When it comes to data, Natco Credit Union has no shortage of key information. The trouble was, like so many financial institutions, they had no easy way to assess it—until they started using Zest AI’s LuLu, a lending intelligence companion powered by AI. 

Working with LuLu, the Natco team immediately saw the benefits. As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), Natco keeps a close watch on their delinquency and charge-off rates and how those percentages compare to those of their peers. In the past, assessing these data points would require a manual download and organization of data from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) website, as well as a separate pull of information from internal systems. It would take hours to collect the data, not to mention the additional time it took for analysis and reporting. But now, with LuLu, not only can the team access data that was previously buried, but they also replaced laborious data curation with an automated report.  

“This is a project that I did in the past, and it took me hours to look up all the individual credit unions, find out who’s a CDFI, pull them up in the NCUA’s tool, and then do some comparisons,” shared Cindy Duke, CEO. “Running the LuLu report now, I am able to see comparisons to all other CDFIs in the $100M-$500M range in a matter of seconds. I also can drill down to specific CDFI CUs for comparison, and the report generates recommendations on targets for 2026 in a matter of minutes.”  

In addition to regular reporting and comparisons, the Natco team has been exploring ways LuLu can help the organization evolve and grow in today’s dynamic landscape. By diving deeper into the data now at their fingertips, they were able to unlock new areas of opportunity.  

“LuLu’s allowed us to really dig into the data to determine what areas we need to focus on to expand our lending portfolio,” explained Duke. “Specifically, we were able to investigate the loss ratios on home equity lending, which highlighted it as an attractive area to pursue. In 2025, we made home equity lending a priority and increased our portfolio by 42%.” 

Supporting internal compliance

Beyond some of the traditional ways LuLu has been applied, Natco has approached the solution with a genuine curiosity for all it can do. For instance, in early meetings, Stephanie Harrison, Loan Service Manager, recalled the rapid-fire list of ideas that bubbled up upon seeing LuLu in action.  

“When they did the demonstration, I was listening to what they were telling us it could do, and I was thinking, ‘I wonder if it can do this, I wonder if it can do that,’ because those were things that I was doing manually myself,” said Harrison.  

From that innovative thinking arose a unique use case: internal compliance reporting. Natco’s underwriters have a series of internal guidelines they need to adhere to when considering loans, but in the past, there was simply no way to validate how closely the team was following those protocols. Harrison wondered if there was a way LuLu could help them evaluate how their underwriters were performing. So, she worked with the Zest AI team to produce a custom report that was able to evaluate their loans, apply them against key criteria, and align them with the individual underwriters on the team. This, in turn, assessed how well each underwriter performed against guidelines.  

“Lulu was able to audit $42 million in loans in about a day. And that’s something that we hadn’t been able to do before to truly make sure that all of our underwriters were approving loans within their guidelines,” she recalled. “We learned 99.7% of all decisions were within guidelines, and that was a wonderful thing to be able to present to the supervisory committee.”  

In addition, Harrison realized LuLu could support Natco in identifying criteria consistent with at-risk loans. By analyzing the last 24 months of charge-offs, LuLu was able to identify the characteristics that were associated with a likelihood of default. Now, if an approved loan application brings with it multiple high-risk factors, the team can customize efforts to help members on their journey and provide support against default.  

“LuLu has helped us look a little more closely at the more challenging loans to find better solutions—better fits for collateral, better fits for payment, and more. So, that’s a benefit to the member. They’re not ending up in a car that they can’t really afford,” summed up Duke.

A strategic partnership

And as they dream up other unique ways to apply LuLu, they do so with the support of an engaged Zest AI team. Natco reports that they regularly receive custom reports within hours of a request and participate in standing calls with the Zest AI team, where the latest upgrades, enhancements, and new solutions are demonstrated.  

“The thing that has been amazing to me is how quickly the Zest AI team responds to suggestions, questions, or requests for help. You can submit a question, and within a matter of minutes, they are on it, trying to build it, to tailor it to us. It’s just incredible customer service,” noted Duke.  

In addition, Natco benefits from the constant evolution of LuLu, and the agile approach Zest AI takes to product development.  

“The Zest AI team is always in development,” said Duke. “With other vendors, when they say something is coming soon, they are talking months or years down the road. With Zest AI, it’s like, ‘That will be out at the end of the week.’ It’s truly extraordinary.”  

With what exists today and all that is to come, the Natco team sees a fruitful future with Zest AI. In fact, senior leadership has started setting aside time each week to “play” with LuLu and determine new use cases and opportunities to leverage it for strategic advantage. Without a doubt, Natco has seen the benefits LuLu brings and knows that they have merely scratched the surface. 

“We’re most excited about using LuLu in the future to save us time, to save us money, and to make better decisions,” concluded Harrison.