Personal Loan Provider OneMain Acquires Financial Wellness FinTech Trim
Personal loan provider OneMain Financial is acquiring Trim, a financial wellness FinTech, according to a press release.
The acquisition will allow OneMain to help its 2.2 million customers improve their finances and financial futures by integrating Trim’s customer spending tracking platform, the release stated.
“Trim helps customers manage their financial goals by negotiating bills, analyzing transaction data and enabling automated savings,” the release stated. “It provides users the option to link to checking, brokerage, mortgage and other accounts.”
The company also can cancel unwanted subscriptions, according to the release.
“The acquisition of Trim allows OneMain to further expand the ways we help ... Americans improve their financial well-being by supporting them in gaining more control over their finances,” said OneMain Chairman and CEO Doug Shulman in the release. “Over the past year, we have sharpened our focus on driving innovation for our customers, including doubling down on our commitment to financial wellness.”
“Since its founding in 2015, Trim has analyzed approximately 1 billion customer transactions,” the release stated. “The company currently has more than 600,000 users who have linked bank accounts and on average delivers about $90 in annual savings to customers per initial bill negotiation.”
“Our mission at Trim has been to solve our users’ financial problems so that they can live the lives they want,” said Trim CEO Thomas Smyth in the release. “In 2015, we started by tackling spending. As we grew, we addressed bigger financial problems, helping our users organize, track and ultimately improve their finances.”
The way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) defines financial wellness is in four parts: control over finances, capacity to absorb a financial shock, meeting financial goals and the financial freedom to make the choices that allow you to enjoy life.
The OneMain-Trim acquisition comes against the backdrop where finance site GOBankingRates determined that only 3 percent of individuals queried passed a six-question quiz tied to financial literacy.
And as PYMNTS has found, six in 10 individuals in the U.S. live paycheck to paycheck. Although there’s a lot of talk within financial services and other verticals about financial health, wellness and financial literacy, banks may need a bit of help in reaching their end customers and educating them on that journey.