‍Background
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Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace, connecting millions of consumers to more than 100 banks and credit unions that leverage Upstart’s AI models and cloud applications to deliver superior credit products. The company was looking to expand into home equity lines of credit (HELOC) using the same proprietary, tech-forward approach it had applied to its other lending products.

However, lending in the housing sector has unique regulations and complexities that warrant a loan origination software (LOS) partner. With the right LOS partner to enable efficient operational workflows and maintain regulatory compliance, Upstart could leverage its own AI-enabled pricing and decisioning to fully automate the process and deliver a top-tier customer experience.

After an extensive evaluation process that included several LOS platforms, Upstart and its mortgage company, Upstart Mortgage, selected Vesta.1 Upstart believed that Vesta’s robust APIs, ecosystem integrations, and automation capabilities were the best match for its plans to significantly improve the HELOC process.

Results

Accelerated roll-out:

Vesta helped to accelerate the rollout of Upstart's new HELOC product by providing an out-of-box solution for the home-lending system of record, user interfaces for the operational teams, and integrations to 30+ ecosystem partners. With a single integration between Upstart's proprietary technology and Vesta's APIs, Upstart was also able to seamlessly outsource task management and document generation while supporting the automation of compliance monitoring. Vesta's features and integrations for facilitating regulatory compliance were also beneficial for Upstart.

Responsive customer experience:

As they have with other lending verticals, Upstart wanted to ensure a superior customer experience. That meant focusing as much on the frontend of the platform as the backend. Only Vesta's LOS was able to meet Upstart's standards. In particular, Vesta's API allowed for fast communication between the customer-facing application and system of record, which helped to deliver a more accurate and efficient experience for borrowers.

Automating origination:

Upstart's goal at the outset of the project was to maximize automation and limit manual review to exceptions, such as ambiguity in document authenticity. This strategy aligned perfectly with Vesta's task inbox, which allows Upstart to isolate these few instances and redirect them to the operations team, keeping the majority of the processes automated.

‍What's next

The partnership between Upstart and Vesta is a testament to what can be achieved when tech-forward companies come together. Upstart's tech-centric ethos found a perfect match in Vesta's state-of-the-art platform, culminating in a home lending solution that's efficient, compliant, and highly automated.

¹ All home equity lines of credit are originated through Upstart Mortgage, LLC, an Upstart affiliate company.