Laurel Taylor was frustrated with her student loan experience, so much so that she founded a company to make it better for borrowers.
She routinely tells her story about how she went to Texas State, accumulated $150,000 in student debt, and how her mother was a social worker earning $24,000 a year. She and her mother applied for and received a Parent-Plus student loan with a 9% interest rate.
She then received her master’s degree from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, went to work for Google, had an incredibly high credit score, and still had the same 9% interest rate on her student loans.
It wasn’t only the interest rate but the process itself, involving antiquated technology like fax machines (yes, fax machines) to process paperwork and ask questions. It was a massive void into which her company, Candidly, was able to step.
Describing itself as an "AI-driven student debt and savings optimization platform," Candidly announced Thursday that it’s moving beyond simply student debt and will take its expertise to the emergency savings space.
The new offering will be available to users as a workplace benefit through employers, record keepers, and financial institutions, alongside Candidly’s suite of student debt and SECURE 2.0 retirement savings products.
By now, the issue is well known. Nearly 50% of Americans report that they do not have $500 saved to cover an emergency expense, according to GoBankingRates, and a record number of people seek 401(k) hardship withdrawals to absorb unexpected expenses.
Candidly’s Emergency Savings solution addresses the issue, providing what it says is a comprehensive suite of capabilities designed to help workers proactively build a robust safety net for unexpected financial challenges.
It allows workers to use convenient automation features, such as setting up payroll deductions, auto-enroll, and rounding up spare change from everyday transactions to passively contribute to their emergency fund. It's behavioral economics and psychology to engage users through micro-actions and transactions meant to change financial outcomes.
“Our number one job to be done is to find, create, and direct savings from the liabilities side of the personal balance sheet to the asset side, enabling hard-working Americans to become first-time and ongoing savers,” Taylor said in a statement.
The company claimed it’s poised to serve an estimated one in four workers in the United States.
