PTO Genius helps employers optimize their PTO while addressing some of their biggest concerns: burnout, work-life balance, and accrued liability balances. They enable companies to provide their workforce with a mechanism to use accrued PTO for financial and mental wellness, including, but not limited to, the ability to pay for travel, contribute to retirement investments, or even pay down student loans. Their platform integrates into employers' HRIS/HCM systems, automatically verifying employee eligibility and executing contributions on a regular or per-request basis.
The Challenge
40%+ of the US working population is saddled with student debt, making it critical for PTO Genius to provide student debt repayment as an option for employee financial wellness.
While developing the initial version of the product, PTO Genius soon realized that orchestrating funds transfer into savings and investment accounts was straightforward via an API, but third party student debt repayment was an archaic process of mailing checks to thousands of student debt lenders. Automating student loan payments posed some key challenges:
- Collecting and verifying account information for tax, compliance and correctness could take a few weeks, leading to poor user experience
- Acquiring a standard banking partner agreement and setting up FBO (For Benefit Of) accounts to process payments for the employees would take months
- Forming relationships and building integrations across all loan servicers was time intensive in a period when time was of the essence
Method’s turnkey solution via a single API allows PTO Genius to create a uniform funds flow experience and scale to employers of all sizes - Adam Gordon, Co-founder and CEO
The Solution
PTO Genius spoke with a range of vendors in the market but felt that Method was the only one able to provide a true end-to-end digital payment orchestration. Certain vendors provided API access to collect destination loan account information but the payments would still be made via checks whereas other vendors used brittle screen scraping techniques to process payments.
Method’s value proposition of a turn-key solution was straightforward. Method’s Payments API:
- Provides instant account verification and compliance
- Direct integrations into 150+ student loan service providers
- Manages the entire money movement process, delivering settlement times as little as a day
The quick integration allowed PTO Genius to provide a uniform seamless experience for student debt repayment along with converting accrued PTO into retirement college savings plans, charity, or even emergency cash.
Method was accessible to iterate with PTO Genius on its roadmap and enable student debt repayment orchestration in a matter of days.
