Fifth Third has partnered with social impact fintech SpringFour to offer financial resources to underserved communities across the country, the lender announced Wednesday.

Fifth Third’s Financial Empowerment Mobile, or the eBus, in its 20th year of operation, was rebuilt and launched May 3, in Cincinnati, home to the company’s headquarters. The eBus has immediate checking account openings for community participants, face-to-face consultation pods for private conversations, and computer workstations for guests to check out the resources the lender offers through SpringFour.

Aleta Young, vice president and corporate social responsibility strategies director at Fifth Third, told Banking Dive the eBus was revamped to reflect the next generation of financial centers that customers visit, with a suite of financial services designed to cater to their needs.

The $214.6 billion-asset lender aims to use the eBus to reach out to the most underserved pockets of communities that lack easy transportation or access to Fifth Third’s financial centers, Young said. 

“It makes our communities thrive. We know if we can touch two to three people on the bus with resources like we're going to give through SpringFour, we can make a life-changing impact,” she said.

Updated eBus offerings

SpringFour's S4Connect allows users to access the redesigned eBus solutions. This digital offering enables access to 14 categories of financial wellness solutions, including food savings, rental resources, child care, employment services and small-business support. Guests can enter their ZIP code and search for assistance by category.

SpringFour’s platform provides instant, localized results from the 24,000 resources in its database for social service organizations and connects them to people within a three-mile radius of the bus’s location.

“Financial health is so big, and it's so important that it really drives all of our decisions in our lives. And this is a way to make people feel comfortable and seek out outside resources that can help them and, I believe,  destigmatize looking for assistance and resources in the community,” SpringFour CEO Rochelle Gorey said. “Now through the eBus, Fifth Third will be helping to uncover and direct people to those reputable resources that are in the SpringFour database.” 

Consumers can either connect with resources while on the bus, or email the resources to themselves to access later. They can come back for a checking account opportunity or avail themselves of a mortgage facility through a credit report pull, Young said.

“Our community can make their own solution and self-serve what's best for them,” Young said. 

The bus is open for anyone to walk in and browse services using six computer workstations, four pod stations, and eight tablets available on the deck, Young said.

Last year, the bus made 120 event stops, serving nearly 10,000 people. 

Gorey met Young while working with Kelli Clements, director of customer solutions at Fifth Third, on a pilot program aimed at assisting customers with financial stability after the COVID-19 pandemic.

After interacting, both realized their views on serving communities aligned, and talks began last summer about a potential partnership. After getting the necessary approvals, the fintech started working on the eBus project in January, Gorey said. 

“Typically, bank-fintech partnerships can take a long time, but I always say if there's a will, there's a way, and we are really excited about their enthusiasm for launch [of the] product, and it really didn't take long,” she noted.

The eBus is part of Fifth Third’s “Lives Improved Through Financial Empowerment” program, which aims to empower lives through financial stability. Having the bus on the ground will help spread the word and encourage more people to take advantage of available resources, Young said.

Though SpringFour does not store any customer data, Fifth Third will have the data 30 days after customers have accessed the S4Connect portal and get an overview of what resources they opted for and what happened next.

“I feel we're connecting the dots now of what's happening to our community once [the consumers] leave the bus, Young said. “Because when they leave, if they don't open an account, we don't know what really happens.”

Fifth Third also has a customer survey tool on the platform that guests complete when done using the SpringFour portal. The survey, which asks four typical day-to-day banking questions, is for the lender’s financial study. At the end of the survey, guests can either set up an appointment with a banker to hear more or leave their name and information for the banker to reach out to them later, Young said.

Proactive solutions

In Gorey’s view, if a bank points someone to nonprofit resources that can offer help, that person will work with that lender down the road. 

Since SpringFour was founded in 2005, its yearly survey has shown how banks’ cultures change as they work with the fintech, Gorey said.

Financial hardship is an ongoing reality, so the focus should be on getting ahead by creating proactive solutions, she said. While the fintech has innovated on the product front, more attention must be given to helping people experiencing financial problems.

“Why don't we all talk about the fact that most banks — every single bank — have a pool of delinquent borrowers? It's OK; that doesn't mean your bank has done something wrong,” Gorey said. “So let's figure out a way to address delinquency, put strategies, solutions and products in place that can help people when they do get behind on their bills.”