Boosting accuracy and speed with HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union
Credit Unions like HawaiiUSA FCU are harnessing the power of AI to deliver fast, accurate decisions to their members. Listen to Scott Matsushima, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, discuss using Zest AI's technology to remain agile through any economic climate and preserve the credit union mission for generations to come.
The zest AI effect
At a glance
HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union was losing members to banks and fintechs without the resources to compete on speed, while national scoring models failed to accurately represent Hawaii's majority-minority population, putting their members at a disadvantage.
HawaiiUSA partnered with Zest AI to deploy a tailored automated underwriting model built on data representative of their unique membership base, enabling faster decisions without requiring an internal data science team.
Personal loan automated approvals reached 70%, a 133% increase from pre-partnership levels, while delinquency rates came in 24% lower than what the national industry model would have produced, all while keeping origination volumes constant.
A rush for more resources
HawaiiUSA needed a partner that could help them delight their members with speed, and boost their lending business with accuracy. Despite Hawaii having one of the highest credit union membership rates in the US, the state increasingly loses residents to commercial banks and fintechs. HawaiiUSA knew they needed to compete, but didn’t have the resources of a large, tech-forward organization with a robust data science team. They wanted to provide the speed and convenience that their competitors often have and remain a local institution dedicated to serving their members.
HawaiiUSA also needed a partner that would be able to optimize a solution for its unique population. Hawaii is one of several US states that is not majority white and has the highest population of Pacific Islanders. National scoring models do not accurately represent these residents, and HawaiiUSA needed a tailored solution with data representative of their membership base.
Precision and agility with the right partner
Zest AI’s accurate AI-automated underwriting solution gave HawaiiUSA the ability to keep origination levels constant while reducing risk and lowering decision time.
Zest’s technology has brought their personal loan automated approvals up to 70%, a 133% increase in automation from before their partnership with Zest.
These automation increases save time, allow HawaiiUSA to reallocate resources to support other portfolios, and allow the underwriting team to focus on members needing additional support. With a tailored model built on representative data, HawaiiUSA’s delinquency rate is 24% lower than if they had used the national industry model.
While smarter, more efficient technology can help members access loans faster, HawaiiUSA wants to take its service one step further by pricing on its Zest AI model. In the past, members may have been pulled into a lower risk tier on their application, but would still be priced according to a national score. Using Zest for pricing will allow those members to have rates and terms that best match their risk tier.
Looking ahead: lending’s crystal ball
HawaiiUSA is looking forward to adopting Zest AI’s Portfolio Management solution, where they can use Zest’s insights to review loan performance, manage risk, and proactively adjust lending strategy to stay ahead of the game. Even without the data science teams that larger national banks have, HawaiiUSA can remain an agile lending business through different economic conditions and make smarter, more precise decisions that will benefit members.
HawaiiUSA FCU
Chief Data and Analytics Officer, former Chief Lending Officer
Ready for smarter, fairer, faster lending?
Schedule a call to see how Zest AI can work seamlessly within your lending processes to future-proof your business.