Smarter Loans Inc. is not a lender. Smarter.loans is an independent comparison website that provides information on lending and financial companies in Canada. We work hard to give you the information you need to make smarter decisions about a financial company or product that you might be considering. We may receive compensation from companies that we work with for placement of their products or services on our site. While compensation arrangements may affect the order, position or placement of products & companies listed on our website, it does not influence our evaluation of those products. Please do not interpret the order in which products appear on Smarter Loans as an endorsement or recommendation from us. Our website does not feature every loan provider or financial product available in Canada. We try our best to bring you up-to-date, educational information to help you decide the best solution for your individual situation. The information and tools that we provide are free to you and should merely be used as guidance. You should always review the terms, fees, and conditions for any loan or financial product that you are considering.
Great lenders need great vendors. From risk management to loan servicing, data collection and bank verification, customer service and communication, legal compliance and loan collections, there are professional companies and technologies that can strengthen these processes. Lenders of all sizes rely on these companies to improve their operations, serve their customers better, and gain a competitive advantage in the industry.
That’s why we’ve put together a collection of the best lender vendors available on the market today. Take a look below and click on any of the companies to see their full profile. You can get in touch with any of the listed companies right here at Smarter Loans.
A lending business is made up of many components and departments that must all operate efficiently and in unison in order for the overall business to succeed. Some of these elements have to do with dealing with the actual customers, such as collecting the application, analyzing the credit profile, funding the customer, delivering customer service and collecting payments on the loans. Other parts deal with elements behind the scenes, such as managing and organizing all the data, applying and maintaining proper licenses in different regions and managing employees.
These are business components that every lender must address, and for each of these sub-industries, there are innovative companies that specialize in it, and are happy to step in and help.
Vendor relationships are incredibly important for any business, but it is especially true in the FinTech lending sector, which relies so heavily on tech.
Tech-savvy lenders have been transforming the financial industry thanks in part to the tech-savvy vendors that have brought innovative technologies to the market and are helping lenders serve their customers better, faster and safer.
Below are some of the different types of popular solutions for lenders, and each of these sectors has highly-specialized vendor companies offering their services.
Sending payments is a core function of any lender. According to the 2019 Lending Industry Study, "speed of funding" was one of the top ranking factors among borrowers when evaluating a loan company. Modern lenders need payment processing solutions that are able to do the following:
We recently spoke with Susan Perlmutter, the Chief Revenue Officer at REPAY, to discuss how the lending industry - and payments in particular - has been evolving, and what it means for expectations that borrowers place on their lender of choice.
Trust and reputation are one of the most important decision drivers for borrowers. In fact, 30% of borrowers still do not feel that borrowing from an alternative lender in Canada is entirely safe. Marketing in the lending industry is no longer about paid media and budgets. In fact, it has been more and more difficult to advertise online for lenders, due to the nature, and sometimes costs, of the products being offered.
This is why it is so important for lenders to have strong partners that are able to elevate their brand both online and offline, drive customer acquisition up, while lowering customer acquisition cost, and use innovative marketing tactics that go beyond traditional media.
Things to consider when evaluating a marketing partner:
Smarter Loans - The Smarter Choice for Canadian Borrowers and Lenders
Smarter Loans is Canada's original and largest loan comparison website and financial directory, working with over 50 of Canada's top financial brands, including banks, credit unions and innovative FinTech Lenders.
Check out this video to see what some of the industry players have to say about us!
Associations have long played a key role in connecting industry players, and providing a unified voice for the purposes of moving the overall industry forward. The lending industry is no different. Especially as the borrower experience is moving to digital and online formats, the community of lenders needs ways to gather and discuss important topics that impact them.
Associations usually come with fees that are attached with the membership, so it is important to review and understand the full benefits that the members enjoy. It is usually a combination of regular events, brand exposure, knowledge sharing, and a boost in credibility by association with the industry's major players.
A couple of popular associations dedicated to the financing industry in Canada are:
Managing customer records and other data in an organized fashion is essential to any business. For lenders, choosing the right CRM software is very important, because it will need to be compatible with other business areas. Some of the common enterprise level CRMs on the market today are Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho, but these are just a few of the available options.
When choosing a CRM, the following factors must be considered:
Choosing the Right CRM Software
CRM is a long-term investment. After it accumulates years-worth of data, transactions and business activity, it can be very challenging and costly to "replace" a CRM system, so it is important to take the time to properly analyze the short and long term vision for a business before making the final decision.
To help with the decision making process, we've put together a list of some of the best CRM Software companies available on the market today.
Modern lenders are dependent on their ability to properly collect and analyze various data sources. Collection of standard documentation required for loan approvals - both consumer finance and business - has been modernized and simplified thanks to technology. For example, a consumer can now easily provide access to their banking statements with a few clicks, or send in a picture of their Drivers License as personal ID verification.
Most recently, AI-based technologies have enabled lenders to become more sophisticated in analyzing incoming data, and make loan approval decisions accordingly. It is even possible to track a specific customer over the course of their loan term, evaluate the accuracy of the original decision, and then adjust the algorithm moving forward, based on the new information.
Data analytics and use of technology has been an important driving force for the innovation in the lending industry. Check out a video we made about the subject.
One of the key factors for a loan to be approved is the credit standing of the applicant. While it is far from the only condition for loan approval, almost every lender will need to pull the credit profile prior to approving an application. This is why it is so important to have a reliable partner to obtain this data in a quick and frictionless way.
Canada has two credit reporting bureaus - TransUnion and Equifax - that provide many lenders with access to individuals' credit profiles, when a loan application comes in. In recent years, additional sources of data have allowed lenders to look beyond traditional credit scores when evaluating credit risk, however credit scores still play a key role in most decision models.
It's also important to consider that many people may not have a long credit history file. This could be due to their lifestyle and use of financial products, or simply because someone has recently moved to Canada. Not having an extensive credit profile doesn't mean poor financial standing, which is why it is important for lenders to find and utilize as many reliable data sources as possible when evaluating a potential borrower.
Financial services industry involves an abundance of legal contracts. For example, lenders must obtain the appropriate licenses. The type of financial products offered and the province in which a lender wants to operate will dictate the licensing requirements. It's important to fully understand the legalities involved in operating a lending business.
Beyond licensing, lenders utilize legal counsel to build the loan agreements presented to borrowers, interpret and rules and regulations around marketing financial and loan products to the public, compliance with regulatory requirements and many other purposes.
There is no question that having experience legal counsel is extremely important for and lending institution or other financial service company.
All companies listed on this page have been carefully vetted by Smarter Loans and identified as reputable, trustworthy companies that offer innovative and responsible solutions for the lending community. In addition, all companies listed here have registered at Smarter Loans, requested and authorized their placement within this exclusive list of solution providers for lenders.
Lenders have different products and services, internal operations, and market differentiators. Because of this, solutions that are most important for one lender may not be equally important for another. Generally, some of the most popular lender solutions include the following business functions:
Click the logo of a company you are interested in and you'll be taken to their full profile on Smarter Loans. There you'll see much more detailed information about their background, products and services, contact information, reviews, pricing and more. If you wish to take things further, you can call the provided phone number or in some cases request a demo from right here at Smarter Loans.
Yes of course! We encourage you to stop by their profile (click their logo) and leave a review by clicking "Write Review" from within their profile.
If you wish to list your company on Smarter Loans and within this list, please visit our Vendor Registration page to sign up. Please note that registering as a vendor does not guarantee placement on this list and our research team follows a due diligence process to vet and verify all submitted vendor applications.
After registering, your vendor profile will be ready to review in 24 to 48 hours.
There is no cost to creating a basic listing on Smarter Loans. However you have the option to sign up for a premium membership which comes with many exclusive benefits that are not available in the free listing, including lead generation, live phone transfers, higher listing position, journalist coverage, PR and much more. Visit our Vendor Registration page to learn more.
The Smarter Loans Staff is made up of writers, researchers, journalists, business leaders and industry experts who carefully research, analyze and produce Canada's highest quality content when it comes to money matters, on behalf of Smarter Loans. While we cannot possibly name every person involved in the process, we collectively credit them as Smarter Loans Writing Staff. Our work has been featured in the Toronto Star, National Post and many other publications. Today, Smarter Loans is recognized in Canada as the go-to destination for financial education, and was named the "GPS of Fintech Lending" by the Toronto Star in 2019.
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