Credit union lending: unlock growth with Property Insights

Credit unions are missing millions in lending opportunities every day. When loan applications get declined due to incomplete financial pictures, members walk away disappointed and loan books stay smaller than they could be.

NestEgg’s Property Insights changes this by giving credit unions access to comprehensive property data that turns previously declined applications into approved loans, unlocking significant growth potential for their lending portfolios.

When credit unions first started lending, assets were as important as credit history. Credit committees would interview borrowers and ask about property and other assets. In fact, credit data was rarely used. Decisions were based on the applicants ‘balance sheet’ as much as their ‘profit and loss’.

Now NestEgg’s is bringing some of this traditional approach back into its Decision Engine. A new Property Insights feature will help credit unions make more informed decisions that take into account what is likely to be an applicant’s most valuable asset; their home.

Lending decisions based on a half picture

Whilst credit history and spending are crucial indicators of credit worthiness, they miss a fundamental piece of the puzzle: assets. Specifically, property assets that represent, on average, 40% of net wealth in the UK.

This blind spot means missed opportunities. Borrowers with adverse credit history but substantial property equity are declined, despite potentially lower, overall risk. Additionally manual inefficiencies can lead to longer loan turnaround as Loan Officers spend valuable time manually researching property values for larger applications.

Unlock hidden equity, approve more loans

NestEgg’s Property Insights feature transforms loan assessment by automatically incorporating property data into lending decisions. When a borrower confirms they’re a homeowner, the Decision Engine provides detailed information about their home.

Comprehensive property information including current market value, outstanding mortgage balances, and a calculated equity position alongside property tenure. As a result, Loan Officers can instantly evaluate available security, assess debt-to-assets ratios, and evaluate borrower stability. All without manual property searches or valuations:

From Council Tax to transaction history: a complete property picture

Details about Council Tax are provided to support affordability assessments:

For lenders considering home improvement loans and mortgages property type provides insight into the home that is going to be improved or held as security for any mortgage:

The transaction history is also provided.. Loan Officers can see whether the home that may help reduce the risk of the the loan is appreciating in value:

Unlocking loan income

Homeowner loans are a perfect fit for Property Insights.

An average homeowner loan is £5,000. Applicants have incomes of over £3,500. Credit profiles are good. Nevertheless 15% of loans are declined because of a County Court Judgement or default. However, the average value of those defaults is under £300 and the CCJ less than £400. In such cases it is likely that a decline could turn to accept if the Loan Officer was safe in the knowledge that there was, for example, plenty of equity in their property.

Turning just 100 such loans to accept would generate almost £77,000 of additional loan interest (9.9% APR, over 36 months).

Reduce turnaround time

Property Insights replaces time-consuming manual property searches with instant, automated data retrieval. Loan Officers can focus on relationship building and complex decision-making rather than administrative research tasks.

Ready to transform your lending decisions?

Property Insights represents the next step in bringing different data sets together for credit decisioning in one place. No more switching systems and broken audit trails. Property Insights is about taking a holistic approach to credit assessment that includes, not just debts but also assets.

If you’re an existing user of NestEgg, contact us via support to switch on this new feature. If you’re new to NestEgg, you can use our Decision Engine to assess a subset of you products. Together with soft credit checks and Risk Based Pricing, lenders are seeing 40%+ increases in loans issued to homeowners each month.