In the face of high home prices and steep mortgage rates, the financial health fintech will connect struggling homeowners with resources to get back on their feet.

CHICAGO, October 22, 2024 – SpringFour, the first-of-its-kind, leading financial health fintech, has unveiled its revamped and expanded mortgage relief resources as the American Rescue Plan’s Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) programs shutter their doors. SpringFour will now connect homeowners to non-profit, government, and other mortgage relief resources in more than 700 locations nationwide, many of which are aimed at preventing foreclosure and helping homeowners stay afloat.

In the midst of today’s housing affordability crisis, homeowners often struggle to make ends meet. According to a recent survey, up to 62% of homeowners have struggled to make their mortgage payments on time. More than half of recent home buyers (56%) reported feeling financially overwhelmed since purchasing their homes, while 27% said their overall financial situation had deteriorated since becoming homeowners.

What’s more, foreclosures are on the rise in 2024—up 3% from last year. Americans continue to face high home prices, steep mortgage rates, rising insurance premiums, and even the possibility of losing their homes.

Beginning in 2021, HAF programs provided a lifeline to homeowners facing Covid-19-related foreclosures. SpringFour provided almost half a million referrals to HAF programs during the pandemic, with the peak of consumers accessing SpringFour’s Mortgage Relief/HAF resources occurring in the third quarter of 2022. At a time when there was confusion about the HAF program availability and details, SpringFour created easily digestible summaries for homeowners that were reviewed and updated every week. This added tremendous value for companies and their customers, who were two times more likely to engage in foreclosure prevention and payment programs after receiving SpringFour referrals.

Now, with HAF funding winding down and most programs already closed, many homeowners don’t know where to turn for mortgage assistance.

That’s why SpringFour—which helps financial institutions, mortgage servicers, and other businesses deliver vetted financial health solutions to their consumers—has expanded its mortgage relief resources to include more than 300 non-profit, government, and other resources (outside of the HAF programs) for homeowners having difficulty making their mortgage payments and facing foreclosure. Resources include emergency financial assistance for short-term hardships and programs to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. SpringFour has also released an updated Financial Health Resource Guide for Mortgage Assistance to reflect the resources available to consumers today and moving forward.

Since its launch in 2005, SpringFour has connected millions of Americans to resources that improve their financial health. In 2023 alone, SpringFour delivered more than 5.5 million financial health referrals in partnerships with leading banks, credit unions, employers, mortgage servicers, and more. In Q2 of 2024, SpringFour delivered more than 2 million financial health referrals to consumers in need—13% more than the previous quarter and more in one quarter than ever before.

Since 2021, Freedom Mortgage, one of the largest full-service mortgage companies and a top Veterans Administration (VA) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lender in the U.S., has worked with SpringFour to offer relief to consumers: “Customer service and keeping customers in their homes are our top priorities, including providing our customers with free resources—such as SpringFour’s easy-to-use online platform—for those who may need financial assistance in addition to the mortgage assistance we provide. It has helped families who are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table. We’re proud to continue this partnership,” said David Sheeler, senior executive vice president and president of residential servicing at Freedom Mortgage.

“As HAF programs close, our Mortgage Relief resources provide a place for homeowners to turn. The current cost-of-living increases have created challenges for many homeowners and have made it harder for homeowners to stay afloat. We’re committed to empowering organizations with the trustworthy resources they need to support their consumers’ ability to reduce missed mortgage payments, pay off debts, and stay in their homes, enabling them to navigate emergency situations and create a path toward sustainable financial futures,” said Rochelle Nawrocki-Gorey, founder and CEO of SpringFour.

Learn more about SpringFour.

About SpringFour

Founded in 2005, SpringFour is the first-of-its-kind, leading social impact fintech that empowers banks, credit unions, fintech lenders, employers, loan servicers, mortgage insurers, nonprofits, and organizations across all industries to connect consumers with vetted, local nonprofit and government financial health resources. Trusted by leading organizations including Capital One, BMO, Fifth Third Bank, MSUFCU, M&T Bank, OppFi, KeyBank, Patelco Credit Union, Avant, Enova, Oportun, Mission Lane, and more, SpringFour’s product suite includes an innovative contact center tool, digital self-service products, and APIs that increase payment performance, add brand value, strengthen customer relationships, drive ESG and social impact, support consumer financial health, and improve bottom lines. SpringFour has received many prestigious awards including American Banker’s Most Influential Women in Fintech, Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 250, Real Leaders’ Top Impact Companies, Fast Company’s Brands that Matter, Finovate’s Innovator of the Year, and more. SpringFour was recently acquired by C&R Software, a CORA Group company and subsidiary of Constellation Software, Inc., the 23rd largest software company in the world with an $80B market cap. 

Our hearts are heavy as we watch the news of historic natural disasters that have occurred this season. We are thinking of the numerous people impacted by disasters such as Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton — and our clients are thinking of them, too. 

We’ve received a number of inquiries from our clients asking how they can leverage SpringFour’s financial health resources to support their customers through natural disaster response and recovery. We’re here to show you all the ways SpringFour can bolster your disaster response and recovery offerings to support consumers with vetted, nonprofit and government resources that help them regain a sense of stability in the response phase and create a long-term recovery plan for managing income, expenses, and debt.

Natural disasters can be shocking and life-altering, especially when the impact becomes far greater than expected or those who were unable to adequately prepare. After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, our expert Resource Integrity Team knew how to respond by monitoring, adding, and updating recovery resources that continued becoming available for years afterward. We’ve been doing this for a long time and we know what resources to trust, to recommend, and what people might need. 

Start Your Response Now — And Continue Providing Support Through Recovery

While organizations need to respond quickly to these types of events, it is imperative that they continue to support consumers as their need grows in the coming weeks and months. 

In the wake of a natural disaster, most consumers in the response phase are looking to solve for their immediate needs. Many are still without food, water, shelter, power, internet, cell service, and other basic necessities. They are not checking their emails or doing financial planning; they are still taking inventory of available resources for survival, assessing damages, and working to regain access to immediate needs before transitioning to long-term recovery efforts.

A recent statement by SBP, a nonprofit organization that helps disaster victims, states:

Organizations must reflect on what support they have to offer consumers and determine whether those resources will meet their consumers’ needs — not only right now, but also as consumers develop a long-term recovery plan, which can take weeks, months, or even years to execute.

At SpringFour, we understand that different resources are needed during disaster response and recovery. We work to ensure those valuable resources are available and easy to find for your consumers, so that all you have to do is connect the consumer to SpringFour. Our expert Resource Integrity Team closely monitors resources to determine which are the most helpful and keeps them updated so you don’t have to keep track of them. 

Long-Term Recovery Must Be Prioritized in Addition to Immediate Response

People may not be calling their financial institutions for help yet, but organizations need to be prepared for how to respond when consumers inevitably reach out looking for more support in the coming weeks and months. 

Luckily, this gives organizations time to implement innovative solutions to support consumers who need help through disaster recovery. They need to ensure that their employees understand the organization’s response and recovery offerings so that employees can successfully deliver tangible support to consumers in their time of need. 

Here are several key components to successful long-term disaster recovery that SpringFour can help with.

Preparing a plan for managing income, expenses, and debt

Recovering from a natural disaster requires building a long-term plan for how to manage income, additional expenses, and debt due to the natural disaster. SpringFour’s resources help consumers reduce their expenses and access other valuable financial health support so they can focus their energy on recovery. 

Providing a source of truth with reliable resources 

Our finger is on the pulse of trending consumer needs and our resources are continuously updated, so no one searching for SpringFour’s disaster recovery resources is led to a dead end or a resource without available funds.

Preventing misinformation, scams, and malicious actors 

SpringFour’s Resource Integrity Team vets and curates every available resource, leaving our clients assured that their consumers will never be directed to misinformation, scams, or malicious actors looking to take advantage of those recovering from a natural disaster. 

Elevating vulnerable communities

The SBP statement also says:

Organizations must consider their most vulnerable populations and build a path forward to help connect those consumers with the financial health resources they want and deserve when they’re needed most. 

What you should be doing and how SpringFour can help

While our collective attention moves on from disaster coverage and relief in the coming months, the need for recovery resources is just beginning.

Immediately following a disaster, resources generally come from national organizations and the federal government to address immediate needs. In the weeks and months after the disaster, as damage and resource needs have been assessed, local nonprofits and foundations get more involved and provide additional resources. 

SpringFour’s Resource Integrity Team is full of industry experts who know what resources to look for and which resources are trustworthy. We continuously monitor for additional resources as they come online and update our resource database to ensure that every search surfaces relevant, trusted, nonprofit and government resources that support consumers with their type of financial need in their local area. 

SpringFour never charges the consumer to receive financial health resources, which increases accessibility for underserved communities and empowers consumers to make payments, grow savings, and build financial health. SpringFour’s self-serve solutions are accessible digitally 24/7, allowing consumers to search for the resources they need, anytime they need them. 

Provide Consumers with SpringFour’s Disaster Relief Category

SpringFour’s Disaster Relief Category includes a variety of resources that can support consumers who are responding to or recovering from a natural disaster.

Our expertly-authored Financial Health Resource Guides provide money-saving tips on a variety of topics. The Disaster Relief Financial Health Resource Guides include information and resources on recovery from different natural disasters such as fires, floods, and tornados. The Guides also offer tips for navigating the application for federal assistance from FEMA and other disaster benefits that survivors are eligible for. These Guides surface when any search is made for SpringFour’s Disaster Relief resources. 

As FEMA disaster declarations are issued, we add those at the county level when a county is eligible for Individual Assistance. We add the declaration as a resource so that the application for assistance from FEMA is easy to find with a quick search for Disaster Relief resources.

There are also referrals to city and county emergency management agencies. The emergency management agencies provide the most up-to-date information about disaster response efforts in their immediate area. 

We add other resources as they come online, especially as they assist with the recovery and rebuild phases. That can be weeks (and months) after the disaster initially occurred, but that is when people have moved past the initial phase of damage assessment and need support with preparing a plan for financial recovery and rebuilding.

In Q2 2024 compared to Q2 2023, SpringFour saw a 40% increase in demand for Disaster Relief resources, and we know demand will continue as those who have been affected recover from the natural disaster they experienced. 

Offer Other SpringFour Categories That Support Disaster Relief Efforts

At SpringFour, we also know that long-term recovery needs will expand beyond the resources strictly dedicated to disaster relief. Many categories of SpringFour’s financial health resources can help with disaster recovery efforts. 

Develop a Disaster Relief Landing Page

Creating a dedicated disaster relief landing page that links to SpringFour helps consumers know where to go to access resources that support their disaster recovery efforts — on their own time, when they need them most.

Update the Categories of Resources You Offer

If you already work with SpringFour and would like to update the categories available in your SpringFour solutions, we can help you do that quickly. To update your categories, reach out to your Client Success manager or impact@springfour.com.

Build a Dedicated Disaster Relief Deployment

Whether you’re a current client or brand new to SpringFour, we can help you quickly build a SpringFour deployment that is geared directly toward those affected by natural disasters. Once built, you will be able to provide effective, reliable financial health resources to anyone affected by a natural disaster now and in the future. 

To get started on your disaster relief deployment, reach out to sales@springfour.com or let us know here.

Phylicia Clifton

Senior Manager, Client Success & Impact, SpringFour

Missy brings over 20 years of expertise in the government payments industry, particularly in EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer). Her diverse experience spans implementations, program management, card services, and relationship management, making her an ideal fit as SpringFour’s Director of Business Development.

Having worked for major financial institutions and fintech companies, Missy excels at forging meaningful, empathy-driven partnerships with her clients and colleagues. Her extensive management of large state government assistance programs has deepened her understanding of the urgent need for timely financial support.

With an infectious energy and passion for enhancing financial health through SpringFour’s resources, Missy is eager to connect and collaborate with you!

What excites you about being part of SpringFour?

Oh goodness, so many things excite me about being a part of this incredible SpringFour team. What gets me most excited is our shared passion for helping others who are suffering financial hardships. The energy and dedication of our team is contagious. Whether we’re on a prospect call or in a morning huddle, I feel it and it motivates me to get SpringFour into the hands of every single person.

What does financial health mean to you?

As I ‘mature’ everything about my health continues to be prioritized in my life… mental, physical, relationships, spiritual, and, of course, financial. To me, financial health has three key components: knowledge to make the right choices about money, control over decisions affecting my financial life, and security of knowing that there are places I can turn to when financial hardships occur.

What financial health trends do you expect to see in the near future?

I think more financial institutions, both large and small, will continue to focus on building financial confidence amongst the underbanked community. No one person’s financial profile looks the same as another’s, and organizations need to make efforts to offer customizable and attainable solutions that meet the ever-changing needs along one’s lifelong financial journey.

What gets you up in the morning?

The smell of coffee, daily NYT puzzles, my sunrise workout girls, buttery croissants, and the opportunity to make a difference through my work with a mission-driven brand like SpringFour.

What is your financial health rule to live by?

“Wants vs. Needs.” It’s very simple to say, but it’s hard to prioritize needs when there are so many wants. I have a slight obsession with home decor — my husband and kids concur. I’ll often visit my favorite store, Homegoods, and peruse the aisles of stuff that I certainly don’t ‘need’ but I sure do ‘want.’ I’ve learned the importance of prioritizing needs, such as groceries, utility bills, and mortgage payments, and recognizing when certain expenses, such as dining out, travel, and home accents, are wants that I may not need to buy now. For items that fall into the want category, I set aside a modest budget each month. This allows me to enjoy the things in life that bring me joy but still have reasonable limits.

Missy Hansen

Business Development Director, SpringFour