Happy Money enables happier lending at scale by connecting consumers with capital sourced from credit unions. Since inception, Happy Money has helped over 300,000 members to access more than $6 billion in loans. Happy Money and Method joined forces to provide members with a seamless experience paying off outstanding credit card debt via Happy Money’s Direct Card Payoff™ feature.

Method has improved our Direct Card Payoff™ offering by increasing our coverage for same day payment execution from ~50% to ~96%. Method allows for near real-time payment status, whereas alternatives provide balances that could be up to 30 days out of date. Implementing Method’s APIs enhanced the experience for our members and visibility for our agents.

– Nick Pesce, Head of Product & Design at Happy Money

Objective

Happy Money’s Payoff Loan™ is specifically designed to help members consolidate high-interest credit card debt. With The Payoff Loan™, members can swap multiple, high-interest credit card payments to a single, monthly payment. The Happy Money platform enables members to immediately pay off their outstanding credit cards using Direct Card Payoff™ once their personal loan is approved, reducing the hassle and time required to benefit from the lower rate.

Approach

For Direct Card Payoff™ to securely pay off members’ credit cards, Happy Money needed a white-labeled data and payment solution. In particular, Happy Money sought a financial technology provider to identify all of a member’s outstanding credit cards, retrieve up-to-date balances, and enable their members to transfer funds from The Payoff Loan™ to those cards. The ideal solution would deliver a seamless user experience, near-instantaneous payment, and full money movement visibility.

Method’s liability connectivity APIs provide the integrated data and payment rails required to power Direct Card Payoff™. Using the PII already collected by Happy Money’s application flow, and members’ explicit consent, Method’s API identifies all active credit cards, retrieves the live balance, and facilitates balance transfer to over 15,000 financial institutions, without requiring members to enter account numbers for ownership validation. Additionally, Method provides Happy Money with immediate confirmation of payment status and supplemental reporting to streamline payment reconciliation with their credit union partners.

Method stood out against other vendors because of their payment execution speed and robust reporting. Other vendors had a solid offering in one or the other, but only Method had both.

– Nick Pesce, Head of Product & Design at Happy Money

Benefits for Happy Money Members

Happy Money partnered with Method to create an enhanced member experience:

• No need to recall usernames or passwords

• Cards automatically identified and up-to-the-minute balances retrieved

• Seamless, embedded payment experience to 15,000 financial institutions

• Clear confirmation of payment

• Faster savings from debt consolidation

Impact of Partnership

In the months since launch, Happy Money members have connected over 50,000 accounts through Method’s APIs, and millions of dollars of consumer debt is consolidated monthly using Method’s connectivity and payment rails. Through the partnership, Method has facilitated over $7M in balance transfer for Happy Money members.

About Happy Money

Happy Money is designing a happier way of lending that helps borrowers achieve their goals and helps credit unions achieve greater impact. Backed by leading investors, Happy Money has helped over 300,000 members since inception – working with community-focused lending partners to fund more than $6 billion in loans. Visit happymoney.com to learn more.

About Method Financial

Method’s APIs are redefining financial connectivity with real-time, read-write, and frictionless access to all consumer liability data with integrated payment rails. Method helps lenders increase revenue by streamlining customer acquisition, improving underwriting accuracy, and increasing line utilization through balance transfers, all without the need for a consumer’s username and password. Today, Method powers solutions for over 60 fintechs, lenders, and FIs including Aven, Bilt, Upgrade, and Figure. Method is backed by a16z, Abstract Ventures, YC, Truist Ventures, and more. To learn more, visit methodfi.com.