Case Study: HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union achieves 70% automated personal loan approvals and 24% lower delinquency with Zest AI

Boosting accuracy and speed with HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union

HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union faced pressure to compete with national banks and fintechs by offering faster, more accurate lending, but lacked a large in-house data science team and found national scoring models didn’t reflect Hawaii’s diverse population. To address speed, fairness, and local accuracy, HawaiiUSA partnered with Zest AI and used its AI credit underwriting / AI-automated underwriting solution tailored to the credit union’s membership data.

Zest AI delivered a customized, accurate underwriting model that kept origination levels steady while reducing risk and decision time; personal loan automated approvals rose to 70%, a 133% increase in automation, and delinquency rates were 24% lower than with the national model. Zest AI’s solution freed up resources for other portfolios, let underwriters focus on complex cases, and set the stage for portfolio management and pricing on Zest’s model to further optimize member outcomes.

HawaiiUSA Federal Credit

Scott Matsushima

Chief Data and Analytics Officer