Oportun Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Report 2021: Fostering Financial Health and Empowerment
Originally published in Oportun's Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Rep…
A better financial future
Our Impact
- $12+ billion credit extended in 2006
- $2+ billion saved in lending interest and fees
- $36 million invtestments in low-cost ETF portfolios by Digit members since 2020
- $7.2 billion saved by Digit members since 2015
- 25,000 IRAs opened through a broker-dealer partner
- $330 million personal debt paid down by Digit members since 2015
- $3,000+ average annual savings set aside by Digit members for rainy dais and other purposes
- 6x less expensive on average, for unsecured installement loans as compared to other lending alternatives
- Helped nearly 1 million people without a FICO score begin establishing a credit history
- 4.9+ million total loans and credit cards originated
Our commitment to social responsibility is in service to the overall well-being of our members, employees, and communities. Every day, our focus is to create lasting positive social impact guided by our mission and values.
We are dedicated to helping our members build a better future through improved financial health outcomes. It is the core of our business and what inspires us every day. In our pursuit of economic equity and prosperity, we are advancing causes that are fundamental to basic human rights. We are providing opportunities for those who are often overlooked and excluded from the financial mainstream. And, we are making a difference by listening, having empathy, and providing solutions that meet our members where they are.
Building financial health
For some of our members, Oportun may be their first banking or lending experience. We take ownership of our responsibility to help them build a strong financial foundation and capabilities by:
- Providing financial education and resources to our members and communities via blogs, marketing material, and member interactions so they may forge a path to financial wellness
- Offering our members A.I.-driven savings, banking, and investing products that automatically direct available funds to savings, investing, and budgeting goals, all without diminishing our members’ ability to meet their daily spending needs
- Building credit histories for those who are credit invisible or misscored by reporting to nationwide credit bureaus
- Servicing all loan applicants by combining our deep, data-driven member insights and advanced proprietary technology to evaluate the creditworthiness of every member
- Offering easy-to-use and low-cost options that leverage our proprietary A.I. technology and risk models
- Integrating direct member feedback from member surveys, reviews, and our consumer advisory board into our product designs and offerings
- Identifying and establishing relationships with partners who take the same care in sustaining the future financial health of our members through our responsible vendor and supplier management programs
- Providing digital platforms that expand our financial reach, member access, and offer new conveniences
- Being transparent and trustworthy with our ability-to-pay model and our commitment to originate loans below a 36 percent APR; our loans are always fully amortized and carry no hidden fees or balloon payments
- Committing to the development of new tools and approaches that strengthen our members’ financial positions and support them in staying on track with their repayment schedules
Strengthening financial health
Every day, we act with our members in mind. We take a holistic approach to serving our members and view it as our purpose to responsibly meet their current capital needs, increase their financial awareness, and put them on a path to a financially healthy life. Our suite of seven consumer product offerings helps us address our members’ multiple financial needs with borrowing, savings, banking, and investing tools. These are supported by our A.I.-driven models that leveraged billions of unique data points to find the best-fit solutions for our members. As we grow, we continually seek new ways to serve our members better and deliver a unified and integrated digital-first experience.
When offering our services, we never want to overextend our members. We strive to find financial solutions that suit them best. Our ability-to-pay model ensures we are always meeting our members where they are financially. Across our history, we have a demonstrated ability and willingness to work with our customers through hardships. This includes assisting hundreds of thousands of members with hardship deferrals, loan modifications, and debt forgiveness in response to natural disasters and global pandemics.
Our primary focus is our relationship with our members. Our engagement teams listen to our members to understand their needs. Through Oportun’s training programs, tools, and resources, our teams are able to provide the best quality services.
We welcome feedback and use lessons from our interactions, surveys, and our complaint analysis tool to constantly improve our member experience. Our consistent service is what keeps our members coming back and recommending Oportun to their friends, families, and colleagues.
