Category Archives: Blog with BEBdata

Tap Home Equity Loans

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Six Major Trends in Lending for Financial Marketers this Year

The forecast for most forms of consumer credit is good. Lending volume, growth in balances, and overall performance look upbeat for the year ahead. Banks and credit unions will try new marketing strategies, explore new products, and experiment with new technologies. Over the next six-weeks, we’ll review major trends in consumer lending that financial marketers should watch closely.

#2 Tap Home Equity to Replace Slumping Mortgage Lending

Rising home prices and rising interest rates have depressed mortgage applications and originations in the last couple of quarters.

CoreLogic reports that U.S. homeowners with mortgages have seen their home equity increase by 9.4%, year over year, as of the third quarter of 2018. That comes to $775.2 billion that can be tapped via home equity lending. CoreLogic says that the average homeowner gained about $12,400 in equity in the first three quarters of 2018.

HELOCs and home equity loans are a business that institutions can build on top of their mortgage portfolio, making it easier to find prospects. For those who can qualify, home equity credit is typically the lowest-rate way to borrow.

However, one result of the past financial crisis, according to Joe Mellman, SVP and Leader of TransUnion’s mortgage line of business, is that “we have a half-generation of consumers who have little knowledge of home-equity credit.” Between lower levels of equity and tightened credit standards, for many, he explains, home equity borrowing wasn’t an option.

So herein lies a challenge — and opportunity — for bank and credit union marketers. “There’s a ten-year gap in education about home equity credit,” says Mellman, “and it’s going to take a while to get filled.”

Read more here.

AI Powered Lending

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Six Major Trends in Lending for Financial Marketers this Year

The forecast for most forms of consumer credit is good. Lending volume, growth in balances, and overall performance look upbeat for the year ahead. Banks and credit unions will try new marketing strategies, explore new products, and experiment with new technologies. Over the next six-weeks, we’ll review major trends in consumer lending that financial marketers should watch closely.

#1 AI Powered Consumer Lending

Fintech lenders are making inroads into banking markets by harnessing advanced analytics and non-traditional data as they automate and fine-tune underwriting processes. There’s no reason traditional lenders can’t follow suit, using artificial intelligence and data analytics to find prospects, evaluate creditworthiness, and monitor and manage the loan portfolio.

While trying not to interfere with marketplace forces bringing evolution of financial services, regulators have concerns as AI assumes a larger role. Regulators will be expecting to see the appropriate controls in place to be sure that AI doesn’t produce unintended consequences for lenders or borrowers.

AI has the potential to expand the availability of consumer credit by evaluating factors that go beyond traditional credit metrics. AI also has the potential to allow creditors to more accurately model and price risk, and to bring greater speed to decisions.

AI approaches are not free of bias simply because they are automated and rely less on direct human intervention. Algorithms and models reflect the goals and perspectives of those who develop them as well as the data that trains them and, as a result, AI tools can adopt the biases of the society in which they were created.

Financial marketers can help avoid such problems through the insights they have on their institutions’ markets and outreach.

Read more here.

AVS Confidence Stalling

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According to the 2019 Global Automotive Consumer Study conducted by Deloitte, consumer interest in self-driving vehicles lags the pace of investment in advanced vehicle technology.  In this study, they examine consumer interest in advanced automotive technologies, including autonomous vehicles, and compare and contrast automotive consumer trends in markets worldwide.

In the United States, 50 percent of survey respondents do not believe Autonomous Vehicles – AVs will be safe—nearly the same as last year’s 47 percent but drastically different from 2017, when 74 percent voiced safety concerns. Consumer confidence in AV safety also plateaued in China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Germany.

Monetizing Car Data

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A massive amount of data is being generated as privately owned vehicles continue to use sensors and become increasingly connected to each other and to an external infrastructure. Yet while gathering such data is now routine, actually identifying insights that can be monetized is still in its infancy. McKinsey Automotive & Assembly published an interesting report called  Monetizing car data.  They analyze consumer perspectives on the prospect of accessing car-generated data, and identify the value and requirements of possible car data-enabled use cases. They predict that the global revenue pool from car data monetization could be as high as $750 billion by 2030. Check it out here.

Canadian Consumer BK on the Rise

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The number of bankruptcies in Canada is on the rise.

According to the Ottawa-based Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB), the number of consumers seeking debt relief jumped 5.1% to 11,320 in November from a year earlier. October and November combined saw 22,961 consumer insolvency filings, the most for those two months since 2011.

The increase in bankruptcy filings is being blamed on higher interest rates that are leading to rising borrowing costs for Canadian households. The Bank of Canada has lifted its key lending rate five times since mid-2017. Policy makers, who meet this week to determine their next move on rates, are closely monitoring the impact of higher borrowing costs on the economy and Canadian consumers.

On a year-over-year basis, bankruptcy filings during October and November were up in every province except Prince Edward Island, which was unchanged, according to the OSB. Alberta was the hardest hit, with the number of insolvencies rising 16% from autumn 2017. About 66% of Ontario bankruptcy filings in November were made by consumers, which is the highest share on record.

CFPB Rolls Back Pay Day Loan Protection

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed rolling back the key provision of a lending rule designed to protect people taking short-term, high-interest loans, also known as payday loans.

Under the proposal (PDF), which amends the 2017 Payday Lending Rule, lenders would not have to confirm that their borrowers have the means to repay some types of loans. Eliminating the “ability to pay” requirement would affect loans with a term of 45 days or less. It also would target single-payment vehicle title loans, in which borrowers put up their cars or trucks for collateral, and longer-term, balloon-payment loans.

Payday loans typically have annual interest rates between 300 and 400 percent. Payday lenders who offer these loans often operate in low-income communities.

As currently written, the Payday Lending Rule requires lenders to view borrowers’ pay stubs, check with employers, or otherwise confirm borrowers’ ability to pay back their loans.

Proponents of the change say the looser rule will ensure that those borrowers have more credit options. Opponents say the change puts borrowers at greater financial risk than they faced before borrowing.

The new rule’s implementation will also be postponed (PDF) to November 2020, from its earlier start date of August 2019.