Credit: Expanding Opportunity
Redesigning products so they reach and support the millions of people who need access to affordable credit.
The Issue
One in five Americans has a subprime or near prime credit score. Credit scores shape whether they can rent or buy a home, land a job, access affordable loans, or start a business that builds family and community wealth. Too often, individuals with low or no credit scores are locked out of opportunities to use products that could support them in building their financial health.
It doesn’t have to be this way. People who need credit can have a hard time accessing even the most well-intentioned products and processes because they often have behavioral barriers baked in: friction in processes, an unclear next step, or mistimed information that stops progress, making the overall process more difficult to get through.
The good news? They can be redesigned. And that’s exactly what our Credit: Expanding Opportunity (C:EO) program does.
Our Solution
Through the three-year C:EO initiative, ideas42 is providing actionable strategies to a range of organizations working to improve credit building, homeownership, and small-business opportunities, focusing on people with subprime and near prime credit scores. We design practical, evidence-based solutions that make financial products and services easier to understand, navigate, and use successfully.
In the first of three cohorts in this initiative, we ran experiments with four organizations focused on helping people repair and build their credit and financial health by helping participants manage debt, lower fees and interest on credit loans, increase savings, and demonstrate on-time payment behavior — to demonstrate their willingness and ability to repay productive loan products.
Our Impact
Debt management plans (DMPs) are one of the better tools for improving people’s credit scores. Offered by nonprofit credit counseling agencies (CCAs), a DMP consolidates what someone owes across several credit cards into a single monthly payment to the CCA, which then pays the creditors. With interest rates often cut by close to 20 percentage points, completing a DMP can save money and lift a credit score by as much as 80 points.
We worked with a partner on how to introduce DMPs to their members.
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2X
click-throughs to learn more about DMP programs as a result of gain-framed reminder emails that matched the trusted tone of the nonprofit partner
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↑ 8.2-14.5%
in referred members visiting the DMP assessment start page after a warm, co-branded handoff — the first step toward a program that helps clients pay off their eligible, unsecured debt
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12,000
additional members who could be introduced to a DMP if these designs were implemented, each of whom could save thousands of dollars
Evidence-based designs that work
Reduce unnecessary friction
We help people complete applications or complete beneficial programs that might otherwise go underused, by minimizing even seemingly minor hassles. We’re helping organizations simplify intake, reduce documentation burdens by using a single intake form, simplify applications with clear next steps, and eliminate avoidable complexity.
Spur action
We’re reducing the distance between what people want to do and what they actually accomplish by designing practical tools like templates, scripts, defaults, reminders, and redesigned communications.
Make future benefits feel tangible today
People naturally prioritize what’s right in front of them over far-off goals. We’re testing communications, reminders, and product features that make it clear how today’s financial decisions affect tomorrow’s credit outcomes through designs like real-time payment messaging, clearer credit feedback, and visual repayment timelines.
Show progress
People are more likely to stay engaged when they can see momentum. We’re testing tools that help track milestones and celebrate progress using progress trackers, milestone checklists, and personalized action plans.
Our Partners
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