency. We discuss: How to gain the capacity for faster organizational decision making The benefits of having different systems i...

More and more consumers are choosing to conduct their banking transactions online, and as such, financial institutions are adjusting their services to meet the digital moment. The question becomes, how can smaller institutions create differentiated service offerings for their borrowers on a limited budget? David Brand, Senior Vice President of Lending Operations at Sharonview Federal Credit Union believes fintech partnerships are crucial to helping smaller institutions, like community banks and ...