Lending

Most Americans have moved on from the financial shocks that struck our economy almost a decade ago. Millions of new jobs have been created, wages are rising and companies have repaired their balance sheets. Yet one unfortunate legacy of the 2008 to 2010 meltdown remains: the tens of thousands of small businesses that still struggle […]

With over $1.4 trillion in total student loan debt in the U.S., refinancing is growing in popularity as young professionals seek to get the lowest rates at manageable payment terms. With upwards of 44 million people currently paying off student loan debt, refinancing is a trend that’s quickly picking up steam. For banks, this represents […]

When Woodforest National Bank made the strategic decision to grow its commercial loan portfolio in 2015, it wanted to leverage the latest technology to take full advantage of that opportunity. Woodforest is a privately held bank based in Woodlands, Texas, with over 740 branches across 17 different states, and also in-store branches with WalMart and […]

For consumers, getting a mortgage can be a daunting task. Securing a home loan can take weeks (or months) from application to closing, in large part because the process often still requires offline and manual tasks. That’s not an ideal scenario for consumers who want to get in their new home, or for lenders trying […]

For most regional and community banks, the old-fashioned business of making loans remains their most important source of revenue. And for most of these banks, small businesses are a big part of their customer base. Yet they struggle to lend to small businesses profitably. You’ve probably heard the statistics before: Small businesses represent about half […]

For banks that finance construction projects, managing their loan portfolio—and particularly the draw disbursement process—can be an especially burdensome undertaking. Most construction projects financed by a bank contain a draw schedule, which is a timeline of intervals for which funds will be disbursed to borrowers and contractors for use. The goal for banks is to […]

Small businesses are an important segment for banks and credit unions with aggressive growth goals. In the United States, small businesses make up 99.7 percent of employer firms, according to the SBA FAQ Sheet. The top concern for these firms is managing their cash flow needs, which creates a great lending opportunity for banks and […]

One of the most underserved areas in financial technology is construction lending, which exposes banks and non-bank lenders to unnecessary risk, costs shareholders money and negatively impacts the client experience for borrowers. For an asset class that is finally gaining steam after punishing many lenders during the Great Recession, this is an area that can’t […]

As noted throughout our 2017 Acquire or Be Acquired Conference, partnerships between a bank and a tech company can take on many forms — largely based on an institution’s available capital, risk appetite and lending goals. With fintech solutions gaining momentum, many advisors at this year’s event encouraged banks to look at viable alternatives to […]

One of the many concerns surrounding fintech lenders is that they are not as tightly regulated as traditional banks and are not bound as firmly by the provisions of the Fair Lending Act. The Federal Trade Commission has expressed concerns about many of the lending practices of fintech companies, saying in a recent statement that […]