Truist boosts auto-loan approvals by 20 percentage points using AI

Truist is leaning into AI-powered underwriting to increase approval rates and enhance customer experiences. The $556 billion bank has boosted its auto-loan approval rate to roughly 75% from 55% by integrating an AI underwriting tool into its end-to-end digital lending process, Chief Consumer and Small Business Banking Officer Donta Wilson told FinAi News recently at Momentum AI Austin 2026. “That's allowing teammates to do other activities, but it's also getting clients answers quicker, so we can get them the funds that they ultimately need to be able to take care of their financial transactions,” he said. Truist also is exploring customer-facing AI tools for basic loan servicing processes, Wilson said. “When it gets more complex and more sophisticated, you want a human really handling that particular opportunity, but you want to be able to have options for both,” he said. [caption id="attachment_57364068" align="aligncenter" width="800"] (Photo/Bloomberg)[/caption] Customer-facing tools are a major part of Truist’s AI strategy, Wilson said, highlighting that the bank’s virtual assistant, Truist Assist, resolves about 80% of customer queries without human intervention. Upping approvals Other financial institutions are also seeing substantial jumps in loan or credit card approval rates with AI. For example, Fifth Third Bank ’s credit-card underwriting solution has yielded a 20% increase in approvals on organic applications — customers who are unsolicited or just walk into a branch — by analyzing historical and account data to improve accuracy, Jay Budzik , senior vice president and director of AI/ML development, previously told FinAi News . TD Bank , meanwhile, has nearly doubled same-day mortgage approvals with its agentic AI tool that ingests and analyzes application documents, C had Koziel , associate vice president of AI product at Layer 6, the bank’s in-house AI center, previously told FinAi News . Online lending marketplace Upstart ’s AI-driven underwriting model approves 44.3% more borrowers than conventional models, according to the company. AI is boosting underwriting speed and accuracy because it can process vast data sets more efficiently than humans, Upstart Chief Executive Paul Gu said during the company’s Aug. 5 earnings call. “If you think about how consumer loans have been underwritten for most of human history, it's been something that you underwrote with people and then you underwrote with really simple scorecards,” he said. “So when you look at these metrics about … what a sort of traditional scorecard could do, you actually only solve a pretty small fraction of all the inaccuracy that's out there.” FinAi Lending Summit, set for Oct. 7-8 in Las Vegas, will include speakers from Fifth Third and Capital One as well as a fireside chat with U.S. Bank Senior Vice President – Lending Operations Group Manager Suzanne Rathbun . To learn more about the 2026 event and register, visit here .

Truist boosts auto-loan approvals by 20 percentage points using AI

$556B bank exploring AI for loan servicing

FIs should treat AI agents as employees, not tools

Related Posts

Podcast: Fintech Sagent taps former Mr. Cooper exec as CEO

Insurance providers dive into GPU financing game

Podcast: Inside Vine Financial’s AI-powered Reporting Dashboard

EMERGING FINTECH DIRECTORY

FinAi Podcast

SPONSORED

The Next Generation of Cyberthreats: Powered by AI

Build an Antifragile Strategy to Outperform the Market

How AI and Product Experts Turn Fuzzy Requirements Into Focused Dev-ready Roadmaps

Connect

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password

Continue Reading with FinAi News Premium - Less than $2/Day

Truist boosts auto-loan approvals by 20 percentage points using AI

$556B bank exploring AI for loan servicing

FIs should treat AI agents as employees, not tools

Related Posts

FinAi Podcast

Connect

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password

Unlock This Article

Continue Reading with FinAi News Premium - Less than $2/Day