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Bellwether Community Credit Union selects Upstart for personal lending

Bellwether Community Credit Union, a not-for-profit, New Hampshire-based credit union serving approximately 30,000 members, recently announced its partnership with Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), a leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform, to offer AI-powered personal loans to consumers residing or working in New Hampshire and Essex and Middlesex counties in Massachusetts.

“Our focus is providing the best rates, service and digital-first experience to meet the expectations of today’s consumers,” said Bill Zafirson, Senior Vice President and Chief Lending Officer of Bellwether Community Credit Union. “Through our partnership with Upstart, we will be able to expand our membership and help more people in their time of need through more inclusive lending, enabled by an all-digital, AI-powered consumer lending experience.”

Bellwether Community Credit Union became an Upstart lending partner in December 2021 to be a part of the Upstart Referral Network. With the Upstart Referral Network, qualified personal loan applicants on Upstart.com who meet Bellwether’s credit policies receive tailored offers as they seamlessly transition into a Bellwether-branded experience to complete the online member application and closing process.

“We are excited to welcome Bellwether Community Credit Union to the family of Upstart lending partners,” said Michael Lock, SVP of Lending Partnerships for Upstart. “Through Upstart’s AI lending platform, Bellwether will be able to expand access to affordable credit and reach more creditworthy borrowers across New Hampshire and Essex and Middlesex counties in Massachusetts."

To learn more about Upstart for Credit Unions and the Upstart Referral Network, please watch this video.

Upstart

Upstart is a leading AI lending platform provider that partners with credit unions to help them grow their memberships and expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart’s all-digital, AI lending platform, Upstart-powered credit unions can grow consumer loan portfolios, lend to more creditworthy borrowers safely, and deliver a modern, all-digital experience for their members that allows them to originate loans in minutes. Over 70% of loans funded are fully automated with no human interaction.[1]Upstart’s AI model leverages over 1,000 variables and advanced machine learning algorithms to enable more accurate risk-based pricing and greater automation. With Upstart, credit unions can approve almost 3x the number of borrowers at the same loss rates as traditional credit score-based models[2] with near-zero default rates.[3] Our credit union partners can achieve these results while retaining full control over their credit policy. ...

[1] AS OF 3/31/2021. FULLY AUTOMATED LOANS ARE DEFINED AS LOANS ORIGINATED END-TO-END (FROM INITIAL APPLICATION TO FINAL FUNDING) WITH NO HUMAN INVOLVEMENT. [2] IN AN INTERNAL STUDY, UPSTART REPLICATED THREE BANK MODELS USING THEIR RESPECTIVE UNDERWRITING POLICIES AND EVALUATED THEIR HYPOTHETICAL LOSS RATES AND APPROVAL RATES USING UPSTART’S APPLICANT BASE IN LATE 2017. SUCH RESULT REPRESENTS THE AVERAGE RATE OF IMPROVEMENT EXHIBITED BY UPSTART’S PLATFORM AGAINST EACH OF THE THREE RESPECTIVE BANK MODELS. [3] BASED ON AN INTERNAL UPSTART DATA ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL LOANS FIRST PAYMENT DEFAULTS AS OF 9/30/2020.

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