additional resources available through email or phone. The predominant use case is refinancing high-cost credit card debt. Unsecured Line / Card Another type of loan buyers can fund are loans converted from Upgrade card balances to installment plans. As a result, the installment plan encourages balance repayment and promotes more responsible payment behavior. Upgrade Card (Visa®) is an unsecured line of credit with point-of-sale access device and offers rewards for loan repayment, either Bitcoin or cash. As a chip-enabled, contactless card for no-touch payment, and accepted by many merchants, the Upgrade Card by Upgrade, Inc. was named in the top 50 U.S. card issuers by Nilson Report in 2022. Auto Refi Loans Finally, loan buyers can also purchase Upgrade facilitated, fixed rate fully amortizing auto refinance loans. Loans are available to consumers using an online application process for cars and passenger trucks with a mileage limit, and registration and insurance requirements. Credit First Approach As part of a major strategic focus, Upgrade has invested in state-of-the-art technology across the company including digital customer acquisition, more efficient investor account opening, and enhanced credit research models. Upgrade’s Chief Credit Officer, Myles Reaz, has 20+ years of leadership experience in strategy, risk, and P&L management, including product and pricing at several major banks. Previously while at these banks, Myles successfully managed a portfolio of HELOC loans from the 2008 global financial crisis. The Credit Research Team is always working with a “continuous improvement” mindset, and recently released CCR2, a second-generation machine learning, credit card research model. The model utilizes Upgrade card loan performance using an improved machine learning technique with a scalable, decision tree library. Upgrade’s digital acquisition setup provides some detail on the average profile of the consumer taking out loans. With an average FICO over 700, average age over 40, average income over $100,000 and approximately 50% homeowners, these prime borrowers take loans primarily to consolidate debt or to pay off existing credit card obligations through Upgrade’s Direct Pay feature, which automates ACH debit payment transactions. Regarding Upgrade’s investor account opening process, Upgrade has a history of collaborating with many vendors and technology providers of choice to optimize a bank’s own process when onboarding a new loan buyer. With streamlined procedures in place, and a reputation of compliance, Upgrade has also successfully cleared many state and federal audits on behalf of our bank partners. Upgrade, Inc. Upgrade, Inc.’s management team pioneered consumer fintech in 2006 with a lasting impact on the industry and issued $8 billion in loans annually while at Lending Club. With this experienced team of fintech and banking innovators, Upgrade facilitated $7.5 billion in loans in 2021 alone. Currently, Upgrade has a $2.5 billion loan facilitation quarterly run-rate. Upgrade has 1,100 employees across three office locations, including a large operations center in Phoenix, Arizona. Recently, Upgrade, Inc. was listed among the Best Places to Work in FinTech in 2022 by American Banker. As a platform, Upgrade facilitates loans and credit lines, issued by Cross River Bank, a New Jersey State Chartered Commercial Bank, and Blue Ridge Bank, a nationally chartered commercial bank. Upgrade Card is issued by Sutton Bank, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. To learn more, contact Nik Vukovich at 303-210-6954 or nvukovich@upgrade.com or visit https://www.upgrade.com/institutions. Continued from page 15 16 The Community Banker mibonline.org
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