Filene Research Institute announces a new collaboration with QCash, a digital lending platform that offers relationship-based underwriting, without credit check, to members in search of small, short-term unsecured loans.

Ben Morales, CEO of QCash Financial and an original Filene i3 innovator, and a senior leader at Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU) has been meticulously refining payday loan alternatives at the credit union over the past decade, which ultimately led to QCash’s solutions. WSECU’s QCash program books over 30,000 loans annually, maintains loan loss rates in the 6-8% range, provides financial education for members using this product, and generates a $4 million/year, net.

“We wanted to find a way to offer a better alternative to payday loans,” said Morales. “We are honored to be associated with a prestigious organization such as Filene to make this program available to more credit unions and their members.”

The collaboration between Filene and QCash Financial offers credit unions the opportunity to bring this lower cost, multi-channel loan experience to their members while also participating in its evolution by sharing data with the researchers at Filene.

“With more than 100 million payday loans issued annually at rates between 300-500%, the need is obvious,” said Tansley Stearns, chief impact officer at Filene. “Through Filene pilots, credit unions are able to bring new ideas to their members that have real impact. We can’t wait to see the results with QCash.”

Those interested in learning more about QCash are encouraged to attend one of several free webinars scheduled in early 2016. Registration information is available at filene.org.

Results from the QCash pilot will be collected over the next several months and will include data regarding user demographics, loan growth, repeat usage, and response to the digital experience. To learn more about Filene’s pilot work in the Incubator and Impact labs, visit www.filene.org.

About QCash Financial

Olympia, Washington-based QCash Financial started as a short-term loan solution for members of WSECU in 2004. QCash Financial is a provider of an automated, cloud-based, mobile lending platform that enables financial institutions to provide short-term loans quickly to the people they serve. For more information about QCash Financial, visit its website at Q-Cash.com.

About Filene

Filene Research Institute is an independent, consumer finance think and do tank dedicated to scientific and thoughtful analysis about issues affecting the future of credit unions, retail banking and cooperative finance. Founded over 25 years ago, Filene is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Nearly 1,000 members make the nonprofit’s research, innovation and impact programs possible. For more information visit www.filene.org.