SAN ANTONIO–San Antonio FCU said it will begin offering short-term, small-dollar loans to members through a new relationship with QCash Financial, an automated, cloud-based, omni-channel lending platform for financial institutions.
Using Olympia, Wash.-based QCash Financial’s product suite, SACU said it will offer an affordable lending option to members who find themselves in need of costly services like payday loans to make ends meet.
According to the company, loan applications are underwritten, approved and funded in under a minute using an underwriting process based on members’ financial history with the credit union. Rates and fees are substantially lower than those usually charged by traditional short-term lenders.
The QCash loan platform was developed in 2004 by Washington State Employees Credit Union after the credit union’s tellers noticed a substantial number of its members required small, short-term loans from other companies that were charging excessive fees.
“We are excited to offer this new product to our members,” said Jeff Mouat, senior manager for direct lending at SACU. “Our goal is to help members become financially healthy, and affordable lending options are key to that.”
“As more credit unions like SACU see the need to offer their members affordable alternatives to payday loans, we believe the QCash platform is the ideal tool to meet the market’s needs,” said Ben Morales, CEO of QCash Financial. “That will become even more important as the CFPB restricts consumers’ access to those small-dollar loans from payday lenders.”
The $2.8-billion SACU has 250,000 members.