Citi, LendingClub Tackle Financial Inclusion, Consumer Trust

EXCLUSIVE— Banks are competing on multiple new platforms, with a rising number of competitors, but traditional banks still have the majority of the consumer’s trust: at least according to Carey Kolaja, chief product officer for Citi Fintech . While fintechs and other FIs continue to nudge their way into the financial ecosystem, 87% of consumers “still trust banks with their money,” Kolaja said, during her keynote speech at the Empire Fintech event yesterday in New York City. That doesn’t mean banks don’t have to work hard to keep that trust, Kolaja stated, especially as new technologies continue to open the financial world to more consumers. When it comes to handling consumer finances, banks need to make sure that they are approaching these new technologies—such as mobile and predictive analytics—in a way that leads to financial wellness, Kolaja said. This is especially true as consumers continue to replace nearly every action with one conducted on a smartphone—the average American spends 12 hours on their phone a day, and “consumers that spend more time on social media, have higher social networks, are likely to have lower credit scores,” Kolaja said during her keynote. Citi’s concern for financial wellness was echoed by other conference speakers, notably Steve Allocca, president of marketplace lending service, LendingClub . Allocca stated during the panel that financial services is good at “separating people from their money,” and that consumers need access to better tools for budgeting and saving. As well as the need for more transparent tools, the panel also noted that 40% of Americans are unable to cover a $400 emergency, something that’s been a highly cited statistic in financial services since it came out in 2016 . So, following Allocca’s call for more tools and transparency, let’s look at some more numbers. As well as the number of Americans without the ability to cover a $400 emergency, about the same number of Americans (42%) are going to retire broke , according to a study by GoBankingRates that came out this past March. That’s because those 42% million Americans have less than $10,000 saved—included in that percentage are those who have nothing saved for retirement, about 14% of that group, according to the survey of 3,000 respondents (approximately 1,000 for each generation represented). Among the reasons for a lack of savings — under the top one, which was not making enough money —respondents cited paying down debt, bills, and emergencies, all indications that having available savings tools (as Allocca suggested) is growing more and more essential for financial customers. Of course, LendingClub currently doesn’t offer savings features on its platform (though one could use its loans to refinance existing debt). Citi, however, does offer savings accounts , which come attached with an interest rate around 0.01%, and a minimum balance requirement of $500, slightly above that emergency amount, should one wish to avoid a $4.50 service fee.

Citi, LendingClub Tackle Financial Inclusion, Consumer Trust

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Citi, LendingClub Tackle Financial Inclusion, Consumer Trust

Elevate Credit Partners with Mastercard for SubPrime Credit Card Product

Top 5 Banks #Winning Social Media

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