Happy Money, a consumer finance company focused on responsible lending, has unveiled significantly upgraded capabilities to Hive, its proprietary lending platform. The enhancements have substantially reduced borrower friction, led to faster credit decisions, and resulted in a surge of over 400 per cent in monthly loan originations year to date.
Hive is the core technology backbone of Happy Money’s lending operations, underpinning its flagship debt consolidation product, The Payoff Loan™. By focusing on automation and advanced modelling, the platform is built to deliver a superior end-to-end lending experience, covering underwriting, loan origination, servicing, and capital delivery across both direct origination and participation models.
Intelligent automation reduces friction
The enhanced Hive platform integrates a sophisticated Underwriting Engine for robust risk management and pricing, alongside advanced statistical and machine learning techniques. These features streamline decision-making, reducing manual interventions and delays for both borrowers and funding partners.
Recent improvements have delivered measurable gains in efficiency and the borrower experience. On average, consumers are now completing the application process in just two minutes, with most applicants receiving a decision within seconds. The majority of routine applications are processed through automated decisioning, cutting manual steps and time to approval.
Matt Potere, CEO of Happy Money, emphasised the mission-driven investment in the platform. “As Americans continue to navigate high-interest credit card debt and other financial stressors, it’s increasingly important to provide thoughtful lending solutions that help people meet their financial goals,” Potere said. “With that mission in mind, we’ve made significant investments in our proprietary lending platform this year, ensuring Hive can scale intelligently and drive impact with greater speed and precision.”
Enabling partner growth
Beyond serving direct borrowers, Hive’s upgrades focus heavily on partner enablement, providing credit unions, banks, and asset managers with flexible, efficient capital deployment opportunities. The platform’s Flexible Capital Access Infrastructure allows lending partners to fund loans directly or via Happy Money’s participation network, offering a new source of short-duration, high-quality assets.
The platform includes robust data reporting and AI-driven insights for transparent collaboration. This technology allows partners to diversify balance sheets and scale with confidence, underpinned by disciplined credit expertise.
The enhancements come at a time when consumer need for debt solutions remains high. According to the company’s recent Credit Check-In report, 42 per cent of U.S. adults are concerned about credit card payments, with 36 per cent prioritising paying down debt.
April Clobes, president & CEO of Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, attested to the platform’s value: “Working with Happy Money has allowed us to increase membership and enhance portfolio diversification through a streamlined and transparent lending experience. Happy Money’s personal loans perform well and provide us the ability to serve a national consumer base through their technology-enabled, compliance-ready lending platform.”
