MetaBank Forms Partnership With Online Lending Company

Last week, MetaBank and Liberty Lending announced the beginning of a three-year partnership between the two companies. MetaBank will begin offering personal loans to Liberty Lending’s customers; the program will be jointly promoted through a number of different marketing channels.

It is anticipated that MetaBank will lend up to $1 billion in personal loans throughout the life of the program. This partnership marks MetaBank’s transition into the world of online consumer lending.

MetaBank is the wholly-owned bank subsidiary of Meta Financial Group, which is headquartered in Sioux Falls, S.D. In 2016, Meta Financial Group acquired Specialty Consumer Services (SCS), which is now a division of MetaBank. The new personal loan program will offer closed-end installment loans from $3,500 to $45,000; the time period will range from 13 to 60 months.

Brent Turner is the Executive Vice President of Meta Financial Group; he says that leveraging SCS’s knowledge of underwriting and consumer credit gives the company the “resources to accomplish our objectives in consumer credit.”

Liberty Lending is a financial services company that centers on online lending; they are based in New York. CFO Bill Yialamas said that the company is excited about the partnership because it will allow Liberty Lending “to further deliver on its mission to customers by leveraging Meta’s wealth of resources and expertise.”

In the past several years, there has been a growing trend of banks partnering with online lenders to offer a better variety of services to their customers. This is good news for those consumers that are uninterested in filling out loan paperwork at their local bank.

Technology has changed the way many consumers interact with their finances, and many consumers view online marketplaces as an easier path to getting a loan. Banks are often seen as being picky when it comes to their lending standards and online lenders are often able to offer lower interest rates to their customers.

Partnerships like the one with MetaBank and Liberty Lending should beneficial to the average consumer. They will get the convenience of online lending and a more streamlined customer experience.