CUNA Mutual Drives Car Loan App to Smartphones

Smartphones have become a necessity and a convenience in more ways than we could imagine, from ordering food and shopping to personal banking. While these may be old hat to many consumers, CUNA Mutual Group is taking smartphone banking straight to car dealerships.

The Madison, Wis.-based company has been providing Loanliner, a mobile loan app, to credit unions since last year. The app supports Apple and Android devices and was designed to help credit unions generate more loans and appeal to younger members.

Since its launch, the app has been used to process about 35,000 loan applications, which led to more than $335 million of originations, according to CUNA Mutual estimates. Loan completion rates using the app exceed 50%, twice the general rate of other loans applications.

Another interesting note about this mobile loan app’s success is one that coincides with the quest for today’s credit unions to reel in younger customers. The average credit union customer is 47 years old. The average smartphone loan application user: 32.

Since launching Loanliner, CUNA Mutual garnered 40 new credit unions. In all, 550 CUs employ the app, but that number will likely grow. Due to an agreement with banking tech company Fiserv, the app will be available to another 350 credit unions.