UPST approved by Nat Assn Credt Unions

NAFCU Services announces Upstart as a Preferred Partner for their AI Lending Platform for Credit Unions

NAFCU Services announced today that Upstart is the newest Preferred Partner to join its program serving credit unions. Through this partnership, credit unions will have greater access to Upstart’s AI lending platform which is designed to expand access to affordable credit for their members, while putting excess deposits to work, increasing approval rates, and lowering loss rates. The partnership was approved following a rigorous, independent review and voting process by credit union CEOs. Through its platform, Upstart helps credit unions deliver the exceptional digital-first lending experience that members demand.

"We’re proud to welcome Upstart as our partner, as they have a serious dedication to bolstering credit unions and improving member experience,” said Randy Salser, president of NAFCU Services. “Upstart continually looks for ways to help credit unions put excess deposits to work while growing their consumer loan portfolio and acquiring new members.”

“We believe it is important for credit unions to help provide access to affordable credit to the members in their community,” said Michael Lock, Senior Vice President of Lending Partnerships at Upstart. “We are excited to join the NAFCU community and enable credit unions with leading-edge, AI consumer lending technology to help them grow and exceed member expectations in personal and auto loans.”

To learn more about Upstart, go to www.nafcu.org/upstart.

About NAFCU Services

As part of the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, NAFCU Services provides funding, educational content, and a portfolio of trusted and vetted Preferred Partners. For 40+ years, we’ve served credit unions across the country. Our team of partners delivers groundbreaking ideas and next-gen solutions, enabling credit unions to compete, change the status quo, and grow their institutions. For more information, visit our website and follow us on Twitter.

About Upstart

Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST) is a leading AI lending platform partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart’s AI platform, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than two-thirds of Upstart loans are approved instantly and are fully automated. Upstart was founded by ex-Googlers in 2012 and is based in San Mateo, California and Columbus, Ohio.

Saul here: I think that this is quite significant as it opens up another whole field to Upstart, to add to banks. Note that this wasn’t just a rote approval but included an independent review and a vote by CEOs of the Credit Unions. That sounds very promising. Note also that NAFCU has a description of Upstart and what it does on its own website (NAFCU’s), which it links to in this press release, and which is very clear and informative.

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Couldn’t this potentially be an avenue to reducing the customer concentration risk that many have pointed out when referring to UPST?

I’m curious to see if there will be any noticeable impact in the next earnings report.

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As a consequence of the expiration of the lockup, there was a block trade of about 1.7 million shares today at about $120. This apparently spooked a number of holders and the stock slid to $114.40 immediately after, but bounced back to $119 at the close, probably aided by NAFCU’s press release. When I saw the NAFCU press release, which was emailed to me as an alert by my broker (Schwab), I jumped on it as an opportunity and added to my Upstart position. There just seem to be one thing after another affirming that Upstart is for real.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the people buying from the venture capitalists today had driven down the price from $150 to $120 in the last three or four days, by shorting the shares they knew that they’d be able to buy back at a cheaper price in the block trade.

This is OT, and please don’t add to this part of the discussion, but I thought understanding what was going on would be useful to fellow Upstart investors.

Saul

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I wrote yesterday that I wouldn’t be surprised if the people buying Upstart shares from the venture capitalists today had driven down the price from $150 to $120 by shorting the shares they knew that they’d be able to buy back at a cheaper price in the block trade.

I learned today that after the big block sale of Upstart shares yesterday, the interest rate on borrowing shares to short at one major broker, at least, fell overnight from 52% to 25%, which fits exactly with what I proposed. They sold short huge numbers of shares (which caused a shortage, and drove the borrowing interest rate up), and now bought back so they were no longer short all those shares, so no more big demand for shares to short, so interest rate dropped.

Saul

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