I’m an amateur baker, which means I have way too many ingredients in my pantry and probably too many cookbooks. When I find a recipe that I like, I just can’t resist making it again and again until it’s perfect (and since it’s dessert my family doesn’t complain). I like to share my recipes with anyone who is interested because I believe that we can all benefit from a good meal.

I’m also a financial technology professional and the VP of Data Integrity at SpringFour. SpringFour’s award winning solutions inspire me to work everyday to ensure that the resources our customers access are the very best possible. So in the spirit of recipe sharing, I’m going to outline the four key ingredients that make up SpringFour’s data integrity strategy and insure that we are delivering the best data possible to our clients. 

It’s no secret that we like the number four. SpringFour’s FOUR guiding principles: connections, impact, integrity and savings are informed by our mission to connect consumers to the financial health resources they need. Our executive team of FOUR committed go-getters and do-gooders, has been recognized by our partners and the industry, including large financial institutions and innovative FinTechs, for excellent relationship management, forward thinking, commitment and innovation in the field of financial health.

So what’s the winning recipe?

Step 1:  Professionally Vetted

In the age of AI and advanced technology many people are surprised to learn that SpringFour resources are updated manually. Each listing is reviewed by a trained human eye at least 3 times before being seen by a consumer. 

Web scraping, the process of importing information from a website into your own files or spreadsheets, is used by many other referral systems as the source of the information they provide to their customers. We don’t do it, ever. Ethical concerns aside, those of us that work with data in the realm of public policy know that there is no perfect tool for evaluating the complexity of a nonprofit and government program offering. A computer can not look at a list of services or even a list of phone numbers and decide which would be the most useful to a person struggling with a number of financial challenges.   

Instead, we rely on the eyes and experience of talented people who review each resource for suitability and accuracy. Our Resource Integrity Team includes quality control specialists and research analysts with years of experience in housing, community development, social services, community health, education, and small business development. Our team of nonprofit and business professionals have graduate degrees, serve on nonprofit boards, and volunteer in their community. 

Our passionate team is motivated by the impact their meticulous work has on hundreds of thousands of people who receive SpringFour referrals each year. 

“It’s amazing to work for a fintech company that is focused on a mission to help those that are less fortunate. Through the training process I learned about the sheer number of resources that SpringFour provides to those that are down on their luck. Everything from utility assistance, to immigration support, to paying for medication.  And there are numerous resources across several categories in every state. Each listing provides all of the information you need to make a call or visit a location to take advantage of those services. It really is a game changer and I’m so excited to be a part of the team.”

Jessica Williams, Resource Integrity Specialist,  SpringFour

Step 2: Curated

Not only is our information vetted but it is also heavily curated. According to the National Center of Charitable Statistics, there are 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. In New York City alone there are close to 100,000 nonprofit agencies, meaning it would take a New Yorker about 30 years to call every agency to find help. 

People in financial crisis are already overwhelmed. A survey last year found that 85% of Americans are stressed about money. For those that turn to the internet for help, the sheer amount of information can result in a feeling of powerlessness and confusion. A person searching Google for “help with debt” will see 500 million results, many of which are unscrupulous actors that may wish to take advantage of a desperate situation. 

Similarly, call center agents and counselors looking to help their customers don’t have the extra time it takes to sift through most referral websites. Agents that are juggling back-to-back calls, pulling up financial information and listening to customer concerns, need to find relevant information that can be reviewed and delivered in a matter of seconds. 

Our goal at SpringFour is not to list everything available, but to list the very best resources available at the local and national level, for each particular financial challenge. 

Step 3: Unbiased

Our revenue model allows our data integrity team to be completely unbiased in their work. Other applications in the hands of consumers charge a “referral fee” to organizations and companies who wish to be listed or earn affiliate fees for the products or services that are “recommended”. SpringFour never charges the organizations listed in our database or accepts any kind of self-reported information. Any information that comes through our doors is always vetted and evaluated by our professional data team. 

“It’s great to have a service like this that provides unbiased referrals to non-profit and government services because we never have to question the authenticity of the information we’re passing on to our clients in need”.

-Non-profit Counselor

Step 4: Quality

The talent of our professional data team combined with our processes for vetting and curating contributes to a resource quality that is unmatched in our industry. The protocols for updating our proprietary database meets or exceeds Information & Referral (211) Quality Assurance Standards. Our own quality standards are outlined and reviewed bi-annually. 

We’ve been perfecting this strategy since 2005 to bring our users and their customers resources they can trust.  

So if you’ve ever tasted a perfectly crafted tart or pie crust (here’s my favorite recipe by the way), you’ve benefited from a pastry chef who knows the benefit of following a strict process and taking the extra time to get it right. I believe we should expect the same from our data, especially when people’s financial health is at risk. 

Are you hungry for trusted resources? Want to find out more about how you can leverage our vetted and curated quality resources and easy-to-use platform to help your customers? Get in touch. 

Cassandra Compton

Vice President, Data Integrity & User Experience, SpringFour Inc.

Over the weekend, my niece who recently graduated from college was asking for my advice about doing some community service. She received a grant that would allow her to work anywhere in the country, so she asked me “Where do people need the most help?”. Should she go to a rural impoverished area? Big city facing gentrification? Southern state? Disaster prone area? As the VP of Data Integrity at SpringFour, I am often asked how we decide where to offer financial health resources. 

While the economy and the job market have boomed in the post-financial crisis period, Americans living in “distressed” zip codes are struggling to find stability. These zip codes are increasingly rural and suffer from low job creation and crippling levels of student debt. 

But while high income areas in Coastal and Northern cities may seem ideal, states experiencing the most economic boom are also the communities with the highest numbers of people who are living paycheck to paycheck. They are facing housing shortages and an affordability crisis that has led to historic numbers of working families that can’t afford basic needs and levels of homelessness that remain stubbornly high despite economic growth. Nationwide middle class people are falling deeper into debt just to afford a middle class lifestyle.

So the answer is; people need the most help everywhere. That’s a pretty grim picture to paint for a young person looking to make an impact on her own. But it also gets to the heart of our mission at SpringFour, the simplicity and accessibility of the products we offer, and how we approach building our proprietary database of financial health resources. We understand that serving America’s diversity means investing our research and development efforts all over the map. Our annual growth plan considers a variety of factors including population size, community needs, and market availability. 

Nationwide coverage means that we provide the best curated and vetted financial health resources to as many people as possible, and we work every day to grow that number. 

That’s why we are pleased to announce that SpringFour offers full coverage in 475 cities in 175 Metro Areas. If resources are not available in a rural zip code, we offer statewide and national resources that can help people by phone or online. No matter where a person lives, we want them to be able to find help through SpringFour. 

Don’t see your service area on the coverage map? We work with our subscribers to add resources where their customers need them most. 

The best thing about our work at SpringFour is that we aren’t doing this on our own. We work with dozens of companies and nonprofits to provide real impact with over 1 million financial health referrals made annually. Our subscribers understand that it’s more important than ever to have a presence in as many communities as possible, not only because it helps their bottom line, but because underbanked communities and the people who call these neighborhoods home deserve access to transparent lending products, asset development tools, and ways to save. 

If you’d like information about how SpringFour is helping leading Financial Institutions, FinTechs, and Nonprofits see results nationwide let us know. We’d love to chat . 

Cassandra Compton

Vice President, Data Integrity & User Experience, SpringFour Inc.

We are excited to announce that SpringFour and BMO Harris Bank have been named a finalist for the 2019 BAI Global Innovation Awards for our partnership.

Facilitated by BAI—a nonprofit, independent organization that delivers the financial services industry’s most actionable insights—the BAI Global Innovation Awards honor the most transformative solutions in the financial services industry worldwide.

Now in its ninth year, the BAI Global Innovation Awards recognizes leading financial services organizations on a global scale. Through hundreds of applications, the Innovation Circle, a panel of global financial services innovation leaders who thoroughly review each application, determined the top submissions. The judges weigh each innovation on originality and impact on consumers and the industry. This year’s finalists showcase what leading financial services innovators in all regions of the world are doing to deliver new value to customers and employees, as well as improve efficiencies and profitability for their organizations.

We are honored to have been chosen as a finalist for Innovation in Societal and Community Impact together with BMO Harris Bank. Together, SpringFour and BMO Harris Bank have increased opportunities for financial health and have helped BMO Harris Bank customers get back on track with their payments. 

As a Certified B Corporation, we are extra proud to be named a finalist in this category. Every day our team works to ensure that people who are struggling financially have the help they need and deserve to get back on track. Thank you to BAI and to the judges for recognizing our work. 

To learn more about our partnership and why our work was recognized, read here.

Read the BAI Press Release for the awards here.

Rochelle Nawrocki Gorey

Co-Founder & CEO, SpringFour Inc.

Since our participation in the BMO Harris/1871 Fintech Partnership Program and the official deployment of SpringFour applications at the Bank in August of 2018, SpringFour and BMO Harris have had a fantastic partnership.

BMO Harris collections agents embraced the use of SpringFour right out of the gate.  With consistent use on every call, this team quickly experienced tremendous results that allowed them to be more effective. Customers were pleased to be offered assistance, and collections agents were thrilled to have a tool providing for immediate and actionable help.

In March of 2019, we partnered with BMO Harris Bank to survey their collections agents to better understand their experience. And the responses were overwhelmingly positive:

* 95% of agents agreed that S4pro is easy to use.

* 94% of agents agreed that S4pro allows them to provide referrals to high-quality, local financial wellness resources for BMO Harris Bank customers.

* 86% of agents agreed that using S4pro has improved their ability to provide better customer service.

* 90% agreed that BMO Harris Bank customers appreciate the referrals they receive from S4pro.

After receiving such positive survey responses, we wanted to go more in-depth to learn about the collectors’ SpringFour experiences, and gain insight into what about SpringFour was enriching the experience and creating successful outcomes for the bank and its customers. We sat down with Jennifer Mota (pictured above), Sr. Manager for the U.S. Collections Call Center, to discuss our uniquely successful relationship. Here is what she said:

We began by talking about what working with SpringFour overall has been like:

Q: Many established financial institutions experience difficulty working with Fintechs because of challenges with integration, compliance, and scale.  Is this your first experience working with a Fintech solution? If so, how has your experience been? 

A: “This is not my first experience working with Fintechs. The experience (with SpringFour) has been flawless with open lines of communication and quick responses to help guide us through set up, maintenance of program, and issues or suggestions.”

Q: Why do you think BMO Harris makes a good partner for a Fintech like SpringFour?

A: “I believe that the open lines of communication, allowing feedback, and suggestions builds a stronger partnership.  We have provided feedback and requests for changes to program selections based on what our customers are asking for and SpringFour has been quick to listen and implement changes. The communication and openness to hear feedback has been outstanding.  The support we receive from SpringFour has been second to none.” 

Q: What were you most excited about in bringing SpringFour applications to your collections team?

A: “The most exciting part has been the opportunity to provide our customers with additional assistance that was not available prior to implementation.  Our goal is to reduce delinquency and assist our customers on finding solutions to rectify any hardships.”

We then dove into how Jennifer’s agents feel about the S4pro tool, and how it has changed their interactions with customers:

Q: How has SpringFour changed the conversations your collectors are having with customers, and do you have a specific example that shows how these conversations are changing?

A: “Conversations with our customers have changed as we have increased our range of services that may provide assistance.  One specific example is an agent spoke with a customer who was delinquent due to losing their job.  That agent provided several SpringFour referrals.  We spoke with the customer again a few months later and he had advised us that he had fallen behind on his payments due to losing his job, but was going to be starting a new job soon due to the referral that we provided through SpringFour.  The customer has since caught up on past due payments.”

Q: What are you hearing from members of your team about SpringFour? 

A: “They are relieved that there is an opportunity to help our customers with the referrals and providing assistance makes the calls much easier.”

Q: BMO executives have shared that SpringFour is a win win for the bank. Can you tell us more about how you see this play out in your daily experience with SpringFour applications?

A: “Even if we haven’t identified a hardship when speaking with a customer, most of my agents will still offer it.  Offering SpringFour has opened up communication between our agents and customers. The application is extremely easy to use which allows my agents to move through their calls.”

And finally, we talked about how BMO Harris customers have responded to receiving referrals through SpringFour:

Q: What are you hearing from your customers?

A: “I think our customers are shocked that we are providing assistance and not just demanding money.  Many have thanked us for offering potential solutions that other institutions are not offering.”

Thank you to BMO Harris Bank, and to Jennifer Mota, for sharing their insights and experience with us. By taking the time to document and share user experiences, we are helping to shine the spotlight on how Fintech and bank partnerships can work together to successfully move the needle and positively impact the lives of so many individuals and families living paycheck to paycheck.

Katie Gottschall Donohue

Vice President, Strategy and Customer Engagement, SpringFour

Our Co-Founder and CEO, Rochelle Gorey, had the opportunity recently to sit down with Scott Kitun for the Technori Podcast and share more about our work, highlight our partnerships with U.S. Bank and BMO Harris Bank, and what it means to be a social impact fintech.   

Take a listen to the engaging conversation as Scott and Rochelle delve into the financial health industry, social impact, savings, and what companies can do to help their customers’ or employees’ financial wellness and their bottom line:

They cover the past: “From the very beginning our intent was to help people, and we were going to create a product that the banking industry could utilize to help their line of business and help their customers.”

The present: “Bad things can happen to good people, and when you don’t have savings it causes problems, and we want to be the company that’s there to help. So as we partner with more and more organizations… we have the ability to scale and create great impact.”

And the future of the industry: “I relate it back to how we all understand and recognize how important it is to be physically healthy, that this idea of being financially healthy is going to stick around.”

Give a listen and let us know what you think.

Katie Gottschall Donohue

Vice President, Strategy and Customer Engagement, SpringFour Inc.

In 2005, no one was talking about Financial Health, including us.

Fast forward to 2019 and it is  Financial Health Matters Day! It’s exciting to see that there is a movement afoot that is tackling this large issue and bringing attention to the increased need to help those that experience financial challenges. And it’s about time.

In fact, it was at my very first CFSI Emerge Conference held in LA in 2015 that I first heard the term. And I had a very Oprah like Aha Moment. You see financial health is definitely at the core of our company and the work that my co-founder Dr. J. Michael Collins and I have been doing for our entire careers. We just didn’t have a name for it.

Today, we are celebrating that so many companies in diverse market segments are coming together to share that they too understand that if we are to do well, we must consider the financial health of our customers and our employees. With nearly half of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, it’s time to develop concrete strategies and solutions that can truly impact people’s financial lives in big ways. We have the research and technology to do so, now let’s develop the will.

As Jennifer Tescher, President and CEO of CFSI, so eloquently states in a recent American Banker piece, “What financially vulnerable people need is access to high-quality products and experiences built to help them succeed by people who truly understand their financial situations and foibles. They need real-time advice and guidance, tailored to their specific situation and immediately actionable. They need to be able to trust that financial institutions have their best interests in mind and are working with policymakers to eliminate systemic barriers that prevent them from achieving financial health.”

So today, ask yourself, “What does the future of financial health look like to you?” And I’d urge you to take the next step and ask, “What can I do to help further accelerate strategies at my company to bring solutions forward that deliver true impact to those that need it most?”

Because it can be done and the time is now.

We don’t have to go it alone. Partnerships allow us all to combine our strengths and resources to improve the financial lives of people across our country.

Rochelle Nawrocki Gorey

Co-Founder & CEO, SpringFour Inc.