Case Study: Reading Cooperative Bank scales personal loans while minimizing risk with Upstart

How Reading Cooperative Bank scaled personal loans while minimizing risk

Reading Cooperative Bank, a community bank, needed to scale its personal loan portfolio in the wake of changing post-pandemic consumer spending habits. The bank wanted to grow without adding headcount or taking on unnecessary risk, while still delivering a fast, transparent, customer-friendly lending experience.

To meet that goal, Reading Cooperative Bank worked with Upstart using the Upstart Referral Network, AI-powered credit decisioning, and a white-label loan application experience on its website. With Upstart, the bank went live in 76 days, grew its personal loan portfolio from $150K to $8M in the first ten months, increased yield from 5% to 8.25%, and saw lower-than-expected delinquency rates while improving approval speed and operational efficiency.

Reading Cooperative Bank

Julie Thurlow

President and CEO