Pinwheel, the market-leading provider of income and employment data engineered for next-generation fintech innovation, launched a customized version of its Deposit Switch 2.0 (DDS 2.0) and Verify products specifically for credit unions and regional or community banks, packaging these tailored offerings as one solution: Pinwheel for Credit Unions. This product was built to require no engineering resources or product integrations, so credit unions can deploy in under a week.
"In conversations with current and prospective credit union and regional or community bank customers, we kept hearing that they found our solutions impressive but tough to deploy because of a lack of software engineering resources,"
said Kate Marienthal, Head of Client Solutions for Pinwheel. "Community or regional banks and credit unions are vital to their communities and the overall economy, often reaching disadvantaged committees and traditionally underserved populations at higher rates than banks, so we wanted to ensure they could also take full advantage of our solutions just the same as larger financial institutions. To achieve that, we created an entirely customized offering with a simplified implementation process and special rollout features for their members or customers."
Pinwheel for Credit Unions provides the following:
- Automated direct deposit switching: The customer uses their payroll credentials to log in via the Pinwheel flow and update their deposit settings.
- Forms-based direct deposit switching: Customers who opt out of sharing their payroll credentials can use an intelligently generated form to switch.
- Automated income verification: Rich and authoritative income and employment information is securely passed directly from payroll service providers to verify in real-time.
- QR codes for branch or direct mail: With support for all popular devices and browsers, Pinwheel can be deployed universally across both digital and traditional mediums.
- Guides on quick implementation and driving traffic and Customer FAQ's.
Pinwheel's direct deposit switching technology allows consumers to seamlessly connect their direct deposits to their financial providers of choice, whether they earn a biweekly salary, receive periodic gig-work payments, get a pension, unemployment benefits, or any type of income in between. Deposit-switching solutions must accommodate all income profile types to deliver maximum value, so last month, Pinwheel announced that its updated deposit-switching product, DDS 2.0, achieved the industry's universal highest coverage of 100% US workers paid via direct deposit.
Pinwheel's DDS 1.0 has been a critical tool for financial service providers to grow their deposits by as much as 75%, and with a coverage increase from ~80% to 100%, customers can expect even more growth. Per Pinwheel's research, customers who direct deposit into an account have a 32x greater lifetime value than those who don't. This latest product empowers credit unions and regional banks to take advantage of the same capabilities and benefits.
Pinwheel's income verification technology retrieves verified data from payroll systems to remove friction, time, and potential fraud associated with manual verification processes, which can significantly improve credit unions' lending processes. Pinwheel powers a smoother application experience for customers, removes excess labor during the underwriting process, and mitigates fraud vulnerabilities associated with inflated income statements, misrepresented employment status, and fake paystubs.
Financial institutions that deploy Pinwheel for Credit Unions can tap into Pinwheel's FCRA-compliant data as a source of alternative credit data for credit underwriting. Pinwheel is a Consumer Reporting Agency, meaning consumer data sourced through Pinwheel can uniquely be used for FCRA-permissible purposes, such as offering and approving credit products and can help them more effectively and fairly evaluate consumers, especially the 77% of non-prime consumers who are not able to gain loan approvals.
Automating direct deposit switching and income verification is highly advantageous for financial service providers of all sizes, not only for providing a delightful, digital customer experience but for unlocking deep insights that allow them to better serve their customers' needs. This provides critical differentiation as credit unions struggle to capture younger consumers, who tend to favor national and online banks.
