Union Credit and TransUnion Team to Help Credit Unions Find Borrowers

Lending marketplace Union Credit and TransUnion have joined forces to help serve credit union customers.

Union Credit helps credit unions (CUs) find new and credit-worthy members from outside their customer base, according to a Thursday (April 6) news release announcing the partnership.

“Partnering with TransUnion enables lenders in the Union Credit marketplace to deliver consumers convenient, transparent financing in their everyday retail and financial experiences,” the news release said.

Union Credit said data and automation will continue to play a vital role in the future of lending and digital engagement. Credit unions recognize this, leading them to use Union Credit’s marketplace.

And by working with TransUnion, the company can offer fast and easy access to data, Union Credit CEO Dave Buerger said in the release.

“With TransUnion’s innovative trending credit attributes, algorithms, and fraud tools, Union Credit can more intelligently assess borrower creditworthiness, and help participating lenders determine appropriate loan amounts, interest rates and repayment terms, and make more relevant offers to consumers,” he said.

The partnership comes at a time when credit union members are seeking more innovative products from the CUs, according to PYMNTS research.

However, many credit unions are cutting back on product development despite this interest from customers, according to the PYMNTS and PSCU report “Credit Union Innovation: Product Development Slowdown Tests Member Loyalty.”

The report found that budget constraints were forcing credit unions to cut back on product development, even though CU members want more innovative products and are willing to move their accounts to other FIs to access that innovation.

Our research found that 27% of CU members would switch where they keep their financial accounts to find product innovation, a figure that has steadily been on the rise for four years.

Meanwhile, consumers and businesses want to borrow more and employ more types of credit, with 71% of credit unions saying they received more applications for personal loans in the last year. And three-quarters of CUs offering credit cards to members say applications have also risen in the past 12 months.

“CUs, as a result, are moving aggressively to speed up the loan approval process,” PYMNTS wrote. Fifty-three percent “of CU executives say they are making very or extremely significant steps to reduce the time to set up a loan for a borrower, and the remaining 47% say they are making slightly significant or somewhat significant steps to speed up the process.”