FinTech News
Regions Bank Announces Partnership with Self Financial
Regions Bank is promoting a new way for its customers to build and establish credit thanks to a collaboration with Self.
About the partnership:
This week, Regions Bank announced a new partnership with Self (formerly known as Self Lender). While the FinTech may be best known for its credit builder loan product, this partnership with Self instead focuses on the company’s rent and bill reporting service.
Through this partnership, Regions customers can get one month of Self’s Rent and Bill Reporting for free. After that, the membership will renew at a rate of $6.95 per month. This membership allows users to have rent payments reported to TransUnion as well as up to five eligible payments per month reported to all three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). As a result of this reporting, customers can establish a positive payment history, which is a major factor in credit scores. Customers also have the option to add up to two years of past payments using the LookBack service for a one-time fee of $49.95.
It should be noted that Self also offers a free version of its rent reporting feature. However, unlike the paid version, this service is limited to just rent payments and not other bills. Additionally, the $6.95 per month membership includes credit monitoring and $1 million in identity theft insurance.
What they’re saying:
In a press release announcing the partnership, Regions’ Consumer Banking Group head Kate Danella stated, “Every day, Regions customers receive financial advice and guidance from our bankers, who care deeply about helping people achieve the goals that matter most to them. This collaboration between Regions and Self is another tremendous step forward in empowering customers through a more comprehensive view of their financial health.”
Danella went on to say, “It also complements the personalized Regions Greenprint financial plans our bankers help customers create, giving them a clear roadmap toward building credit and achieving other financial goals.”
Meanwhile, Self Financial chief strategy officer Chris LaConte said of the partnership, “We were drawn to work with Regions because of our shared commitment to working toward financial inclusion. Working with Regions enables us to support more consumers who either are new to establishing credit, or they’re in need of solutions that reflect how they’re already responsibly managing bills and other payments.”
My thoughts:
For Self, partnering with an institution such as Regions makes perfect sense and could be a great way to gain new customers. On that note, with the market for credit builder loans perhaps softening due to other options, it’s interesting to see that the company has expanded to new products that all achieve the goal of helping customers build/establish credit.
Overall, while this partnership is intriguing, I can’t help but wonder if greater integration between Self and Regions or other institutions could be possible. Although an introductory free month is nice, I’m a bit surprised that there aren’t currently any further discounts for Regions customers — or even the opportunity to earn a fully-subsidized membership through various banking actions (perhaps via direct deposit or debit card purchase requirements). In other words, I’ll be curious to see if similar partnerships Self forms in the future go any deeper.
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