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Innovative tech collaboration with Pagaya helps more borrowers qualify

Personal loans can be an effective way for some people to consolidate debt, pay for home improvements or cover other large, unexpected bills. But for some borrowers, meeting traditional lending requirements for a personal loan can be a challenge.

Unlike a mortgage loan that uses the house as collateral or an auto loan that uses the vehicle as collateral, personal loans are considered unsecured loans because they don’t require collateral. To qualify borrowers, lenders look at a variety of common factors, including credit score, debt-to-income ratio and credit history.

Seeing an opportunity to help more clients access personal loans, U.S. Bank recently established a partnership with Pagaya Technologies, a global technology company delivering AI-powered product solutions to lenders nationwide. With Pagaya, U.S. Bank can offer a wider range of clients the financial products they need, expanding access to credit and delivering more financial opportunity to more people. 

Now, when a U.S. Bank client applies for a personal loan that doesn’t meet its traditional requirements, Pagaya will complete a secondary review via its AI-powered credit decisioning capabilities. If the borrower is approved, U.S. Bank will originate the loan and service the clients over the life of the loan.

“We know that we have many clients who don’t fall within our traditional credit parameters,” said Mike Shepard, head of consumer lending partnerships at U.S. Bank. “By expanding access to responsible credit solutions, we are giving clients access to funds when they need it the most, through their existing and trusted banking relationship with us.”

In just a few short months, more than 2,000 U.S. Bank clients have been approved for personal loans using this technology and credit intelligence network.  

“We share U.S. Bank’s commitment to increasing access to life-changing financial products and services," said Leslie Gillin, Pagaya's chief growth officer. "With Pagaya’s integrated and seamlessly embedded lending technology, our lending partners can expand and deepen their client relationships to a more diverse group of borrowers.”

In addition to helping clients access capital with personal loans, the U.S. Bank Simple Loan helps clients meet short-term cash needs from $100 to $1,000 with a transparent, easy-to-understand installment loan. Since its launch in 2018, the U.S. Bank Simple Loan has saved borrowers nearly a combined $40 million (vs. borrowing from a typical payday lender), according to data from Pew.