• equipfi is launching Plan Your Purchase, a BNPL solution that offers consumers financing for their purchase before they make the transaction.
• Consumers can use Plan Your Purchase to take out loans ranging from $500 to $2,000.
• Plan Your Purchase is integrated directly into a bank’s existing digital banking app, offering more control over the user experience.

BNPL-as-a-Service provider equipfi unveiled a new solution this week called Plan Your Purchase. The new tool empowers banks and credit unions to allow their account holders to take out pre-qualified installment loans from their bank before they make a purchase.

equipfi calls Plan Your Purchase a “pre-purchase BNPL solution,” meaning that the bank offers the consumer financing for their purchase before they make the transaction. Plan Your Purchase is integrated into a bank’s existing digital banking app to provide personalized BNPL offers directly to the customers. This makes it easy for users to get the financing they need to make a qualified purchase without a credit check, additional applications, new logins, upfront cost, or dependency on merchant integration.

Using Plan Your Purchase, pre-approved consumers can take out loans ranging from $500 to $2,000. The consumer can view and accept the loans immediately, and the funds are available within moments.

“There are many moments in an account holder’s lifetime when timely access to small loans make a big difference,” said Bryce Deeney, co-founder and CEO of equipifi. “By streamlining the loan acceptance process and positioning it in the digital banking experience, Plan Your Purchase helps financial institutions give account holders access to cash flow they already qualify for wherever and whenever they need it.”

By delivering the tool through banks, equipfi puts the bank in control, allowing them to leverage consumer data to provide more personalized offers. Putting the bank in the driver’s seat also allows the bank to control credit pre-approvals to suit their own risk tolerance and offers them more control over the user experience.

The integrated approach also can help banks maintain their top-of-wallet position by offering split payments using existing debit cards. This is different from traditional BNPL providers, which rely on a credit-focused approach. This integration can also help banks drive engagement and loyalty by leveraging transaction data to generate personalized offers and streamline the user experience within their familiar banking app​.

Arizona-based equipfi was founded in 2021 to bring the benefits of BNPL financing directly to banks and credit unions. Among the company’s clients are Kane County Teachers Credit Union in Illinois, SunWest Credit Union in Colorado, FedFinancial Federal Credit Union in Washington, D.C., and Eagle Community Credit Union, which is one of the first to go live with Plan Your Purchase.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

• EarnUp is launching AI Advisor, an AI-powered chatbot to help banks promote financial wellness among their consumers.
• AI Advisor accesses and instantly analyzes a user’s real-time banking and credit data to offer personalized, actionable answers to their financial questions.
• By working with the consumer to help them improve their financial situation, AI Advisor can help banks build and maintain existing customer relationships.

Debt pay down platform EarnUp announced the launch of its AI-powered financial wellness tool, AI Advisor, today. The new solution will help financial institutions offer their consumers personalized financial guidance.

AI Advisor is a chatbot that offers users hyper-personalized insights and guidance to help them make informed financial decisions to ultimately achieve their goals. It does this by accessing and instantly analyzing the user’s real-time banking and credit data to offer personalized, actionable answers to their financial questions regarding HELOCs, cards, consolidation loans, and more. By combining a user’s current financial situation with their questions, AI Advisor is also able to offer tailored product recommendations.

Using an approachable chatbot as the communication engine, EarnUp seeks to ensure that every user, regardless of their financial background, benefits from its advice to power a more financially resilient future.

“In today’s competitive landscape, banks must leverage AI to deliver real value to customers,” said KeyBank Chief Financial Officer Clark Khayat. “EarnUp’s AI Advisor goes beyond traditional budget-tracking apps by analyzing financial accounts and providing personalized, actionable insights. This empowers financial institutions to engage in more meaningful interactions, ensuring customers receive the guidance they need to achieve their financial goals.”

Using AI Advisor, banks may be able to retain borrowers, cross-sell loans and other products, capture deposits, and close more loans. That’s because banks can use AI Advisor as a tool to advise consumers on how to improve their financial situation so that they are ready to take out a loan or apply for a credit card. By working with the consumer instead of rejecting them outright, banks will also build relationships with them.

“Our mission is to democratize access to actionable information that will improve financial wellness,” said EarnUp Co-Founder and CEO Nadim Homsany. “This is especially critical as interest rates remain high and borrower debt repayment capacity diminishes. In fact, a recent Bankrate survey found that over half of applicants have been denied for a loan or credit since the Fed began raising rates.”

Since it was founded in 2015, EarnUp has helped nearly three million borrowers reach financial freedom. The company views its AI Advisor tool as a next step to assist individuals in achieving their financial goals.

Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash