Case Study: Commonwealth Credit Union achieves 15% higher approvals and 6x auto-decisioning with Zest AI

Commonwealth Credit Union Accelerating Digital Transformation with AI

Commonwealth Credit Union, a $1.8B credit union serving 111,000 members, needed to say yes to more applicants and scale digital lending without increasing risk—traditional credit scores left many middle‑of‑the‑road members overlooked. In late 2019 Commonwealth turned to Zest AI, adopting Zest’s machine‑learning credit modeling and software (integrated with MeridianLink Consumer) to bring more data and automation into underwriting.

Zest AI built, validated and deployed a custom ML auto model in five months and integrated it with Commonwealth’s loan platform to enable dark‑scoring and faster decisions. The deployment drove measurable impact: funded loans +15%, average yield +30 basis points, profit boost +25% with no increase in risk, and automated decisioning rose from 6% to 30% (a sixfold increase).

Commonwealth Credit Union

Alan Davis

Chief Lending Officer