Crawl, Walk, Run to Higher Lending Conversion

Introduction

In today’s lending landscape, small changes to your application flow can drive outsized results. These are practical enhancements lenders can implement today to increase approvals, boost conversion, and safely offer larger loans.

With just a borrower's name and phone number, Method instantly connects to all liabilities across 15,000+ financial institutions — no login credentials or redirects required. You gain real-time verified liability data beyond traditional credit reports, plus embedded payment rails for direct debt paydown.

And the best part? You can get started without completely overhauling your tech stack. Let’s explore how top lenders are taking a phased approach to their applications with minimal lift.

Crawl, walk, and run towards more profitable lending using these steps:

1. Crawl: Enhance lending decisions with unique eligibility indicators and real-time data

2. Walk: Improve applicant conversion with verified liability data, prefill, and personalized offers

3. Run: Ensure debt paydown to increase applicant approvals and offer larger loans

These steps are phased in terms of the required degree of change to the customer experience.

Crawl: Enhance lending decisions with unique eligibility indicators and real-time data

Lift: Minimal backend integration with no changes to user interfaces or the customer experience. 

Credit information today faces real challenges. Most lenders rely on credit report data that can be 30-90 days behind what's happening in consumers' financial lives. This creates an incomplete picture, making it difficult for lenders to fully understand an applicant’s historical behavior and current financial situation.

Method transforms lending decisions with three core components of financial intelligence:

1. Real-time financial liability data when it matters

   Up-to-date account details across 2,000+ financial institutions

   • Daily-updated account balances and transaction data

   • Current loan terms, APRs, and payment status

   • Comprehensive liability profiles without requiring logins or redirects

     
     

2. Derived attributes to make smarter risk assessments

   300+ indicators that reveal patterns and behavioral intelligence that traditional sources miss. These insights enable you to:

   • Identify high-risk applicants early in the funnel with credit health indicators (e.g. payment consistency, utilization trends)

   • Proactively manage credit limits with risk detection signals (e.g. credit stacking, debt settlement indicators)

   • Reduce exposure while maximizing portfolio performance through financial trajectory metrics (e.g. debt reduction rates, payment patterns)

   • Spot increased borrower distress early with behavioral classifications (e.g. transactor vs. revolver distinctions)

     The results are smarter originations and dynamic line management that enhance loan approvals and pricing accuracy, creating a virtuous cycle of targeted interventions that continuously improve underwriting accuracy and decrease default risk across your portfolio.

     
     

3. Proactive monitoring through event-driven architecture

   Stay informed with instant notifications when meaningful changes occur

   • Balance threshold changes that signal potential risk or opportunity

   • Account status updates that require immediate attention

   • Custom triggers based on your risk parameters

   • Real-time signals that identify actionable lending opportunities

Flexcar uses Method to stream real-time financial data and make more informed underwriting decisions. After integrating Method, Flexcar increased approved applicants by 14% without raising default rates, allowing more consumers to access vehicles while maintaining responsible risk management. The partnership has also reduced bad loan outcomes by nearly 20%, supporting both customer success and business sustainability.

Walk: Improve applicant conversion with verified liability data, prefill, and personalized offers

Lift: Minor front-end changes to your existing loan offer flow.

Accelerate the application flow by automatically pre-filling existing loan information, reducing friction and abandonment. Quickly present applicants with a customized estimate upfront, showing exactly how much they’ll lower their monthly payments with your offer. Applicants are more likely to convert using this faster, streamlined user flow that includes customized offers.

Figure’s funded conversion rate for Intellidebt HELOCs grew 2X higher than the baseline after integrating Method APIs, allowing borrowers to pay off high-interest debt directly within the application flow.

Show applicants exactly how much they’ll save each month with their personalized offer.

Run: Ensure debt paydown to increase applicant approvals and offer larger loans

Lift: Incorporate Method into the application flow and offer engines.

Allow applicants to pre-select debts for payoff, before calculating their DTI. Those who consent can lower their DTI and improve their chance of approval and qualifying then for larger loan amounts.

Applicants can pre-select debts for payoff before their DTI is calculated.

Leading lenders that integrate repayment commitments with Method:

• Increase borrower eligibility

• Approve larger loans at scale

• Speed up utilization

• Reduce fraud

• Decrease default rates

• Improve a borrower’s eligibility for other lending products.

Method streamlines this process by prefilling verified liability details ensuring precise payoff amounts for credit cards and personal loans while eliminating common errors like incorrect payoff calculations or stolen account payoffs. This direct-to-creditor approach minimizes risk and improves overall loan performance.

Applicants selecting the debt repayment option have a 3x higher conversion rate than those who don't. Plus, lenders are connected to a healthier pool of borrowers who are more likely to qualify for follow-on lending products. That might mean a HELOC refinancing in the short-term or another loan consolidation longer term. 

Since integrating Method’s APIs, Figure’s total volume of pre-approved HELOC offers has increased by 3%. Some applicants also qualify for higher loan amounts which has helped Figure increase the median HELOC value by 11%. Similarly, Aven reduced their balance transfer process from 45 days to a few days, enabling a 25% increase in balance transfer volume per cardholder per month, helping Aven’s customers save millions in interest charges.

Method’s APIs enable a user experience better by leaps and bounds than the incumbent processes for embedded balance transfer and digital engagement.

– Josh Meyer, Head of Finance at Aven

Drive sustainable growth with Method

Leading lenders are transforming their lending operations on their own terms, without the enormous lift typically associated with lending innovation. Gain the flexibility to advance your lending approach at your own pace.

Learn how Method can integrate seamlessly with your current application processes and deliver immediate value to your business. Schedule a demo.