Financial technology and marketing services company Kasasa unveiled its newest offering this week. The Austin, Texas-based company launched Kasasa Loans, a loan product that lets consumers pay ahead to reduce debt, and take that extra money back if they need it.
Kasasa is calling it a Take-Back, and it works similar to a regular loan agreement in which the borrower repays according to a regular payment schedule. Here’s how the Take-Back works: every month, the consumer has the option to overpay on their loan repayment and at any time in the future if they need to access cash quickly, they have the option to “take-back” any portion of the overpayment.
The new loan offering aims to broaden financial institutions’ loan portfolio while enticing their clients with a flexible borrowing solution that is unique to Kasasa bank clients. It fits with Kasasa’s mission to “create products that are good for both consumers and community financial institutions” and helps financial institutions compete on something other than interest rates.
“Until now, there has been no way to differentiate loan products beyond interest rates – Kasasa Loans is changing that,” said Gabe Krajicek, CEO of Kasasa. “We are revolutionizing the customer experience of paying off debt early by introducing the first loan with take-backs. Kasasa Loans allows borrowers to pay off their loan faster but leverage take-backs to access extra payments in times of need, eliminating that fear of parting with ‘extra money’ while also enabling the consumer to make better financial decisions.”
In conjunction with this launch, the company began offering a new marketing automation platform, Connect. Kasasa was founded in 2003 when it launched its flagship REWARDChecking account to help community financial institutions compete against big banks. Since then, the company has expanded to 350 employees and now offers a full suite of branded bank products. Kasasa debuted at FinovateFall 2009 under BancVue, which was founded in 2003, and created a premium, national consumer brand for the BancVue product offering – Kasasa – which launched in 2009. Last month, Kasasa was named a Best Place to Work in Austin for the third consecutive year.