Desert Financial Credit Union partners with Informed.IQ and MeridianLink to transform indirect auto lending, boosting Funder efficiency by 66%. * 5 hours ago SAN FRANCISCO - August 12, 2026 - MeridianLink, Desert Financial Credit Union, and Informed.IQ recently highlighted the impact of their integrated lending technology partnership, demonstrating how AI-powered automation and modern lending infrastructure are helping financial institutions scale indirect auto operations while improving dealer experience and operational efficiency. Through the integration of MeridianLink's lending platform and Informed.IQ's AI-driven document automation capabilities, Desert Financial transformed a manual funding workflow into a streamlined automated environment focused on speed, consistency, and scalability. Prior to implementation, Desert Financial's funding team faced increasing operational pressure driven by growing dealer volume, manual document review processes, and complex stipulation handling. The organization identified dealer responsiveness and funding speed as strategic priorities to strengthen dealer relationships and improve competitiveness within the indirect lending market. By leveraging the combined MeridianLink and Informed.IQ ecosystem, Desert Financial automated document intake, stipulation identification, and workflow routing, allowing funders to focus primarily on complex exceptions and quality assurance. The integrated solution delivered measurable operational results: * Accelerated Funder Throughput: Daily individual funding capacity surged by 66%, jumping from an average of 15 closed deals per day to 25 closed deals per day. * Elimination of Team Overtime: Prior to automation, the credit union routinely logged overtime hours to prevent backlogs; with Informed.IQ's streamlined workflows, Desert Financial has successfully scaled back overtime entirely. * Rapid Employee Onboarding: Training new personnel in the complex auto-lending space previously required a full two weeks. Under the automated environment powered by Informed.IQ, onboarding takes just 3 days before a new hire is confidently processing live deal jackets. * Immediate Deploy Success: In the first two months, individual funders successfully doubled the total number of processed loan fundings in a single day. "Automation allowed us to simplify operations while improving consistency and speed for our dealers," shared the Desert Financial team. "The integration between systems created a much more scalable operational model for our funding teams." Looking ahead, MeridianLink, Desert Financial, and Informed.IQ plan to continue expanding workflow automation, dealer experience enhancements, and integrated operational capabilities across the lending lifecycle. About MeridianLink MeridianLink's leading digital lending platform and suite of solutions help retail banks, credit unions, IMBs, and consumer reporting agencies grow, scale, and serve. Powered by smarter automation, built-in compliance, trusted AI and data, and the industry's most robust partner network, Finopotamus LLC connect consumers to a modern technology ecosystem. Its solutions across account opening, loan origination and optimization, digital mortgages, collections, and reporting accelerate processes, deliver personalized experiences, and foster lasting relationships. Together, Finopotamus LLC is making lending human. About Desert Financial Credit Union For more than 87 years, Desert Financial has been Arizona's most trusted local credit union with more than 500,000 members and nearly $9 billion in assets. With 50+ locations across Arizona and top-rated digital banking, it's easy for members to click, call or come in. In 2026, members received $16 million back via the Member Giveback Bonus. Desert Financial is the official retail banking partner of Arizona State University(R) and the official banking partner of the Arizona Cardinals, NAU Athletics and the NAU Alumni Association. Federally insured by NCUA. Learn more at DesertFinancial.com. Informed.IQ uses AI and ML to instantly verify income, assets, residence, insurance, auto stipulations, credit stipulations, and more, enabling real-time, reliable credit decisions without bias. Informed's models are trained to process hundreds of document types, automating stipulation and funding clearance for top auto lenders, banks, and credit unions across the United States. For more information, visit informediq.com.

MeridianLink buys Credit Mountain to turn loan declines into future business. Aug 03, 2026 The acquired technology keeps rejected applicants connected to their lender while they work toward eligibility, creating a potential pipeline of mortgage-ready borrowers A borrower who cannot qualify today may still represent future business. MeridianLink is buying technology designed to keep that prospect connected to the lender instead of allowing a loan denial to end the relationship. The lending technology provider announced Monday that it acquired Credit Mountain, an AI-powered financial wellness platform that provides declined applicants with credit education, digital coaching, and personalized steps toward future loan eligibility. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction closed July 31. MeridianLink will use the acquired technology to offer MeridianLink Pathway, a product that converts the adverse-action process into an ongoing borrower-retention program. Instead of receiving only a notice explaining that an application was denied, consumers can receive additional information about the decision and a plan for improving their financial position. For lenders, the strategy is to hold on to applicants who might otherwise repair their credit and eventually obtain financing from a competitor. Get the NMP Daily Essential stories, every weekday. "Pathway gives borrowers a personalized, compliant path toward future approval, while MeridianLink Coach delivers AI-powered guidance to help consumers strengthen their financial health over time," MeridianLink CEO Larry Katz said. MeridianLink Coach, which is expected to become available later this year, will use AI-generated guidance to help consumers improve their credit profiles and eligibility. The company said Pathway and Coach will ultimately create a connected experience from the initial denial through credit improvement and possible reapplication. The potential mortgage pipeline. A prospective homebuyer may need months to reduce revolving debt, establish a longer payment history, address credit-report issues, or improve a credit score before qualifying for a mortgage. Without a structured follow-up process, that prospect may return to the market through another lender after completing the work. Credit Mountain's technology is designed to keep the financial institution involved during that period. It provides personalized objectives, progress tracking, credit monitoring, and notifications that can help identify when a consumer may be ready to apply again. That could eventually give LOs a warmer pipeline of prospects who have already expressed an interest in borrowing and are actively working toward eligibility. However, MeridianLink has not announced a mortgage-specific deployment of the acquired technology. Credit Mountain's capabilities are currently integrated into MeridianLink Consumer, the company's consumer loan origination platform, rather than MeridianLink Mortgage. The immediate benefits will therefore be concentrated among credit unions and community banks using MeridianLink for consumer lending. Those institutions may still gain a broader relationship advantage by keeping consumers engaged across auto loans, personal loans, credit cards, home equity products, and eventually mortgages. MeridianLink said the integrations will continue to deepen across its technology ecosystem, but it did not provide a timeline or confirm whether Pathway will be incorporated into its mortgage platform. Turning compliance into retention. Federal law requires creditors to notify applicants when adverse action is taken and either disclose the principal reasons for the decision or tell applicants how to obtain those reasons. Traditional workflows often end once that notice has been delivered. MeridianLink wants its customers to use the required communication as the starting point for continued outreach. Pathway automates and digitizes parts of that process while providing supplemental information and financial guidance. MeridianLink describes the communications as compliant, although individual institutions remain responsible for ensuring their notices, automated systems, and lending practices satisfy applicable requirements. Credit Mountain says nearly 40 community financial institutions, ranging from $50 million to $19 billion in assets, have selected its technology. The company was founded by Nathan Pinto and has focused primarily on credit unions. "This acquisition strengthens our ability to help more lenders serve more borrowers, build deeper relationships, and offer innovative lending experiences where every borrower has a clear path forward," Pinto said. MeridianLink serves more than 1,800 community financial institutions and 78 million credit union members. Its technology covers consumer lending, mortgage origination, account opening, collections, and consumer reporting. *This article was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed and edited by a human editor before publication.