Michael Needham, Chief Content Officer. Finturf
If you’re looking to acquire more members, start at the kitchen table. That’s where local contractors sit with homeowners right as financing decisions are made. When you give contractors your loan program as a sales tool, they close more deals, and you access a new customer acquisition channel with baked-in opportunities to cross-sell to these homeowners in the future.
To make this channel work at scale, you’ll need in-house capabilities or an experienced partner that can manage contractor risk, deliver real-time approvals at the kitchen table and support members after the job is complete.
Done well, this also serves your community by helping contractors sell more jobs and grow.
Now, you might be thinking, “That’s all well and good, but how do I actually market my program to contractors?” Here are some plays you can run:
Push soft‑pull prequal as a major benefit: Providing an instant decision enables consumers to check their rates and contractors to close the deal. Let contractors know they can market the financing product like this: “Check your options right now without hurting your credit, thanks to a soft-pull prequal.” Also note that if prequalification uses a soft inquiry, final approval may require a hard inquiry.
Make trust a headline: You can turn compliance into marketing. Show contractors that, after passing your vetting and monitoring process, such as Finturf’s Safeturf.AI, they can use it as a selling point by explaining to their customers that this contractor meets your high standards.
Sell speed and certainty: Offer direct-to-merchant funding in a few business days and use it to differentiate your credit union from slower programs. Show contractors that they get faster, more predictable cash flow when they receive the money from you.
Provide the financing tools: Many contractors will not want to create financing tools to handle applications. Recommend a hosted, co‑branded portal or link, or an API as an option for larger shops that want to embed financing. You can ensure the journey stays in your ecosystem, which builds trust, confidence, and convenience for both the contractor and the customer.
Offer enhanced payout options: Promote stage funding and change-order flexibility. You can show that funds are released at milestones and adjusted when the scope changes. Members will feel safer during big remodels, and contractors will value the cash flow predictability.
Quantify the upside: Show contractors how many more approvals they may see. You can do this by uploading anonymized pipeline data to generate estimated approval‑rate lift, missed revenue, and volume ranges.
Capture more approvals without changing risk: Once you offer contractor-driven financing, you can leverage an API like Finturf’s to direct declined applications to additional lenders with the applicant’s consent. Message your multi‑lender waterfall and first-, second-, and third‑look coverage as the reason members and contractors see more yeses. You can cite “over 85% in some industries” and show the lender tiers. Applicants feel helped, contractors see consistency, and you protect your credit box.
These tips can help you enter this market and improve your membership growth and remarketing. As home-services costs rise, consumers often need longer terms to fit their budgets. If your average term is 140 months, that’s 140 months of relationship marketing with the homeowner.
We hope you can tap this market and truly build toward the next generation of home-improvement financing. If you would like to see how a partner can support each step, please look out for Finturf’s upcoming webinar, hosted by The Credit Union Connection, where we will walk you through the Finturf approach.