By Devon Kinkead

The latest credit union performance data paints a picture of an industry in transition. While the first quarter of 2025 showed members building savings and managing debt more responsibly, it also revealed a widening gap between high-performing institutions and those struggling to maintain growth. For credit unions seeking to bridge this divide, automated prescreen marketing technology offers a powerful solution to capture market share and deepen member relationships in an increasingly competitive landscape.

The Performance Paradox: Strong Fundamentals, Uneven Growth

According to recent Trendwatch data from Callahan & Associates, credit unions face a curious paradox. On one hand, share growth continues to outpace the national personal savings rate, and net interest margins have improved substantially. Members are demonstrating healthier financial behaviors, with delinquency rates bucking recent trends and improving slightly in Q1 2025, while more members are moving money into lower-term deposits and paying down debt.

Yet beneath these positive indicators lies a concerning trend: the gap between mean and median loan growth has widened dramatically. While mean loan growth reached 3.4% annually, median growth dropped to just 0.34%. This disparity suggests that larger credit unions are dominating industry lending, leaving smaller institutions struggling to compete.

The implications are clear—credit unions that cannot modernize their lending approaches risk being left behind in an increasingly bifurcated market.

The Untapped Opportunity: HELOC Consolidation

While credit unions grapple with uneven growth patterns, a massive opportunity sits largely untapped. With 61% of homeowners locked into mortgage rates of 6% or lower and equally reluctant to sell their homes, traditional mortgage refinancing has become less attractive. Meanwhile, home equity has climbed to over 50%, creating a $25.6 trillion pool of accessible capital that members could tap for debt consolidation—particularly important given the $1.2 trillion in high-interest credit card debt weighing on consumers.

The Technology Gap: Why Traditional Approaches Fall Short

Despite credit unions’ historic strength in lending—having achieved record market share in auto finance (20.2%) and non-revolving consumer loans (13.2%) in 2018—many institutions struggle to capitalize on refinancing opportunities due to outdated marketing technology approaches.

Traditional prescreen marketing campaigns, while proven effective, have been prohibitively complex and expensive for many credit unions. The process typically involves:

• Multiple rounds of communication with credit bureaus
• Labor-intensive campaign development
• Complex compliance reviews under FCRA and UDAAP regulations
• Lengthy timelines that can stretch 5+ weeks

This complexity has left prescreen marketing primarily in the hands of large banks and fintechs, creating a competitive disadvantage for community-focused credit unions. Online lenders like Figure and Rocket Mortgage are capitalizing on this gap, offering approval in minutes versus the 21-day industry average and closing in one week versus 36 day industry timelines.

The Automated Solution: Leveling the Playing Field

This is where automated prescreen technology fundamentally changes the game. By leveraging AI, machine learning, and big data analytics, platforms like Micronotes’ Automated Prescreen transform what was once a costly, complex process into a streamlined, profitable growth engine.

The results speak for themselves. Credit unions implementing automated prescreen typically see:

• Conversion rate improvements with win-rate visibility
• Net negative acquisition costs (the income from new loans exceeds campaign costs)
• Dramatically reduced labor requirements
• Consistent FCRA compliance through automated templates

Strategic Alignment: Furthering the Credit Union Mission

Automated prescreen marketing doesn’t just drive growth—it advances the core mission of credit unions. By continuously monitoring member financial situations and proactively offering better rates, credit unions can:

Improve Financial Health: Automatically identify members paying excessive interest rates and offer meaningful savings through refinancing opportunities.

Build Deeper Relationships: Demonstrate ongoing care for member financial wellbeing through personalized, timely offers that address specific needs.

Strengthen Communities: Help members save money through lower interest rates, increasing disposable income that flows back into local economies.

Extend Financial Inclusion: Reach underserved populations with affordable credit options, using data-driven insights to identify those who would benefit most.

The Path Forward: Three Critical Actions for Credit Union Leaders

As the performance gap between credit unions widens, institutions must act decisively to remain competitive. Based on the convergence of market trends and technological capabilities, here are three essential steps:

1. Embrace Data-Driven Precision

Move beyond broad marketing campaigns to hyper-personalized offers. Use automated prescreen technology to:

• Target members with specific debt profiles
• Show exact savings amounts in marketing materials
• Focus on the 29% of homeowners with only a first mortgage and over 20% equity

2. Accelerate Digital Transformation

With online lenders setting new standards for speed and convenience, credit unions must:

• Implement AI-powered underwriting for instant approvals
• Adopt automated valuation models to eliminate appraisal delays
• Create mobile-optimized application experiences with pre-filled data
• Optimize campaign win-rates with every campaign

3. Scale Intelligently

Start with automated prescreen for existing members to refine your approach, then expand to market acquisition. The 17-week application window for prescreen campaigns provides ample time to manage volume while maintaining service quality.

The Competitive Imperative

The credit union industry stands at a critical juncture. While strong fundamentals provide a solid foundation, the widening performance gap signals that traditional approaches are no longer sufficient. Credit unions that continue relying on manual processes and broad-based marketing will find themselves increasingly marginalized as larger institutions and fintechs capture market share.

However, those that embrace automated prescreen marketing can flip the script. By combining the trust and member focus that define credit unions with the speed and precision of modern technology, these institutions can capture their fair share of the burgeoning refinancing opportunity while deepening member relationships.

Conclusion: From Laggard to Leader

The latest performance data makes one thing clear: credit unions cannot afford to wait. With median loan growth at just 0.34% and competition intensifying from both traditional banks and digital disruptors, the time for incremental change and half-measures has passed.

Automated prescreen marketing represents more than just a technology upgrade—it’s a strategic imperative for credit unions serious about growth. By dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of targeted lending campaigns while improving conversion rates and member satisfaction, this technology enables credit unions of all sizes to compete effectively in today’s market.

The question isn’t whether to adopt automated prescreen marketing, but how quickly credit unions can implement it. Those that act now will be positioned to capture market share, deepen member relationships, and fulfill their mission of improving financial lives by programmatically lowering borrowing costs. Those that hesitate risk becoming statistics in the next Trendwatch report—another institution left behind as the industry consolidates around those bold enough to embrace change.

For credit unions ready to transform their lending performance, the path forward is clear: automate, personalize, and grow. The technology exists, the opportunity is massive, and the mission demands it. The only question remaining is: will your credit union be among the leaders or the laggards in the next chapter of the credit union story? Start your journey with a free near-branch growth analysis here. You can’t afford to be late.

— as you migrate to Fiserv® Create & Configure Digital

By Devon Kinkead

Community Financial Institutions Upgrade Digital

You’re a community-minded bank or credit union that’s just moved, or is moving, to Fiserv’s Create or Configure Digital platform. Your #1 goal: keep the surge of low-cost deposits you worked so hard to win during the rate hikes—and hold onto the relationships behind them.

But Deposit Leakage Remains a Challenge

Deposit attrition is accelerating. Fintechs tempt consumers with slick apps, while mega-banks blanket them with offers; I’m offered $900 to open an account with Chase. A leaky deposit base means higher funding costs and lower lifetime value.

Enter Micronotes® Cross-Sell XD

Micronotes Cross-Sell XD is purpose-built for Fiserv Experience Digital (XD) online & mobile banking.

• Under the hood: bank-held data analytics, machine-learned recommendations, and patented MicroInterview® technology.
• What it does: automatically turns Fiserv XD API data into targeted, two or three question “conversations” that feel personal—at scale.
• Why it matters: institutions using Cross-Sell XD start 20+ conversations for every one banner click and cut deposit leakage while boosting e-service adoption and Net Promoter Score®.

4. The Plan (light-lift, big-win)

Step	What happens	Why it’s easy
1. Activate the XD API feed	Cross-Sell XD pulls real-time account data—no nightly batch files.	Zero IT lift; you’re already on XD.
2. Tweak interview language to make it your own	Out-of-the-box deposit campaigns—Checking, Money Market, Courtesy Pay, HSA, “Exceptional Deposits,” and more—are ready to launch in minutes.	Marketing chooses, clicks, deploys.
3. Let the algorithms work	Machine learning selects the right accountholders, timing, and offer; behavioral-economics framing boosts response.	Always-on optimization—no manual segmentation.
4. MicroInterview® engagement	Two to 3 polite questions a inside mobile/online banking tile; answers drive immediate, personalized follow-ups.	Feel more like a conversation than an ad.
5. Measure & refine	Dashboard shows lift in balances, product uptake, and retention.	Continuous ROI visibility for executives.

The Payoff

Banks and credit unions running Cross-Sell XD on Fiserv XD enjoy:

• Deposit defense: targeted “Exceptional Deposit” and “Emergency Savings” interviews steer funds to insured accounts, not external rivals.
• Relationship depth: cross-selling Money Market or HSA at the exact moment of need grows wallet-share.
• Digital stickiness: campaigns also drive Bill Pay, e-Statements, Mobile Check Deposit, and other sticky services.
• Provable results: 20× CTR vs. static banners and measurable reductions in outflows.

Call to Action

If you’re already on Fiserv Create or Configure Digital, you’re one API toggle away from turning deposit flight into deposit growth. Micronotes does the heavy lifting; your team reaps the kudos.

Ready to keep more dollars—and the people attached to them—right where they belong?
Schedule a 30-minute demo of Cross-Sell XD today.

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Because in the story of deposit retention, the best outcome is the one where your accountholders—and their wallets—live happily ever after.

By Devon Kinkead

The credit union industry faces a paradox in 2025: record-high home equity meets frozen mortgage markets, rising consumer debt collides with tightening credit standards, and members need financial solutions more than ever while traditional lending channels stagnate. Recent data paints a challenging picture for loan growth, but at Micronotes, we see these headwinds as the perfect conditions for credit unions to deploy smarter, data-driven growth strategies.

The Current Landscape: Five Forces Suppressing Traditional Loan Growth

The latest industry analysis reveals five critical factors constraining loan growth across credit unions:

1. The Student Loan Squeeze

With student loan delinquencies surging to nearly 8% following the end of payment freezes, millions of members face damaged credit scores and reduced borrowing capacity. This ripple effect impacts not just student loan portfolios but constrains overall lending opportunities as members struggle with substantial debt burdens.

2. The Great Mortgage Lock-In

An astounding 81% of homeowners hold mortgages below 6%, with half locked in under 4%. With current rates hovering around 6.7%, homeowners aren’t moving—and they’re not refinancing. This creates a double challenge: minimal mortgage origination opportunities and reduced purchase mortgage activity as inventory remains frozen.

3. The Home Equity Opportunity

Here’s where the story shifts. Americans sit on $25.6 trillion in accessible home equity, with HELOC balances reaching $406 billion. Members who can’t afford to move are instead tapping equity for renovations, debt consolidation, and major purchases. This represents one of the most significant untapped opportunities for credit unions in 2025.

4. The Auto Loan Paradox

Despite a surge in vehicle purchases driven by tariff fears, auto loan balances actually declined for only the second time in 14 years. Why? A credit crunch pushed average credit scores up 8 points, excluding many traditional borrowers. Used car financing dropped from 41.6% to 37.1% as high rates made loans less attractive.

5. The Lingering Debt Burden

Credit card balances remain elevated at $1.18 trillion nationwide, with high-cost states showing the strongest correlation between inflation impacts and debt levels. Members need debt consolidation solutions more than ever, yet traditional marketing approaches fail to connect the right solutions with the right members at the right time.

The Micronotes Solution: Automated Prescreen Marketing as a Growth Catalyst

While these challenges seem daunting, they actually create ideal conditions for credit unions that embrace modern, data-driven marketing approaches. Here’s how automated prescreen marketing transforms each challenge into an opportunity:

Precision Targeting in a Constrained Market

Traditional spray-and-pray marketing doesn’t work when loan demand is selective. Our automated prescreen technology processes 230 million credit records weekly, identifying exactly which members and prospects are:

• Credit-qualified for specific products
• Paying higher rates elsewhere
• Ready to consolidate debt
• Located within your service area

This precision means every marketing dollar works harder, achieving what we call “net negative acquisition costs”—where loan income exceeds campaign costs.

The HELOC Advantage: Meeting Members Where They Are

With mortgage refinancing off the table for most homeowners, HELOCs emerge as the hero product of 2025. Our data shows that 29.3% of homeowners with only a first mortgage and over 20% equity represent 28.7 million potential HELOC customers nationally.

Credit unions using Micronotes’ automated prescreen for HELOC marketing report:

• Higher conversion rates than traditional prescreen marketing
• Lower borrowing costs for members
• Manageable loan origination volume spread over 17 weeks (not all at once)
• Deeper wallet share with existing members
• Strong new member acquisition performance

Speed and Efficiency: Competing with Fintechs

While online lenders promise instant approval and one-week closings, credit unions can compete by combining their trust advantage with modern marketing efficiency. Automated prescreen:

• Delivers pre-approved offers in real-time
• Adapts to rate changes automatically
• Runs continuously without manual intervention
• Frees staff to focus on member relationships

The ROI Reality Check

Here’s the math that matters: Credit unions need just a 0.03% improvement in conversion rates to cover the cost of automation. Our clients typically see 0.10% improvements or higher—that’s a 3x return on investment. For a credit union sending 100,000 prescreen offers annually, that means just 33 additional funded loans pay for the entire system.

Three Strategic Imperatives for 2025

1. Embrace Continuous Marketing

The days of quarterly campaigns are over. Members’ financial needs don’t follow your marketing calendar. Automated prescreen runs continuously, catching members at their moment of need—when they’re actually ready to consolidate debt or tap home equity.

2. Focus on Financial Wellness, Not Just Loan Volume

Credit unions that position themselves as financial wellness partners, not just lenders, will win in 2025. This means:

• Proactively identifying members paying high rates elsewhere
• Offering debt consolidation before members ask
• Educating about home equity advantages over credit cards
• Providing personalized savings calculations in every offer

3. Leverage Data for Competitive Intelligence

Understanding why campaigns succeed or fail is crucial. Our AI-powered post-campaign analytics reveal:

• Which competitors are winning in your markets
• What rates and terms drive conversions
• Where untapped opportunities exist
• How to optimize future campaigns

The Mission Alignment Advantage

Unlike banks focused solely on profitability, credit unions have a unique advantage: prescreen marketing directly furthers your mission. By continuously identifying members who could save money through refinancing or debt consolidation, you’re not just growing loans—you’re improving financial lives.

Consider this: A member paying 24% on credit cards who consolidates to a 12% HELOC saves thousands annually. That’s money staying in your community, reducing financial stress, and building long-term member loyalty. It’s profitable growth with purpose.

Looking Ahead: The Window of Opportunity

The convergence of high home equity, elevated consumer debt, and rate-locked mortgages won’t last forever. Credit unions that act now to implement automated prescreen marketing will:

• Capture market share while competitors hesitate
• Build deeper relationships with existing members
• Attract profitable new members from larger institutions
• Position themselves for sustained growth beyond 2025

The credit unions succeeding in 2025 won’t be those waiting for conditions to improve—they’ll be those using smart technology to thrive in current conditions. With automated prescreen marketing, the question isn’t whether you can afford to modernize your approach; it’s whether you can afford not to.

Take Action Today

The data is clear, the opportunity is massive, and the technology is proven. While the industry faces legitimate headwinds, credit unions equipped with automated prescreen marketing are turning these challenges into competitive advantages.

Ready to transform your loan growth strategy? Contact Micronotes today for a personalized growth analysis of your market opportunity. Let’s turn 2025’s lending challenges into your credit union’s growth story.

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About Micronotes: We deliver cloud-based big data, analytics, and digital engagement solutions to financial institutions that want to expand wallet share, market share, and retention. Our automated prescreen marketing platform processes 230 million credit records weekly, delivering financially personalized, FCRA-compliant offers that drive measurable growth for community financial institutions.

By Devon Kinkead

A decade-long study at a $10 billion financial institution reveals game-changing engagement rates that challenge everything we thought we knew about digital banking marketing.

Executive Summary

In an era where “banner blindness” is consuming precious digital real-estate unproductively, one financial technology stands out as a beacon of hope. Over the past decade (2015-2025), Micronotes Microinterviews have consistently delivered click-through rates averaging 2.3% – a remarkable 23 times better than traditional banner ads used in mobile and online banking applications.

This comprehensive analysis of 10 years of data from a $10 billion financial institution reveals not just superior performance, but a fundamental shift in how financial institutions can effectively engage their customers in the digital age.

The Banner Ad Problem

Previous pre-2015 Doubleclick data shows an average CTR of just 0.05% for all display formats, with current industry research showing banner ad click through rates have fallen to less than 0.1% and continue declining.

The historical context is sobering. Banner clickthrough rates were around 78% in 1994 and have fallen to 0.1% now. Research from MediaMind, which analyzed 21 billion impressions globally, found that online banners had an average of 0.10% click-through rates.

Even more concerning, as many as 60% of clicks on banner ads are accidental. Banner ad blindness is so severe that 92% of users don’t even notice banner ads when surfing the web.

For financial services specifically, the situation remains challenging. The North American average of 0.14% was slightly below the global average for standard banner ads according to Sizmek’s analysis of hundreds of billions of impressions.

The Micronotes Advantage: 10 Years of Consistent Excellence

Overall Performance Metrics

Our analysis of 123 months of data from June 2015 to June 2025 reveals remarkable consistency and performance:

• Total Unique Views: 8,459,570
• Total Unique Clicks: 1,578,265
• Overall Click-Through Rate: 2.3%
• Average Engagement Rate: 18.7% (Unique clicks/Total Unique Views)

These numbers represent more than just statistics – they represent a fundamental reimagining of customer engagement in financial services.

Year-by-Year Performance Analysis

The data reveals fascinating trends over the decade:

Peak Performance Era (2015-2016)

• 2015: 4.67% CTR with 401,331 unique visitors
• 2016: 3.76% CTR with 799,399 unique visitors

Maturation Period (2017-2020)

• Gradual normalization as user base expanded
• CTR range: 2.03% – 2.57%
• Visitor growth: 834,930 to 904,272

Digital Acceleration (2021-2022)

• 2021 maintained 2.06% CTR
• Over 1 million visitors annually achieved
• Sustained performance above 2% CTR

Modern Efficiency (2023-2025)

• CTR range: 1.16% – 2.12%
• Visitor base exceeding 1.2 million in 2023
• Maintained 23x advantage over banner ads

The Science Behind Superior Performance

Why Microinterviews Work Where Banner Ads Fail

1. Contextual Relevance Micronotes Microinterviews integrate seamlessly into the banking journey, appearing at moments when customers are most receptive to relevant financial guidance, for example when they make a large deposit.

2. Personalization at Scale Each Microinterview is tailored to the individual customer’s financial behavior, transaction patterns, and lifecycle stage – creating a sense of personal attention that generic banner ads simply cannot match.

3. Value-First Approach Rather than pushing products, Microinterviews lead with educational content and personalized insights, building trust before introducing relevant solutions.

4. Optimal Timing By leveraging real-time or near real-time banking data, Microinterviews appear when customers are actively engaged with their finances, significantly increasing the likelihood of meaningful interaction.

Industry Context: The Broader Digital Advertising Landscape

The financial services industry faces unique digital marketing challenges in an environment where traditional display advertising continues to deteriorate. For standard banner ads, a CTR of 0.05% is considered average, while static banners typically achieve CTRs around the 0.1% mark.

The decline in banner effectiveness isn’t just about numbers – it’s about fundamental changes in user behavior. We are served more than 1,700 banner ads per month, leading to widespread banner blindness where users actively ignore display advertising.

Regional data reinforces these challenges. Standard banner CTRs were highest for the apparel (0.24%), telecom (0.21%) and retail (0.2%) verticals and lowest for the sports (0.07%), corporate (0.08%) and careers (0.1%) sectors, demonstrating that even in the best-performing industries, banner ads struggle to achieve meaningful engagement.

The Trust Factor: Building Relationships in Financial Services

Financial services marketing faces a fundamental trust challenge. Customers are increasingly skeptical of traditional advertising, with 25% of users employing ad blockers, up 34% from the previous year.

Micronotes addresses this challenge head-on by:

• Leading with education rather than sales pitches
• Providing genuine value through personalized financial insights
• Respecting customer intelligence with sophisticated, relevant content
• Building relationships rather than chasing transactions

Looking Forward: The Future of Financial Institution Marketing

The implications of this 10-year study extend far beyond a single product’s success story. They point toward a fundamental shift in how financial institutions must approach customer engagement:

From Interruption to Integration

The days of interrupting customers with irrelevant banner ads are numbered. The future belongs to platforms that integrate seamlessly into the customer journey.

From Generic to Personal

Mass marketing messages are increasingly ineffective. Customers expect and respond to personalized, relevant communications that acknowledge their unique financial situation.

From Product-Push to Value-First

Leading with value and education builds trust and engagement in ways that product-focused advertising simply cannot match.

Key Takeaways for Financial Institution Leaders

1. The Banner Ad Era is Ending: With CTRs below 0.1% and declining, traditional banner advertising in financial services is no longer a viable customer engagement strategy.
2. Personalization is Non-Negotiable: The 23x performance difference demonstrates the power of relevant, personalized customer communications.
3. Timing Matters: Engaging customers when they’re actively thinking about their finances dramatically improves response rates.
4. Trust Through Value: Educational, value-first approaches build the trust necessary for effective financial services marketing.
5. Integration Over Interruption: The most effective digital engagement happens within, not alongside, the customer’s banking experience.

Conclusion: A New Paradigm for Financial Services Marketing

The 10-year Micronotes study represents more than impressive statistics – it represents proof of concept for an entirely new approach to financial services marketing. In an industry where customer trust is paramount and attention is increasingly scarce, the ability to deliver 2.3% click-through rates consistently over a decade isn’t just impressive; it’s revolutionary.

As financial institutions continue to navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape, the lesson is clear: the future belongs to those who can deliver genuine value through personalized, timely, and relevant customer engagement. The era of spray-and-pray banner advertising is over. The age of intelligent, customer-centric marketing has begun.

For financial institutions still relying on traditional banner advertising with its 0.1% performance rates, the question isn’t whether to evolve – it’s how quickly they can embrace the proven power of personalized, value-driven customer engagement.

The data speaks for itself: 23 times better performance isn’t just an improvement – it’s a complete transformation of what’s possible in financial services marketing. Learn more.

References for Banner Ad Click-Through Rates

SocialSellinator (2024)
“Decoding Display Ad CTR”
“Static Banners: These are the traditional display ads you see on websites. Their CTR is usually around the 0.1% mark”
URL: https://www.socialsellinator.com/social-selling-blog/average-click-through-rate-display-ads

Smart Insights (2025)
“2024 average ad click through rates (CTRs) for paid search, display and social media”
Previous pre-2015 Doubleclick data shows an average CTR of just 0.05% for all display formats
URL: https://www.smartinsights.com/internet-advertising/internet-advertising-analytics/display-advertising-clickthrough-rates/

Marketing Insider Group (2023)
“Banner Ads Have 99 Problems And A Click Ain’t One”
Banner ad click through rates have fallen to less than 0.1%
URL: https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/banners-99-problems/

AdPushup
“9 Ways to Improve the Clickthrough Rates of Banner Ads”
There has been a continued decline in banner clickthrough rates, which where around 78% in 1994 and have fallen to 0.1% now
URL: https://www.adpushup.com/blog/9-ways-to-increase-the-clickthrough-rates-of-your-banner-ads/

MediaPost/Marketing Charts (2016)
“Research Brief: North America Banner Click Through Rate Up To 0.14%”
Based on Sizmek study analyzing hundreds of billions of impressions: “The North American average of 0.14% was slightly below the global average”
URL: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/290285/north-america-banner-click-through-rate-up-to-014.html

Quora – MediaMind Research Citation
“What are average click-through rates for mobile banner ads?”
MediaMind studied 21 billion telecom impressions that were delivered globally from Q2 2010 to Q1 2011: “Mobile Advertising CTRs averaging 0.64% while online banners had an average of 0.10%”
URL: https://www.quora.com/What-are-average-click-through-rates-for-mobile-banner-ads

Neurons
“How to Increase Display Ad CTR + Examples [Based on Neuroscience]”
“For standard banner ads, a CTR of 0.05% is considered average” and “A 2% click-through rate (CTR) for display ads can be considered good, as it is higher than the average CTR of 0.1%”
URL: https://www.neuronsinc.com/insights/increase-display-ad-ctr-examples-neuroscience

By Devon Kinkead

In today’s rapidly evolving credit marketing landscape, financial institutions face mounting challenges: rising direct mail costs (up 33.4% for USPS marketing mail), increasing demand for self-service options (nearly 100% of B2B buyers expect this), and the need for fully digital experiences (68% of buyers require this). Against this backdrop, the partnership between Micronotes and Experian represents a powerful solution that transforms how lenders approach credit marketing.

The Perfect Marriage: Micronotes Innovation Meets Experian’s Data Powerhouse

Micronotes Automated Prescreen, powered by Experian’s vast credit database, exemplifies the modern approach to credit prospecting that Experian champions in their comprehensive guide to navigating the prospecting landscape. This partnership delivers on all three pillars of Experian’s strategic framework: charting your course, sharpening your strategy, and broadening your horizons.

Charting Your Course with Precision Targeting

Experian’s self-service prescreen portal philosophy comes to life through Micronotes’ automated platform. While Experian provides the foundation with 230+ million consumer credit records updated weekly, Micronotes transforms this data into actionable, hyper-personalized campaigns that deliver FCRA-compliant firm offers of credit.

The beauty lies in the specificity. Instead of generic messaging, Micronotes leverages Experian’s comprehensive data to create offers like: “John, you can refinance your $40,639 debt from 19.890% to 8.642% and stop overpaying $280 per month in interest.” This level of personalization aligns perfectly with Experian’s emphasis on using advanced algorithms and credit data for precise targeting.

Sharpening Strategy Through Omnichannel Excellence

Experian’s prospecting guide emphasizes the growing importance of omnichannel marketing strategies. Micronotes Automated Prescreen delivers on this vision by offering multi-channel delivery through:

• Custom branded email campaigns
• Direct mail integration
• Digital banking re-presentment

This approach directly addresses the market realities Experian identifies: the need for unified, increasingly personalized messaging across traditional and digital channels. By combining Experian’s data with Micronotes’ behavioral economics messaging, financial institutions achieve higher conversion rates while maintaining negative loan acquisition costs.

Broadening Horizons with Comprehensive Solutions

Experian’s strategy guide advocates for managing prescreen, prequalification, and invitation-to-apply campaigns within one advanced system. Micronotes Automated Prescreen perfectly embodies this philosophy by supporting multiple loan types simultaneously:

• Auto Loan Refinance and Purchase
• Auto Lease-to-Own
• HELOC/HELOAN (Traditional or Consolidation)
• Personal Loans (Traditional or Consolidation)
• Mortgage New Home Purchase
• Credit Card (Balance Transfer or Rewards)

This comprehensive approach eliminates the product-of-the-month campaign mentality, replacing it with always-on marketing capabilities that align with Experian’s vision of streamlined, efficient prospecting.

Addressing Modern Prospecting Challenges

The Micronotes-Experian partnership directly tackles the key challenges outlined in Experian’s prospecting landscape analysis:

Rising Costs: By automating the entire prescreen marketing process and achieving negative acquisition costs through higher conversion rates, the solution addresses the 33.4% increase in mailing costs.

Self-Service Demand: The platform’s automation reduces manual labor while providing the self-service capabilities that modern buyers expect.

Digital Integration: Multi-channel delivery ensures that campaigns reach consumers through their preferred digital touchpoints.

Real-World Success: The Atlas Credit Model

The success story of Atlas Credit, highlighted in Experian’s materials, demonstrates the power of this integrated approach. By implementing Experian’s Ascend Marketing platform, which is the same data platform that drives Micronotes Automated Prescreen, Atlas Credit achieved:

• 185% increase in new loan originations
• 80% reduction in campaign delivery lead time
• Single-interface campaign management

These results mirror what Micronotes Automated Prescreen enables: faster time-to-market, improved conversion rates, and streamlined operations.

The Future of Intelligent Prospecting

As Experian notes in their 2025 outlook, constant changes in regulatory landscapes, consumer behaviors, and AI capabilities require adaptive solutions. Micronotes Automated Prescreen, built on Experian’s Ascend Data Services, provides the agility needed to navigate these shifting signals.

The platform’s smart targeting algorithms identify both cross-sell opportunities within existing customer bases and ideal prospects in new markets. This dual capability supports Experian’s strategic vision of expanding both market share and wallet share simultaneously.

Performance Tracking and Optimization

One of the most powerful aspects of the Micronotes-Experian partnership is the diagnostic reporting capability. The platform tracks conversions both at your institution and elsewhere – critical competitive intelligence that Experian emphasizes as essential for modern prospecting success.

This performance visibility enables continuous optimization, allowing financial institutions to refine their approach based on real market feedback rather than assumptions.

Conclusion: A Strategic Alliance for Modern Credit Marketing

Micronotes Automated Prescreen doesn’t just use Experian’s data – it embodies Experian’s entire prospecting philosophy. By combining Experian’s industry-leading credit information with Micronotes’ advanced automation and personalization capabilities, financial institutions gain a competitive advantage that addresses every challenge identified in Experian’s comprehensive market analysis.

The result is a solution that helps lenders prescreen smarter, not harder – achieving better outcomes through intelligence, automation, and strategic precision. In an era where successful prospecting requires speed, accuracy, and flexibility, the Micronotes-Experian partnership delivers all three, positioning financial institutions for sustained growth in an increasingly competitive market.

Ready to transform your credit marketing strategy? The combination of Micronotes’ automation expertise and Experian’s data leadership offers a clear path to more effective, efficient, and profitable customer acquisition, learn more.

By Devon Kinkead

Rising acquisition costs and dormant credit lines are pushing lenders to rethink prescreen marketing. TransUnion’s newest brief urges institutions to pursue credit users — customers who will actively revolve and re-engage — instead of mere credit-worthy takers. Micronotes agrees that usage is king, yet argues that always-on Automated Prescreen, powered by Experian, combined with 360-degree post-campaign analytics is what turns every outreach into a continually smarter, dollar-specific firm offer. Both aim for profitable engagement, but their paths — and their feedback loops — differ in crucial ways.

The Problem: Acquisition Cost Inflation

Pain Point	TransUnion	Micronotes + Experian
Acquisition cost trend	+45 % since 2020; > 50 % of new card lines sit inactive	Even a 10 bp lift in conversion rate can flip a campaign from cost center to profit engine when each offer is financially personalized
Targeting gap	Only 9 – 31 % of traditional prescreen names resemble an issuer’s “power users”	Real-time bureau math picks prospects who prove value (e.g., refinance savings) inside the offer itself

Why Utilization (Not Just Origination) Matters

• TransUnion reminds us that inactive lines destroy ROI; usage drives lifetime value.
• Micronotes pinpoints where usage density is highest — e.g., younger HELOC-for-debt-consolidation borrowers whose typical profile is 761 FICO, $140k income, 91 % card-utilization. Swapping low-utilization “takers” for these high-utilization segments can raise average portfolio utilization — and interest income — without opening more lines.

Segmentation Philosophy

Selection	TransUnion	Micronotes + Experian
Core filter	Geo-demo & behavioral look-alikes to existing “power users”	Real-time credit-bureau math that calculates exact dollar benefit of refinancing/consolidation
High-utilization flag	Historical revolve behavior across issuers	Equity ≥ 20 % and card-utilization ≥ 80 % (younger HELOC consolidators)
Success metric	More active accounts	Acceptance and built-in usage via visible savings

Offer Construction & Delivery

• TransUnion: Keep existing mail-house prescreen, but “propensity-swap” marginal prospects for slightly lower-score look-alikes with stronger usage likelihood, boosting originations by 26 %.
• Micronotes: Dynamic copy such as “Refinance your $37,900 at 8.7 % and save $265/mo” shows concrete cash-flow, then re-presents that savings across email, online banking and SMS until the borrower acts.

Post-Campaign Analytics: Micronotes’ 360-Degree Feedback Loop

Micronotes doesn’t stop at the funded loan. After each drop, the platform ingests multi-dimensional outcome data — loan amount, FICO, income, DTI, rate won/lost, CPA, etc. — and applies three programmatic levers:

1. Progressive Optimization Model – Treats every campaign as a controlled experiment; results feed the next predictive model to tighten targeting precision.
2. Competitive Gap Analysis – Surfaces the exact rate spread between wins and losses by segment, guiding pricing and positioning.
3. Segment-Level CPA Accounting – Calculates cost-per-acquisition by micro-segment, shifting budget to the most efficient pockets automatically.

The outcome: prescreen marketing evolves from quarterly “batch-and-blast” into a continuously optimized system that improves conversion and win-rate every cycle.

Operational Snapshot

Approach	TransUnion	Micronotes + Experian
Speed-to-market	Overlay new models on existing flows	Campaigns launch quickly; bureau refresh weekly
Compliance	Fits inside current FCRA rules	Disclosure, opt-out & audit trail embedded
Measurement loop	End-of-campaign origination/balance metrics	Real-time dashboards + 360-degree analytics close the loop and auto-refine next drop

Where They Converge — and Diverge

Lever	TransUnion Focus	Micronotes Focus	Why It Matters
Primary KPI	Active accounts & balance growth	Net interest income minus CPA and win-rate	Profit and improving competitiveness vs. volume
Average Utilization	Gradual lift via propensity swaps	Immediate spike via high utilization HELOC consolidators	Faster revenue realization
Tech Dependence	Moderate	High (full-stack SaaS + AI analytics)	Culture & budget fit

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A Unified Playbook

1. Score for Engagement – Use propensity models to rank users over takers.
2. Layer Financial Personalization – Add Micronotes’ dollar-savings math to every firm offer.
3. Prioritize High-Utilization Segments – Younger, equity-rich debt-consolidators deliver outsized utilization immediately.
4. Automate & Iterate – Feed Micronotes’ 360-degree analytics back into both the propensity model and the offer math so each drop gets sharper.
5. Measure Holistically – Track funded balance, win-rates, post-booking utilization and CPA by micro-segment — the real driver of lending ROI.

Final Word

TransUnion teaches why focusing on credit users is essential; Micronotes shows how to locate the richest pockets of those users, convert them with personalized math, and then use 360-degree post-campaign analytics to make the next campaign even better. Blend the two approaches and you move the conversation from “Will you take the credit?” to “Here’s how to optimize the credit you already use.” That’s a win for borrowers and the bottom line.

By Devon Kinkead

The reality check
Traditional institutions have watched $3 trillion flow out to fintech savings and investing apps in just five years — and the leak is worst among younger “Zillennials” who now juggle multiple primary providers and move money several times a month (The Financial Brand). The takeaway from Cornerstone Advisors’ research, featured in The Financial Brand, is clear: product-level primacy matters more than institution-level loyalty, and deposits will keep migrating to whoever solves the customer’s next job faster.

Let’s talk about how to deepen the deposit relationship by expanding wallet share, a proven retention strategy.

Four Micronotes Moves that Expand Wallet Share

Move	How it works in Micronotes	Resulting new products
1. Catch the life-event deposit	Exceptional Deposits engine flags statistical outliers the same day; a micro-interview asks,“What’s the plan for this $85,000?”	CDs, high-yield MMAs, wealth-management or trust accounts — increasing average products per customer immediately.
2. Personalize the cross-sell, don’t broadcast	AI models score attrition risk & intent; only the right customers see the right offer	Uptake of credit cards, personal/auto loans, insurance bundles — without rate giveaways.
3. Route hot leads to humans in real time	Warm lead (name, need, preferred channel) lands in a banker’s queue the same day	Banker closes higher-value, advice-heavy products (brokerage, robo-advice, college-savings, small-biz checking).
4. Reward loyalty instead of raising rates for everyone	Targeted “thank-you” rate bumps or bundled perks only for depositors at risk of flight	Retention of large balances while protecting net-interest margin.

Proof points

• >50% of life-event deposits leave within 90 days if no one reaches out. Institutions using Micronotes contact customers in week 1 and slash that attrition rate.
• In a recent community-bank campaign, 43 warm leads converted into $1.6 million of new CDs and investment balances in 67 days.
• Banks employing Micronotes’ Deposit Retention playbook report double-digit NPS gains and measurable growth in “quality deposits” — balances that stay longer and cross-buy more.

Putting it all together: from 2.1 to 4+ products per customer

1. Detect every large or unusual deposit automatically.
2. Diagnose stated intent via a 20-second micro-interview.
3. Deliver a curated next step:
   • “Grow it” → tiered CDs, managed accounts, robo portfolios, ESG funds.
   • “Protect it” → FDIC-insured sweep, trust/estate services, insurance.
   • “Spend it wisely” → debt pay-down offers, credit card balance transfers, budgeting tools.
4. Deepen the relationship with loyalty boosters (rate-boost, identity-theft protection, financial-wellness coaching).
5. Document & optimize — Micronotes’ reporting surfaces ROI down to the product-level so marketing dollars chase the biggest lift.

Follow this framework and a customer who once carried “one checking + one savings” can, within a single mobile session and a follow-up call, add:

• High-yield savings sub-account
• 12-month “growth CD”
• Micro-investing or advisory account
• Debit card round-up savings rule
• ID-theft protection add-on
• 12+ e-Services (e.g. mobile deposit capture, e-Statements, eAlerts)

That’s five products, stickier balances, and a far higher lifetime value — achieved without blanket rate wars or unwanted email blasts.

Next Step

Run a 90-day Micronotes Cross-Sell pilot on your online/mobile banking rails:

1. Upload customer account data.
2. Launch Micronotes Exceptional Deposits & Cross-Sell dialogues.
3. Measure retention lift, new-product adoption, and incremental NIM.

Within one quarter you’ll have the data — and the deposits — to prove you’re no longer a “payment motel,” but the primary financial partner your customers need in a fintech-first world.

A Recap of our Deposits Webinar with Fiserv

By Devon Kinkead

The Customer’s Quiet Crisis

Your depositor just wired in $85,000 after selling her condo. To the balance-sheet, it looks like great news—but to her, it’s a once-in-a-decade decision point. Within 90 days, more than half of “exceptional” life-event deposits like this one leave the institution when no one reaches out.

The Stakes for Your Institution

Rate volatility, fintech competition, and unprecedented customer mobility have made yesterday’s retention playbook—rate wars, mass e-mail blasts, reactive service—dangerously outdated. Losing just a handful of six-figure balances can erase months of loan growth.

Meet the Guide

Micronotes, a Boston-based fintech and long-time Fiserv partner, positions your bank or credit union as the guide your members need during high-stakes life events. Its promise: automate the old “large-deposit report + banker call” playbook so you intervene while the money is still in motion.

4. The Plan—Data Over Guesswork

Step	What Happens	Why It Matters
Detect	The Exceptional Deposits engine listens to daily balance feeds and flags statistical outliers in real time	Life-event signals surface instantly, not in next week’s/month’s report.
Engage	A personalized Microinterview fires in mobile/online banking and asks the customer’s intent	Captures needs (“pay down debt,” “invest,” etc.) inside the critical 7-day window.
Route	A warm lead—name, intent, requested action—lands in a banker’s queue same day	Enables proactive, hyper-relevant outreach that quadruples retention odds.

Go Beyond the Rate War

Micronotes’ life-event dialogues enable value-rich offers that protect margin:

• Guided wealth-transfer or trust consultations for inheritance windfalls.
• Tiered loyalty bonuses & automatic sweeps into high-yield money-market or CD products when balances exceed comfort thresholds.
• Personalized planning nudges (“Have you reviewed tax implications?”) delivered via mobile.
• Value-added bundles like ID-theft protection that have lifted NPS by 20+ points in pilots.

None of these require across-the-board repricing; they deepen relationships instead of surrendering spread.

Proof in the Numbers

• >50 % of life-event deposits leave within three months when ignored.
• Huge retention gains when the customer is contacted in the first week.
• Institutions report double-digit NPS gains from value-add bundles.

Success Story Blueprint

Community institutions already use the Micronotes Cross-Sell Exceptional Deposits workflow to convert deposit-flight risk into cross-sell growth and higher wallet share. Implementation is “XD-ready” for banks on Fiserv’s XD platform, keeping ramp-up time low.

A Clear Call to Action

1. Audit your last 30 days of large deposits—how many left?
2. Schedule a Micronotes Cross-Sell XD demo to see real-time detection in action.
3. Launch a pilot that marries automated detection with guided banker outreach.

When life events hit, be the financial guide your customers are searching for. Turn that fleeting influx of funds into lasting loyalty—before your competitors do.

By Devon Kinkead

The Story Your Audience Is Living

After three manic years—pandemic‐era liquidity, 2023 outflows into money-market funds, and the 2024 “will-they-won’t-they” Fed pivot—banks are asking the same question BAI poses in its latest Executive Report: How do we restore healthy deposit accounts and deeper engagement? (BAI)
BAI’s research team sees a rebound ahead but with an important caveat: “Positive deposit growth will likely return … but only if institutions focus on quality growth over quantity growth.” (BAI)

The Villain

Rate-induced churn and digital convenience still siphon balances:

• BAI’s 2024 Banking Outlook re-confirmed deposit growth as bankers’ #1 business priority, after 2023’s SVB-triggered flight to safety .
• Quality-deposit hot spots now move by ZIP-code-level pricing, real-time negotiable rates and gamified CDs—all trends spotlighted in the Special Report: Quality Deposit Growth & Customer Retention .
• Digitally opened accounts skew smaller and less loyal, unless FIs intervene with smarter onboarding and offers .

Meet the Guide—Micronotes

Micronotes’ targeted digital conversations operationalise the very tactics BAI urges:

1. Automate the “large deposit list & outreach plan” – To interview customers who just made a large deposit on their mobile phone.
2. Personalise the moment – Don’t advertise, ask and listen — automatically. Large deposits are life events, help customers through those life events and you’ll be richly rewarded.
3. Nurture to stickiness – Automate follow-ups to reinforce relationship depth so balances stay put.

The Plan

Step	What Micronotes Does	How It Maps to BAI + Special-Report Pain Points
1. Diagnose Deposit Drift	In-app Microinterviews + transaction analytics	Captures spikes (tax refunds, bonus season, home sales, inheritance) flagged by ProSight/BAI researchers
2. Precision Product Paths	Let the customer choose what they need (a new mortgage, wealth management advice, a CD) — don’t guess then advertise your wrong guess.	Supports BAI’s call for quality growth
3. Engage & Automate	Conversational offers flow through mobile, online and branch tablets	Meets BAI’s friction-free CX benchmark and boosts digital account averages that currently lag in-branch openings

Call to Action

Schedule a 30-minute Micronotes demo to see how targeted conversations lift deposit balances, cut funding costs, and keep you ahead of the next Fed pivot.

Success—What Winning Looks Like

• 20%+ of new deposits sourced digitally without shrinking average balance.
• CD share stabilises at ~20 % of portfolio—matching 2024 highs—but with longer tenors and lower repricing risk.
• Region-specific campaigns secure a “fair share of checking” in growth markets, just as BAI advises (BAI).

Failure—The Cost of Inaction

Ignore BAI’s warning and 2025 could replay 2023: balances migrate, funding costs spike, and the liquidity meant to fuel local lending evaporates.

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Executive Takeaways

1. Quality > Quantity – BAI’s latest data say so, and Micronotes makes it actionable.
2. Segment Like a Fintech – ZIP-code-level pricing and real-time rate negotiation are table stakes now.
3. Automate or Abdicate – 70 %+ straight-through account opening is the new baseline.
4. Conversation Beats Campaign – Continuous dialogues outperform one-and-done email blasts for retention.

“Positive deposit growth will likely return in the second half of 2024 … [but] focus on quality growth over quantity growth.” — Mark Riddle, BAI Director of Research Intelligence (BAI)

With Micronotes as your guide—and BAI’s research lighting the path—deposit growth isn’t just meaningful. It’s manageable, measurable, and profitable.

By Devon Kinkead

Mortgage originations may be stuck in a post-pandemic slump, but the path forward is hiding in plain sight: pair the digital muscle that trims cost and friction with the human guidance that turns complex borrowing decisions into lasting relationships. That is the core message of The Financial Brand’s recent feature on lenders who thrive in a volatile market by going “high tech with high touch.”(The Financial Brand) The same formula unlocks the even larger opportunity sitting on homeowners’ balance sheets—home-equity lines of credit (HELOCs).

1. Why the Dual Approach Works for Mortgages

• Efficiency wins first. PNC’s Home Insight Planner and Huntington’s real-time status tools strip days out of the closing timeline and slash expensive back-and-forth.(The Financial Brand)
• Empathy seals the deal. Golden 1 Credit Union’s John Fischer reminds us that borrowers still want a “trusted home-loan advisor,” not just a slick app.(The Financial Brand)
• Scale through partnerships. Mid-sized Midwest Bank shows that you don’t need megabank budgets; smart fintech partners can automate the heavy lifting so loan officers focus on advice, not paperwork.(The Financial Brand)

2. The HELOC Market Is Even Hotter

Micronotes’ recent research calls 2025 a “HELOC renaissance.” Record equity (median > 50%), $1.2 trillion in costly credit-card balances, and 61 percent of owners locked into sub-6 percent mortgages create a captive, credit-hungry audience.(Micronotes) Adjust those debt figures for inflation and the headline “debt crisis” all but disappears—real leverage is roughly flat since 2020, leaving 28.7 million homeowners with true borrowing headroom.(Micronotes)

In other words, the same consumers struggling to qualify for a new mortgage may be perfect candidates for a well-structured HELOC.

3. Bringing “High Tech” to Home-Equity Lending

Tech Lever	Mortgage Proof-Point	HELOC Application
Automated origination	PNC’s digital pre-qual sets expectations up-front (The Financial Brand)	Instant prescreen campaigns using Experian data flag equity-rich, high-utilization borrowers in minutes.(Micronotes, Micronotes)
Real-time status & e-closing	Huntington’s borrower dashboards reduce anxiety (The Financial Brand)	Remote online notarization and AVMs shrink HELOC funding cycles from 36 days to < 7.(Micronotes)
AI-driven personalization	Midwest Bank leverages fintech plumbing to scale advice (The Financial Brand)	Micronotes’ Automated Prescreen tailors messaging to the borrower’s actual savings from consolidating 20 %+ APR card debt into an 8 % HELOC.(Micronotes)

Result: faster cycle-times, lower unit costs, and FCRA-compliant offers that land while competitors are still pulling credit files.

4. Keeping the “High Touch” at the Center

1. Educate, don’t just pitch. Most consumers still think “HELOC = kitchen remodel.” Show them the math on swapping 21.6 % card debt for single-digit secured rates; real cash-flow relief builds loyalty.(Micronotes)
2. Coach through trade-offs. Variable-rate fears are real; loan officers can present fixed-draw or hybrid options that mirror personal-loan certainty while preserving HELOC flexibility.(Micronotes)
3. Map the bigger journey. A borrower who uses equity to consolidate debt today is a prime candidate for solar upgrades tomorrow or cash-out refi when rates normalize. Advisory follow-ups turn one-time draws into lifetime share-of-wallet.

5. Strategic Payoff for Lenders

• Profitable growth: secured, prime-credit loans with higher average balances and lower default risk than personal loans.
• Deposit defense: deeper relationships discourage rate-shopping and account attrition.
• First-mover advantage: digital lenders like Figure and Rocket are already grabbing share; traditional FIs that modernize now can still lead, not follow.(Micronotes)

Bottom Line

The mortgage playbook proves that blending automation with authentic advice is the only sustainable way to serve today’s borrowers. Apply that same “high tech, high touch” philosophy to home-equity lending and you unlock a $25 trillion reservoir of value—for your customers and your balance sheet.

Volatility isn’t a signal to retreat; it’s a mandate to innovate. Lenders that harness data, speed, and human insight side-by-side won’t just weather the storm—they’ll own the next growth cycle.