What do ESG, CSR, Social Impact, and Sustainability Reports have in common? The goal of empowering people.

From paying utility bills and putting food on the table to finding affordable healthcare and disaster relief, it goes without saying that navigating finances plays a fundamental role in everyone’s lives. However, what this looks like varies from one person to another.

PYMNTS recently shared data showing 25% of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers struggle to pay their monthly bills and 43% of all consumers have changed their financial lifestyle in the last two years. A recent MarketWatch survey showed almost 50% of Americans consider themselves broke and 66.2% share that they are living paycheck to paycheck. 

Consumers and stakeholders now expect that organizations prioritize empathy with their consumers and employees by providing financial health solutions. That is why more and more organizations are documenting these efforts and demonstrating accountability by sharing impact metrics in their own reporting. 

Social impact is gaining increasing recognition across various industries, particularly within the financial sector. There are several ways organizations are sharing their impact with stakeholders: 

➡️ Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Reports

➡️ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports

➡️ Sustainability Reports

➡️ And other organization-specific reports

Despite their different formats, these reports share a common focus on the people and communities they serve. SpringFour’s Client ESG Reporting shares this social impact goal and delivers metrics that can be included throughout the social (S) and governance (G) sections of organizations’ annual impact reporting. Our Client ESG Reporting empowers organizations to showcase accountability by measuring the support they provide with SpringFour’s financial health solutions. 

SpringFour makes it easy for organizations to support their consumers and employees with financial health resources. SpringFour empowers organizations to build trust with their consumers by providing 23,500 vetted nonprofit and government resources in 25+ financial health categories like food savings, heating and utility savings, affordable childcare, prescription savings, transportation, and more. Consumers and employees who receive our local resource referrals also find a sense of security in the confidentiality and privacy SpringFour provides, as personally identifiable information (PII) is never collected or stored.

Additional ways SpringFour enhances consumer-organization relationships: 

Our Founder and CEO, Rochelle Nawrocki Gorey, emphasizes the importance of making consumers aware of opportunities for assistance that exist, saying:

Nonprofit and government resources already exist to support consumers across the country, but many people are unaware of what resources are available or where to turn for trusted support. SpringFour empowers organizations with a trustworthy source for consumers to access financial health support. SpringFour’s Resource Integrity Team continuously vets and curates the resources available through SpringFour so that our clients can rest assured their consumers have a trustworthy source to turn to.

Our Reporting Helps Organizations Achieve Their Goals

ESGtheReport shares:

As organizations continue establishing their roles as corporate citizens, their shareholders, internal teams, and other stakeholders are benefiting from growing returns on investment such as reducing net credit losses, increasing brand loyalty, empowering employees, improving bottom lines, and much more. 

Real results include:

➡️ More than 5x ROI

➡️ Millions in projected annualized credit loss benefits

➡️ $1,000 reduction per customer in annual net credit losses on average

➡️ 17-31% increase in repayment rates

➡️ 7 percentage point increase in Net Promoter Scores (NPS)

Every year, SpringFour delivers Client ESG Reporting that helps organizations drive and measure the impact they’ve achieved with SpringFour. SpringFour’s Client ESG Reports provide metrics based on the use of their organization’s SpringFour product(s). 

Included in SpringFour’s Client ESG Reports are key impact metrics such as: 

By sharing this data in our Client ESG Reporting, organizations can better understand and support different segments of their market. Our clients have seen measurable benefits such as increased repayment rates, reduced delinquencies, increased participation in foreclosure prevention programs, and more as a result of their SpringFour partnership.

SpringFour also shares individual clients’ usage data, SpringFour aggregate data, and U.S. market trends with our clients so they can analyze consumer trends, develop effective messaging campaigns, facilitate productive customer support, deliver the most relevant financial health resources, and continue relieving consumer stress. 

While our primary focus within ESG is social impact (S), SpringFour also supports organizations’ governance (G) by providing impact metrics that can be shared with internal teams for strategic planning, with stakeholders for highlighting measurable impact, and in self-reporting to highlight your organization’s dedication to strengthening social impact and holding organizations and their leadership teams accountable.

Clients Featuring SpringFour’s Impact in Their Reporting

Many of our clients are currently showcasing their partnerships with SpringFour. Mentions of SpringFour partnerships and their impact are featured throughout our clients’ reporting about their influence on people and society, often showcased in ESG, CSR, Annual, or Sustainability Reports.

Capital One mentioned their partnership with SpringFour as a Key Accomplishment in the Social Impact section of Capital One’s 2023 Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Report. The report shared this powerful quote:

M&T Bank’s 2023 Sustainability Report features a compelling quote from M&T’s Loss Mitigation Liaison, Chrissy Lucas, emphasizing the bank’s gratitude for implementing SpringFour. M&T Bank also highlights metrics from last year’s SpringFour Client Social Impact Report. This included delivering 223,000+ financial health referrals to their customers in 2023.

KeyBank’s 2023 CSR Report used metrics from its SpringFour ESG Report to demonstrate the partnership’s impact in 2023. KeyBank’s customers’ four most requested financial health categories were housing counseling, heating and utility costs, financial counseling, and employment services.

Read reports from BMO, Capital One, Fifth Third Bank, Flagstar, KeyBank, M&T, and Patelco to see how SpringFour helps these organizations drive financial health and social impact.

Agents, Counselors, & Consumers See the Difference

We have received inspiring feedback from users firsthand about how SpringFour has impacted and uplifted lives. The testimonials below have been shared by consumers, agents, counselors, and coaches using SpringFour’s products to grow financial health. The variety of stories and positive feedback we receive highlights SpringFour’s broad range of financial health offerings. People facing financial hardship often need support in more than one area. SpringFour empowers organizations to connect consumers with the resources they need in their own communities.

These testimonials show that SpringFour drives real impact for consumers, employees, and organizations. Everyone deserves access to financial health support when they need it. When you transform how consumers manage their finances by advocating for social impact and taking corporate responsibility, your organization will reap benefits in return. 

SpringFour distributes its annual Client ESG Reports in February, providing insights for each specific client from the previous calendar year. 

We would love to connect with your ESG, CSR, Sustainability, or Impact teams to ensure they receive this report and can continue making access to financial wellness an industry standard. 

Please reach out to SpringFour’s Senior Manager, Client Success and Impact at phylicia@springfour.com to connect your ESG teams with ours and learn more about SpringFour’s Client ESG Reports and overall impact reporting.

Phylicia Clifton

Senior Manager, Client Success & Impact, SpringFour

In the face of high home prices and steep mortgage rates, the financial health fintech will connect struggling homeowners with resources to get back on their feet.

CHICAGO, October 22, 2024 – SpringFour, the first-of-its-kind, leading financial health fintech, has unveiled its revamped and expanded mortgage relief resources as the American Rescue Plan’s Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) programs shutter their doors. SpringFour will now connect homeowners to non-profit, government, and other mortgage relief resources in more than 700 locations nationwide, many of which are aimed at preventing foreclosure and helping homeowners stay afloat.

In the midst of today’s housing affordability crisis, homeowners often struggle to make ends meet. According to a recent survey, up to 62% of homeowners have struggled to make their mortgage payments on time. More than half of recent home buyers (56%) reported feeling financially overwhelmed since purchasing their homes, while 27% said their overall financial situation had deteriorated since becoming homeowners.

What’s more, foreclosures are on the rise in 2024—up 3% from last year. Americans continue to face high home prices, steep mortgage rates, rising insurance premiums, and even the possibility of losing their homes.

Beginning in 2021, HAF programs provided a lifeline to homeowners facing Covid-19-related foreclosures. SpringFour provided almost half a million referrals to HAF programs during the pandemic, with the peak of consumers accessing SpringFour’s Mortgage Relief/HAF resources occurring in the third quarter of 2022. At a time when there was confusion about the HAF program availability and details, SpringFour created easily digestible summaries for homeowners that were reviewed and updated every week. This added tremendous value for companies and their customers, who were two times more likely to engage in foreclosure prevention and payment programs after receiving SpringFour referrals.

Now, with HAF funding winding down and most programs already closed, many homeowners don’t know where to turn for mortgage assistance.

That’s why SpringFour—which helps financial institutions, mortgage servicers, and other businesses deliver vetted financial health solutions to their consumers—has expanded its mortgage relief resources to include more than 300 non-profit, government, and other resources (outside of the HAF programs) for homeowners having difficulty making their mortgage payments and facing foreclosure. Resources include emergency financial assistance for short-term hardships and programs to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. SpringFour has also released an updated Financial Health Resource Guide for Mortgage Assistance to reflect the resources available to consumers today and moving forward.

Since its launch in 2005, SpringFour has connected millions of Americans to resources that improve their financial health. In 2023 alone, SpringFour delivered more than 5.5 million financial health referrals in partnerships with leading banks, credit unions, employers, mortgage servicers, and more. In Q2 of 2024, SpringFour delivered more than 2 million financial health referrals to consumers in need—13% more than the previous quarter and more in one quarter than ever before.

Since 2021, Freedom Mortgage, one of the largest full-service mortgage companies and a top Veterans Administration (VA) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lender in the U.S., has worked with SpringFour to offer relief to consumers: “Customer service and keeping customers in their homes are our top priorities, including providing our customers with free resources—such as SpringFour’s easy-to-use online platform—for those who may need financial assistance in addition to the mortgage assistance we provide. It has helped families who are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table. We’re proud to continue this partnership,” said David Sheeler, senior executive vice president and president of residential servicing at Freedom Mortgage.

“As HAF programs close, our Mortgage Relief resources provide a place for homeowners to turn. The current cost-of-living increases have created challenges for many homeowners and have made it harder for homeowners to stay afloat. We’re committed to empowering organizations with the trustworthy resources they need to support their consumers’ ability to reduce missed mortgage payments, pay off debts, and stay in their homes, enabling them to navigate emergency situations and create a path toward sustainable financial futures,” said Rochelle Nawrocki-Gorey, founder and CEO of SpringFour.

Learn more about SpringFour.

About SpringFour

Founded in 2005, SpringFour is the first-of-its-kind, leading social impact fintech that empowers banks, credit unions, fintech lenders, employers, loan servicers, mortgage insurers, nonprofits, and organizations across all industries to connect consumers with vetted, local nonprofit and government financial health resources. Trusted by leading organizations including Capital One, BMO, Fifth Third Bank, MSUFCU, M&T Bank, OppFi, KeyBank, Patelco Credit Union, Avant, Enova, Oportun, Mission Lane, and more, SpringFour’s product suite includes an innovative contact center tool, digital self-service products, and APIs that increase payment performance, add brand value, strengthen customer relationships, drive ESG and social impact, support consumer financial health, and improve bottom lines. SpringFour has received many prestigious awards including American Banker’s Most Influential Women in Fintech, Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 250, Real Leaders’ Top Impact Companies, Fast Company’s Brands that Matter, Finovate’s Innovator of the Year, and more. SpringFour was recently acquired by C&R Software, a CORA Group company and subsidiary of Constellation Software, Inc., the 23rd largest software company in the world with an $80B market cap. 

Our hearts are heavy as we watch the news of historic natural disasters that have occurred this season. We are thinking of the numerous people impacted by disasters such as Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton — and our clients are thinking of them, too. 

We’ve received a number of inquiries from our clients asking how they can leverage SpringFour’s financial health resources to support their customers through natural disaster response and recovery. We’re here to show you all the ways SpringFour can bolster your disaster response and recovery offerings to support consumers with vetted, nonprofit and government resources that help them regain a sense of stability in the response phase and create a long-term recovery plan for managing income, expenses, and debt.

Natural disasters can be shocking and life-altering, especially when the impact becomes far greater than expected or those who were unable to adequately prepare. After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, our expert Resource Integrity Team knew how to respond by monitoring, adding, and updating recovery resources that continued becoming available for years afterward. We’ve been doing this for a long time and we know what resources to trust, to recommend, and what people might need. 

Start Your Response Now — And Continue Providing Support Through Recovery

While organizations need to respond quickly to these types of events, it is imperative that they continue to support consumers as their need grows in the coming weeks and months. 

In the wake of a natural disaster, most consumers in the response phase are looking to solve for their immediate needs. Many are still without food, water, shelter, power, internet, cell service, and other basic necessities. They are not checking their emails or doing financial planning; they are still taking inventory of available resources for survival, assessing damages, and working to regain access to immediate needs before transitioning to long-term recovery efforts.

A recent statement by SBP, a nonprofit organization that helps disaster victims, states:

Organizations must reflect on what support they have to offer consumers and determine whether those resources will meet their consumers’ needs — not only right now, but also as consumers develop a long-term recovery plan, which can take weeks, months, or even years to execute.

At SpringFour, we understand that different resources are needed during disaster response and recovery. We work to ensure those valuable resources are available and easy to find for your consumers, so that all you have to do is connect the consumer to SpringFour. Our expert Resource Integrity Team closely monitors resources to determine which are the most helpful and keeps them updated so you don’t have to keep track of them. 

Long-Term Recovery Must Be Prioritized in Addition to Immediate Response

People may not be calling their financial institutions for help yet, but organizations need to be prepared for how to respond when consumers inevitably reach out looking for more support in the coming weeks and months. 

Luckily, this gives organizations time to implement innovative solutions to support consumers who need help through disaster recovery. They need to ensure that their employees understand the organization’s response and recovery offerings so that employees can successfully deliver tangible support to consumers in their time of need. 

Here are several key components to successful long-term disaster recovery that SpringFour can help with.

Preparing a plan for managing income, expenses, and debt

Recovering from a natural disaster requires building a long-term plan for how to manage income, additional expenses, and debt due to the natural disaster. SpringFour’s resources help consumers reduce their expenses and access other valuable financial health support so they can focus their energy on recovery. 

Providing a source of truth with reliable resources 

Our finger is on the pulse of trending consumer needs and our resources are continuously updated, so no one searching for SpringFour’s disaster recovery resources is led to a dead end or a resource without available funds.

Preventing misinformation, scams, and malicious actors 

SpringFour’s Resource Integrity Team vets and curates every available resource, leaving our clients assured that their consumers will never be directed to misinformation, scams, or malicious actors looking to take advantage of those recovering from a natural disaster. 

Elevating vulnerable communities

The SBP statement also says:

Organizations must consider their most vulnerable populations and build a path forward to help connect those consumers with the financial health resources they want and deserve when they’re needed most. 

What you should be doing and how SpringFour can help

While our collective attention moves on from disaster coverage and relief in the coming months, the need for recovery resources is just beginning.

Immediately following a disaster, resources generally come from national organizations and the federal government to address immediate needs. In the weeks and months after the disaster, as damage and resource needs have been assessed, local nonprofits and foundations get more involved and provide additional resources. 

SpringFour’s Resource Integrity Team is full of industry experts who know what resources to look for and which resources are trustworthy. We continuously monitor for additional resources as they come online and update our resource database to ensure that every search surfaces relevant, trusted, nonprofit and government resources that support consumers with their type of financial need in their local area. 

SpringFour never charges the consumer to receive financial health resources, which increases accessibility for underserved communities and empowers consumers to make payments, grow savings, and build financial health. SpringFour’s self-serve solutions are accessible digitally 24/7, allowing consumers to search for the resources they need, anytime they need them. 

Provide Consumers with SpringFour’s Disaster Relief Category

SpringFour’s Disaster Relief Category includes a variety of resources that can support consumers who are responding to or recovering from a natural disaster.

Our expertly-authored Financial Health Resource Guides provide money-saving tips on a variety of topics. The Disaster Relief Financial Health Resource Guides include information and resources on recovery from different natural disasters such as fires, floods, and tornados. The Guides also offer tips for navigating the application for federal assistance from FEMA and other disaster benefits that survivors are eligible for. These Guides surface when any search is made for SpringFour’s Disaster Relief resources. 

As FEMA disaster declarations are issued, we add those at the county level when a county is eligible for Individual Assistance. We add the declaration as a resource so that the application for assistance from FEMA is easy to find with a quick search for Disaster Relief resources.

There are also referrals to city and county emergency management agencies. The emergency management agencies provide the most up-to-date information about disaster response efforts in their immediate area. 

We add other resources as they come online, especially as they assist with the recovery and rebuild phases. That can be weeks (and months) after the disaster initially occurred, but that is when people have moved past the initial phase of damage assessment and need support with preparing a plan for financial recovery and rebuilding.

In Q2 2024 compared to Q2 2023, SpringFour saw a 40% increase in demand for Disaster Relief resources, and we know demand will continue as those who have been affected recover from the natural disaster they experienced. 

Offer Other SpringFour Categories That Support Disaster Relief Efforts

At SpringFour, we also know that long-term recovery needs will expand beyond the resources strictly dedicated to disaster relief. Many categories of SpringFour’s financial health resources can help with disaster recovery efforts. 

Develop a Disaster Relief Landing Page

Creating a dedicated disaster relief landing page that links to SpringFour helps consumers know where to go to access resources that support their disaster recovery efforts — on their own time, when they need them most.

Update the Categories of Resources You Offer

If you already work with SpringFour and would like to update the categories available in your SpringFour solutions, we can help you do that quickly. To update your categories, reach out to your Client Success manager or impact@springfour.com.

Build a Dedicated Disaster Relief Deployment

Whether you’re a current client or brand new to SpringFour, we can help you quickly build a SpringFour deployment that is geared directly toward those affected by natural disasters. Once built, you will be able to provide effective, reliable financial health resources to anyone affected by a natural disaster now and in the future. 

To get started on your disaster relief deployment, reach out to sales@springfour.com or let us know here.

Phylicia Clifton

Senior Manager, Client Success & Impact, SpringFour

Missy brings over 20 years of expertise in the government payments industry, particularly in EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer). Her diverse experience spans implementations, program management, card services, and relationship management, making her an ideal fit as SpringFour’s Director of Business Development.

Having worked for major financial institutions and fintech companies, Missy excels at forging meaningful, empathy-driven partnerships with her clients and colleagues. Her extensive management of large state government assistance programs has deepened her understanding of the urgent need for timely financial support.

With an infectious energy and passion for enhancing financial health through SpringFour’s resources, Missy is eager to connect and collaborate with you!

What excites you about being part of SpringFour?

Oh goodness, so many things excite me about being a part of this incredible SpringFour team. What gets me most excited is our shared passion for helping others who are suffering financial hardships. The energy and dedication of our team is contagious. Whether we’re on a prospect call or in a morning huddle, I feel it and it motivates me to get SpringFour into the hands of every single person.

What does financial health mean to you?

As I ‘mature’ everything about my health continues to be prioritized in my life… mental, physical, relationships, spiritual, and, of course, financial. To me, financial health has three key components: knowledge to make the right choices about money, control over decisions affecting my financial life, and security of knowing that there are places I can turn to when financial hardships occur.

What financial health trends do you expect to see in the near future?

I think more financial institutions, both large and small, will continue to focus on building financial confidence amongst the underbanked community. No one person’s financial profile looks the same as another’s, and organizations need to make efforts to offer customizable and attainable solutions that meet the ever-changing needs along one’s lifelong financial journey.

What gets you up in the morning?

The smell of coffee, daily NYT puzzles, my sunrise workout girls, buttery croissants, and the opportunity to make a difference through my work with a mission-driven brand like SpringFour.

What is your financial health rule to live by?

“Wants vs. Needs.” It’s very simple to say, but it’s hard to prioritize needs when there are so many wants. I have a slight obsession with home decor — my husband and kids concur. I’ll often visit my favorite store, Homegoods, and peruse the aisles of stuff that I certainly don’t ‘need’ but I sure do ‘want.’ I’ve learned the importance of prioritizing needs, such as groceries, utility bills, and mortgage payments, and recognizing when certain expenses, such as dining out, travel, and home accents, are wants that I may not need to buy now. For items that fall into the want category, I set aside a modest budget each month. This allows me to enjoy the things in life that bring me joy but still have reasonable limits.

Missy Hansen

Business Development Director, SpringFour

A few weeks ago we shared the exciting news of SpringFour being acquired by C&R Software, a CORA Group company and subsidiary of Constellation Software, the 23rd largest software company in the world with an $80B market cap. 

The acquisition was featured in multiple press outlets, including:

Learn more about the acquisition by reading the press release.

Morgan Pierce

Impact & Communications Manager, SpringFour