Method launches Portfolio Intelligence for lenders

Method has launched Portfolio Intelligence for lenders, a product designed to monitor borrowers after loan origination.

The Austin-based financial connectivity company said the service is already live with multiple customers and is aimed at lenders with existing books of borrowers, including mortgage servicers, personal loan providers, credit unions and fintechs.

According to Method, Portfolio Intelligence tracks a borrower's liability profile across more than 90 financial health signals through direct connections to thousands of financial institutions. Lenders receive alerts when borrowers cross predefined thresholds, helping them identify changes in repayment patterns, utilisation and other indicators.

Method said the product is built to continue monitoring after a borrower gives consent at origination, without requiring further reauthentication. The approach is intended to avoid the periodic data pulls and manual uploads that have often shaped similar monitoring efforts.

Pilot Results

As an early example of the product's use, Method pointed to an eight-week pilot with a national mortgage provider. In that trial, the lender recorded a 40% increase in borrowers who qualified for debt consolidation and a 27% increase in borrowers eligible for home equity lines of credit, according to the company.

Method also said the pilot helped borrowers move from a median credit card annual percentage rate of 24% to a mortgage rate of about 7%, reducing avoidable interest debt by roughly USD 4,000 per borrower.

The launch targets an area of the lending market that has drawn more attention as lenders look beyond origination for growth and risk management. Rather than relying only on credit checks at the application stage, they have been looking for ways to track changes in a customer's broader debt position over time.

Method said lenders can use the monitoring data in three main ways: to identify customers who may qualify for another product, spot signs of credit deterioration, and reconnect with applicants who were previously declined. Examples cited by the company include falling utilisation rates, stronger payment behaviour, payment-to-minimum ratios and borrowers who have switched off autopay.

Market Reach

Method said its broader platform connects with more than 20,000 financial institutions and is used by more than 100 fintechs and financial institutions. More than 55 million people have connected liabilities through its system, and one in three credit cards is connected to its network, the company said.

The company counts SoFi, Figure, Bilt, Aven and Cleo among the organisations using its services. Method's platform focuses on liability data, aiming to give lenders visibility into obligations that may sit outside their own internal records.

Jose Bethancourt, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Method, said the launch responds to a longstanding problem for lenders trying to understand existing customers after the initial loan decision.

"Current data and connectivity options in financial services are unreliable and don't provide a comprehensive picture of liabilities, reducing the accuracy of targeting. We think our Portfolio Intelligence tool addresses both of these gaps," said Jose Bethancourt, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Method.

He added that lenders have struggled to identify both commercial opportunities and signs of risk within their back books.

"We're excited to launch Portfolio Intelligence because we've been hearing from our customers and prospects for a long time about the cost this has on their business, leaving them blind to both the opportunities and risks within their existing customer set," Bethancourt said.