The product for the members you currently say no to. Cooperative financing, served through your credit union, without taking on credit risk, CECL provisions, capital reserves, or CRA exposure.
Fee income
recurring, off your balance sheet
Credit risk
members save, you don't lend
CRA-eligible
community-impact story
THE MEMBERS YOU LOSE TODAY
30-40%
of subprime auto applicants your CU rejects
22-29%
APR they accept at buy-here-pay-here lots
$4,000
saved on a car when nobody else would help
Turn those rejections into served members, fee income for your credit union, and prime cross-sell candidates 18 months down the road.
The gap you can not currently fill
Every year, your CU rejects 30-40% of subprime auto applicants. Where do they go?
They go to buy-here-pay-here lots at 22-29% APR. They become someone else's customer, usually with a worse outcome. Your “no” was a member you permanently lost to a worse product. A Savings.Club partnership turns those rejections into served members, fee income for your credit union, and prime cross-sell candidates 18 months down the road.
VALUE TO EVERY ROLE
A partnership only matters if it survives every cross-functional review at your CU. Here is how it lands for each one.
For your CEO. You report to volunteer board members made up of people from your community. They want stories they understand. “We saved Mrs. Johnson $4,000 on her car when nobody else would help her” beats “auto-loan portfolio grew 7%” every meeting.
For your CFO. When NIM compresses, this revenue line does not move. Add Savings.Club fees as the diversifier in your revenue mix so the next rate cycle bites less. Zero CECL provision. Zero risk-based-capital draw.
For your CMO. Most CU member acquisition is intra-industry churn. Savings.Club programs attract people who were not shopping for a credit union, they came for the financing model. Once they are in, they are prime cross-sell for checking, deposits, and traditional loans.
For your CRO. No credit risk assumed. No CECL. No risk-based capital. No CRA / HMDA exposure. NCUA-incidental-service compliant when structured as referral or hosted partnership. Trust funds at US Bank under JHTC.
For your people-side leadership. Mission-driven employees are leaving CUs for fintechs that say they will change the world. A program that demonstrably serves the members you previously rejected gives your team something tangible to be proud of, and shows up in attrition numbers a year later.
For your field-of-membership team. Reseller and co-brand programs let you serve adjacent populations through partnership without filing a months-long FOM amendment with NCUA. Member acquisition without political overhead.
BRIDGE LOANS. BEHAVIORAL UNDERWRITING.
Beyond fee income, your CU can offer bridge loans to Savings.Club members, your own plus the broader ecosystem if you choose. Each bridge loan is underwritten against 12-36 months of observable contribution behavior, with the member's accumulated trust contributions sitting as a first-loss buffer. This is the cleanest signal a lender has ever had on a borrower.
Lend a downpayment-equivalent bridge against accumulated contributions. The voucher repays it automatically.
Voucher is $40,000, the member wants a $50,000 vehicle. Lend the delta against the same behavioral profile.
WHY THE CREDIT RISK IS DRAMATICALLY LOWER
You see 12-36 months of on-time contribution history before underwriting. That is a stronger signal than a FICO snapshot.
The member's trust contributions act as first-loss collateral. Your effective LTV is materially below face value of the bridge.
You can lend to any Savings.Club member, not just your own, expanding addressable market without expanding your charter or geography.
Loss-rate forecasts feed your CECL methodology with much lower assumptions than your standard auto book. The program data backs it up.
WHAT YOU DO NOT TAKE ON, REGARDLESS OF TIER
Zero credit risk assumed by the credit union.
Zero CECL loss provisions on origination.
Zero risk-based-capital draw.
Zero CRA / HMDA reporting exposure.
Zero core-system rebuild.
NCUA-incidental-service compliant when structured as referral or hosted partnership.
THREE DEPLOYMENT MODELS
Pick the level of integration that fits your strategic intent today. Most partners start at tier 1 and upgrade to tier 2 within 6-12 months as volume grows. Partnership economics are set in conversation.
Easiest. Same-day start. One agreement, no integration required. Savings.Club is the customer of record, all infrastructure stays branded Savings.Club, and you earn a referral commission per converted member. Best for: CUs testing the waters, or that want to monetize subprime auto rejections immediately without product investment.
More control. Shared marketing. Your brand displays alongside Savings.Club in the app, with a dedicated landing page for your members, light system access to read your member referrals and outcomes, and better partnership economics than reseller. Best for: mid-size CUs committed to the model, ready to invest in a member-facing co-marketing motion.
Your brand. Our rails. Members see your brand end-to-end, you are the first point of contact while we handle product mechanics, trust, and disputes, with deep system access and revenue-sharing economics that leverage every Savings.Club pool so even small CUs offer fast voucher cycles. Best for: CUs treating cooperative financing as a strategic product line and willing to absorb tier-1 member support.
If three or more of these resonate, a Savings.Club partnership is worth a 30-minute conversation.
COMMON QUESTIONS
No. Member contributions are held in an irrevocable trust at US Bank under Jackson Hole Trust Company. Your credit union takes on no credit risk regardless of which deployment model you choose.
We reply within one business day with a partnership packet sized to your CU's situation. No drip sequences, no boilerplate, a real conversation about whether this fits your strategy.
Tell us about your CU and we will reply within one business day.
