$400B+
in consumer applications for financial services
Partner Solutions - Demand
Zach Burnett
2020-10-21
How COVID-19 Has Impacted The Lending Ecosystem Moving Into Q4
The lending ecosystem for personal loans experienced unprecedented disruption in Q2 of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic impact. In a swift reaction, peer-to-peer loan providers were forced to freeze acquisition efforts, both digitally and directly, as investor demand in the personal loans market came to a halt.
With quarantine measures easing up and lending performance data coming in for Q3, loan providers are taking back to the market with cautious optimism. Outstanding loan performance data, as reported by dv01, signals a 70% recovery (to pre-Covid levels) of loan impairments (i.e., a delinquency or modification of a loan’s original repayment terms). This suggests that a majority of borrowers have been able to pay/manage their outstanding loans and that investors can expect normal returns, which allows lending platforms to unpause and/or expand underwriting criteria.
Loan providers are adopting the following strategies to increase acquisitions during Q4:
- Expanding credit boxes - Providers restricted originations to only the most creditworthy consumers during Q2. Now, providers are using updated underwriting criteria to extend offers to wider audiences outside of the super prime credit box. We expect more density and better offers for near-prime and subprime consumers.
- Adopting alternative credit models - Despite economic hardship, traditional credit scores have risen as credit cards have been paid down and consumer spending has dropped. The rise in scores, however, does not reflect the crunch on consumer cash flow and ability to repay loans. Providers are leveraging alternative credit models to distinguish cash-strapped consumers from those with liquidity. We expect providers using diverse credit models to perform more aggressively and profitably.
- Implementing additional verification - Providers are being more thorough in qualifying consumers during the application process, adding steps like employment verification to wider audiences. We expect an increase in a consumer’s time to fund as proving income or employment verification can add additional time from the original application to the disbursement of funds.
- Restaffing operations - Providers with applications and flows that are 100% digital will scale faster. Those who rely on call centers to walk consumers through applications will experience a slower return to market as they rush to hire personnel that were lost to Q2 cutbacks. We expect digital-first providers to gain considerable market share.
- Consolidating partnership channels by cost effectiveness - Acquisition teams at providers are also smaller, meaning the ability to manage multiple direct partnerships is curtailed. Providers are working to migrate direct relationships to API platforms, which reduces relationship management responsibilities while increasing conversion rates and cutting data costs.
We predict that the prevailing loan providers of Q4 will be digitally-focused, using alternative underwriting to identify previously disenfranchised consumers, while leveraging end-to-end digital experiences like Even over direct partnerships to scale and gain market share. Affiliate partners looking to monetize will see greater success in tailoring their audiences to align with the desired consumer populations of these foremost and optimized loan providers.
Disclamer: The material provided on this site is not intended to provide legal, investment, or financial advice or to indicate the suitability of any Even Financial product or service to your unique circumstances. For specific advice about your unique circumstances, you may wish to consult a qualified professional. Any information or statistical data sourced by Even Financial through hyperlinks, from third-party websites, are provided for informational purposes only. Although we promote products and services form our partners, our opinions are our own.
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Goldman Sachs-backed Even Financial, a digital matchmaker between banks and customers, just bought an insurance startup as life insurers are seeing policy applications boom
Even Financial has acquired LeapLife, a leading insurtech platform. The addition of LeapLife allows Even to immediately commence its insurance capabilities, aimed at simplifying and enhancing the way consumers search, compare, and get matched with insurance policies (LeapLife’s existing platform will continue to operate from leaplife.com). Business Insider wrote an article about it, interviewing our CEO and Founder Phill Rosen.
Even Financial Launches Insurance Offerings With Strategic Acquisition of LeapLife, a Leading Insurtech Platform
Pioneering B2B Fintech Expands its Industry-Leading Financial Services Monetization Platform to Help Insurance Carriers Find and Connect with Consumers New York, New York – April 22, 2020 – Even Financial (Even), the leading API for financial services search, acquisition, and monetization, announced today that it will be launching services for the insurance industry through the acquisition of LeapLife, an insurtech platform and digital life insurance agency. The addition of LeapLife allows Even to immediately commence its insurance capabilities, aimed at simplifying and enhancing the way consumers search, compare, and get matched with insurance policies (LeapLife’s existing platform will continue to operate from leaplife.com). Even and LeapLife now offer the only full end-to-end, multi-carrier digital life insurance marketplace experience. Over the coming weeks, Even will further integrate LeapLife’s technology and insurance offering into its industry-leading API, making turnkey insurance marketplaces programmatically available to a vast network of channel partners — when and where their consumers are most in need — while also enabling the company to expand to other insurance sectors, including homeowners, renters and auto insurance. This adds to Even’s peerless breadth of real-time, personalized financial product offers — an expansive suite that already includes loans, savings, credit cards, and more. “Even’s goal to evolve how financial institutions find and connect with consumers is not limited to loans or credit cards, but applicable to all financial products and services, including insurance,” said Phill Rosen, Even Founder and CEO. “Despite its importance, purchasing life insurance is often an overwhelming and inconvenient experience. With more than $600 billion in premiums paid each year, and only 6% of policies sold completely online, we see tremendous opportunities to help modernize the life insurance industry and offer solutions that solve challenges for consumers and carriers alike.” LeapLife is an established insurtech platform and digital life insurance agency that utilizes data science, deep underwriting knowledge, and proprietary technology, enabling consumers to apply for instant-decision life insurance policies with real-time quotes. LeapLife works with many best-in-class insurance carriers to offer consumers a seamless experience from beginning to end. This approach made Even and Leaplife a perfect match. As a digital insurance broker, LeapLife offers personalized life insurance recommendations based on a consumer’s unique needs. Paired with the Even API, which enables customer acquisition for insurance to be native and programmatic, consumers benefit from a more streamlined, transparent, and highly personalized experience when shopping for life insurance. Just as Even’s 2018 acquisition of Birch (the award-winning credit card rewards app) allowed the company to accelerate its expansion into credit cards, the addition of LeapLife will similarly put Even at the forefront of consumer insurance offerings. Charles Svirk of MassMutual Ventures, an investor in Even, said “The Even and LeapLife teams share a vision that the future of insurance acquisition will rely on the power of data-driven, programmatic distribution. We are thrilled to support them as their industry experience, impressive technology, and trusted relationships will help scale Even’s insurance offering and build partnerships to provide these critical innovations in insurance acquisition.” The Even API and platform solve significant, long-standing pain points in financial services acquisition by seamlessly connecting supply and demand. Even has continued its rapid growth trajectory in 2020, surpassing over $1.5 billion in credit issued through its API and expanding its platform to over 400 partners. Even has secured over $55 million in funding from major financial institutions, venture capital firms, and fintechs to back its goal to evolve the financial services acquisition ecosystem. About Even Financial Founded in 2015, Even Financial is a B2B fintech company that is transforming the way financial institutions find and connect with consumers. By seamlessly bridging financial institutions (including American Express, Goldman Sachs, and SoFi) and channel partners (such as TransUnion and The Penny Hoarder) via its industry-leading API, Even turns any consumer touchpoint into an ROI-driven, fully customizable, programmatic acquisition source for financial product offers with full compliance, security, and scale across loans, savings, credit cards, insurance, and more. Even is backed by leading financial services firms and VCs including American Express Ventures, Canaan Partners, Citi Ventures, F-Prime Capital (Fidelity), Greatpoint Ventures, Goldman Sachs, LendingClub, and MassMutual Ventures. Even is the leading search, comparison, and recommendation engine for financial services. Media Contact: media@evenfinancial.com
Even CEO/Founder Phill Rosen quoted in Protocol Braintrust Newsletter
Our CEO and Founder Phillip Rosen was included in the most recent Protocol Braintrust newsletter along with answers from some thought leaders from Plaid, Slack, and DuckDuckGo!