Pinard and the rest of the leadership team learned that Upstart provided an end-to-end digital experience for personal loans while also delivering a new, qualified member in the process. With the Upstart Referral Network, qualified personal loan applicants on Upstart.com who met Vantage West’s credit parameters in Arizona could automatically be matched with a personal loan from the credit union. These applicants would seamlessly transition into a Vantage West-branded, online experience from application through closing and one business day funding.

In order to gain buy-in, Pinard explained that gaining cross-functional approval across the credit union was critical, especially finance, along with setting a designated ‘owner’ of the partnership. “You can’t set it and forget it with strategic partnerships. You need constant communication, monitoring and oversight between you and your partner,” he explained. “If you don’t get buy-in from the C-suite all the way to the individual contributor level, the partnership will be a challenge. What I’ve learned is to be transparent and over-communicate to ensure the partnership aligns with key values,” said Pinard.

Adjusting program levers

At the beginning of the Upstart partnership, Pinard explained that their team took a ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach and worked alongside their dedicated Upstart account manager to set the appropriate guardrails for income, losses and rates. “We started in Arizona, originating just a few million dollars a month to test how the program worked, and then steadily ramped up the volume as we gained confidence,” explained Michelle Goeppner, VP of Consumer Lending and Product Strategy.

These levers have added some much-needed flexibility in the wake of uncertain economic conditions, including 10 interest rate hikes since the partnership began in June 2022, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in March 2023 and whatever the future may bring.

Gaining members within core segments

As a credit union geographically concentrated in the Tucson market, the Upstart Referral Network has provided a way for Vantage West to diversify its geography outside of Arizona and grow members outside of its branch network. “The endless volume potential outside of our geographic footprint has allowed us to grow and reinvest in our Tucson community,” Goeppner added. Two years into the partnership, Vantage West has gained over 7,000 new members.

Two years since its go-live, Vantage West has gained over 7,000 new members.¹

Furthermore, Goeppner shared that Upstart has enabled Vantage West to better serve its three core member segments:

• ‘Prosperous Arizonians’ with super-prime credit
• Middle-market members with A/B credit and
• Aspiring borrowers who may be new to credit, especially CDFI / LID borrowers

In the summer of 2024, Vantage West launched Upstart’s T-prime lending program, allowing the credit union to acquire more affluent “super-prime” borrowers with credit scores above 720. By acquiring borrowers in these key segments, Goeppner shared that the credit union has been able to further invest in its Arizona community.

In addition to gaining super-prime and existing customers, the credit union is also capturing middle market borrowers with A/B credit, but also lending deeper down the credit spectrum without increasing losses.

That’s what I love about the partnership—we have Upstart’s experience and partnership to dip into that nearprime category so we can learn as an organization and build that capability.”

Jeremy Pinard
Chief Lending Officer