It has been well-documented that many millions of Americans are struggling to pay their bills and are living paycheck to paycheck. In fact, nearly half of the US can’t afford an unexpected $400 expense. Additionally, the majority of Americans have little to no savings.

Combined with the recent government shutdown, a financial “perfect storm” is brewing for many Americans.

A recent article by Zillow Research (link) stated that unpaid federal workers owe $438 million in mortgage and rent payments in the month of Jan’19. All of this information, coupled with post-holiday debt and upcoming tax bills owed, points to countless consumers looking for ways to reduce expenses and better their financial health situations.

This is where SpringFour excels. We assist people in getting back on track by helping to provide direction to local resources that reduce household expenses.

The need for the SpringFour financial health resource platform has traditionally seen its greatest demand during the early months of a new year. Additionally, knowing the effects of the government shutdown, SpringFour is positioned to help considerably more Americans this year than ever before.

Below is an illustration with figures and trends pointing to SpringFour usage increases that have been measured in past post winter holidays. Also included is projected usage based on early data results for Jan’19 (inclusive of elevated need due to the government shutdown).

Across the board, SpringFour subscribers who are wisely and strategically using SpringFour tools are not only seeing tremendous use, but are also delivering great return on their investment and receiving glowing feedback from their customers and their staff.  

Below are just a few impact statistics and feedback that  subscribers have shared with us as a result of their work with SpringFour:

– Demand is Climbing: noted SpringFour subscriber seeing 400%+ increase in use mth/mth

– Messaging Works: 15k+ referrals made from S4direct after a single subscriber email campaign

– LoanPerformance Improves: customers 10% more likely to remain current on loans

– Level of Engagement Increases: customers 2x more likely to engage in foreclosure prevention efforts

– Consumer Expense Decrease: typical consumers reduce their expenses by $250/mth

– Boost to Brand Image: 42% of customers felt better about their lender

– Employees are Empowered: 94%+ of agents felt SpringFour allowed them to provide better customer service

– Customer Feedback is Positive: Customers calling back their lender to let them know how appreciative they are of the SpringFour referrals. These experiences have led to increased loyalty and have resulted in improved customer positions to pay and stay current

At SpringFour, we believe that providing tangible next steps and direction to resources during extremely stressful times (post-holiday, unplanned income loss / government shutdown, and tax burden situations) is not only the right thing to do, but it is good for business and will certainly boost the image of the company leveraging SpringFour.

Let us know if you are ready to take the next steps to provide your customers with the resources they need to improve their financial health and weather the storm.

Scott Freeze

Chief Operating Officer, SpringFour Inc.

One of our favorite stories from the year demonstrates that the simple act of making a referral to a person in need benefits all those involved. Behind nearly 90 days on her auto loan, a customer’s bank offered to provide her with referrals from SpringFour. After receiving referrals to a variety of local resources, she was able to reduce her expenses which made it possible for her to catch up on her auto loan. The referrals are what made the difference. She was able to keep  her car, and her way to work, and got her financial life back on track. Thrilled, she took the time to call back her bank to speak to the Collections manager remarking that she had never been treated so well by a financial institution.

Through what may seem like small actions, the biggest impacts can often be felt. In this case, SpringFour, the bank, and the customer all won. It is the belief that people need and deserve to be connected to local resources that help that guides our every action at SpringFour.

It’s been a whirlwind year for us and it’s examples like this that excite our team. They help us to know that we are exactly where we ought to be, doing what we are doing, because we are indeed changing people’s financial lives. What seems like a small, simple action can be the catalyst for big change. We believe the in the ripple effect of a referral and it can truly be transformative.

Thank you to our loyal users, our innovative subscribers, and our friends who support us in our journey to ensure that people have what they need to achieve financial health.

Happy New Year.

Rochelle and the SpringFour team

Rochelle Nawrocki Gorey

Co-Founder & CEO, SpringFour Inc.

SpringFour was excited to attend the Women Tech Founders Awards night on November 8th.  The event gathered together the leading women in the tech ecosystem, and their supporters, to celebrate success, leadership, and innovation, and there was great energy in the room.

The awards were “created to equalize the image of power in technology and leadership, while creating an army of role models for the next generation. The role models we want our daughters and their daughters to see.” This was evident in the stories shared by women about women-led startups.  Not only were the awards a great place to create community, but we were also there to support SpringFour’s Co-Founder & CEO, Rochelle Gorey, who was recognized as a finalist in the Social Impact category. Every nominee in the diverse categories celebrating woman founders were impressive. The Award categories covered a broad range of sectors including among others: Corporate Tech Leader, Lifestyle, Investor in Women, Health & Biotech and Fintech.

Rochelle was nominated in the company of so many other great women, but most importantly for SpringFour, in a category that is at the foundation of our company. While our impacts have been well documented, and we are proud of each one, at the heart of it all is improving the financial lives of people across the country. Creating impact for millions of individuals and families, enabling them to achieve financial health, and helping their communities prosper.

The Awards night was a celebration of women in a field that is often dominated by men. It highlighted the importance and power of diversity and equality in innovation. We were honored to be a part of it and are extremely proud of Rochelle’s recognition as a leader in this space. And we thank our partner and mentor BMO Harris Bank for nominating Rochelle.

 Katie Donohue and Rochelle Gorey of SpringFour with Ben Schack, BMO Harris Bank.

Katie Gottschall Donohue

Vice President, Strategy and Customer Engagement, SpringFour Inc.

We are proud to be a majority woman-owned business. This certification provides recognition of being a woman led company. It also provides a way to connect to a community of women-owned businesses and a community of shared learning and support.

In a time where women are gaining ground in elections and showing up more in executive suites and boardrooms, we are even more inspired to share our story. When Rochelle founded the company in 2005 she had an idea of wanting to easily connect people with great local nonprofit and government resources that could help them financially. She saw what unscrupulous actors were doing in communities and she wanted people to know who could be trusted and how they could find help. So, along with co-founder Dr. J. Michael Collins, she set about to build the technology to do so. As a female entrepreneur in a word of tech startups, her story is unique, and the WBE certification provides recognition of that accomplishment.

Katie Gottschall Donohue

Vice President, Strategy and Customer Engagement, SpringFour Inc.

Joining Rochelle on the panel was Ric Leitheiser, Head of US Consumer Collections and SB Special Assets at  BMO Harris Bank. SpringFour and BMO Harris launched our official partnership in August of this year. The bank uses both of SpringFour’s high impact products, S4pro and S4direct, to help increase the financial health of its customers. By making SpringFour tools available, BMO Harris ensures that if any of their customers run into financial challenges, they can be connected to SpringFour’s vetted resources to help address the underlying reason(s) for delinquency. Within the first couple of months of partnering with SpringFour, BMO Harris has seen great use of both SpringFour products, and the bank’s agents have expressed the added value SpringFour brings to the customer conversation.  

During the panel, Ric (BMO Harris) shared with the audience that in order to successfully partner with a fintech, there needs to be a shared vision, culture, and goals. Rochelle added that transparency is key between both entities and from this, a feeling of true partnership can result. When this happens, the opportunity for measurable impact is achievable.

Members of the panel explored the need to get vendor compliance management right and that having the right expectations up front can help make or break a deal. Rochelle shared that a key strategy for SpringFour is connecting early with bank leadership and risk and vendor teams to be certain that all involved understand the exact nature of the relationship.

The panel also discussed the evolution of fintech and how many of the most successful fintechs are looking to partner with banks, rather than the fintech or the bank seeking to replace one another.  Also interesting was that fact that many banks are now forming what can be likened to an internal VC unit, where funds and focus are being invested to seriously explore strategic partnerships between emerging / disrupting fintechs and the bank itself.

Other panel participants included: Jason Osterhage, Chief Lending Executive at Alliant Credit Union; Mark Dabertin, Special Counsel at Pepper Hamilton; and moderator Phil Toth, Founder & Managing Director at QueensGiant

Katie Donohue

VP of Strategy & Customer Engagement, SpringFour Inc.