Lifestyle lending has evolved to include loans that can both enhance and finance a member’s lifestyle, including adoptions, cosmetic surgery, infertility treatments and uninsured medical expenses. Credit unions have advantages that other lifestyle lenders lack—a direct relationship with members, a location in the community they serve, and a reputation as a trusted adviser.
Lifestyle lending has evolved to include loans that can both enhance and finance a member’s lifestyle, including adoptions, cosmetic surgery, infertility treatments and uninsured medical expenses. Credit unions have advantages that other lifestyle lenders lack—a direct relationship with members, a location in the community they serve, and a reputation as a trusted adviser. That’s the conclusion of this new investigative report by Filene Research Institute director of innovation, Mark C. Meyer.
As the membership ages and fewer members are entering the prime borrowing years, creative and alternative ways to offer loans are needed for credit unions to survive. Lifestyle loans are a means of growing loan portfolios while deepening relationships with current and potential members. This investigative report is a follow-up to the 2004 Filene i3 Progress Report, Innovation: Novel Ideas from Next Generation Credit Union Leaders.
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