Lindsey Downing, Senior Vice President and Head of TransUnion Consumer Interactive
Some believe the game of life is rigged—that wealth is attained only by those who hold well-guarded secrets. Understandably, this belief may be especially strong in underserved communities where income disparities can be most acutely felt. The sentiment may also be growing among younger generations. UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers found that while 86% of 14- to 27-year-olds want the American dream, a full 60% believe it will be difficult for them to achieve.
Fintechs have the opportunity to demystify wealth building, giving consumers, especially those who may benefit most from greater financial inclusion, insider access to long-standing but often unfamiliar strategies and tools. The key will be making it personal. Educating consumers on general wealth building is helpful, but offering hyper-personalized guidance based on their unique circumstances is empowering. Personalization is also a consumer priority; TELUS International found 62% would opt for a personalized customer experience over one that took less time.
Doing Well By Doing Good
Besides being the right thing to do, empowering consumers with personalized financial know-how may be good business, especially for fledgling fintechs. Branding agency Lippincott found companies that enable customers to do things they otherwise couldn’t saw five times the annual revenue growth.
Additionally, engagement has been shown to increase when organizations provide access to personalized financial data and guidance. A national credit union partnered with my company, TransUnion, to give its membership (53% of which are subprime or near-prime consumers) access to a dashboard with personalized credit health insights and interactive tools. At the height of the program, more than 20% of enrolled members logged in to the dashboard monthly, and the credit union earned double the number of new accounts from engaged members.
The increasing availability of robust consumer data and improved integration across the financial service ecosystem means fintechs can build a range of new personal data experiences to achieve similar results. With doors to mainstream finance newly opened to them, fintech customers stand to benefit as well.
Choosing The Right Personal Data Experience To Offer
There are countless ways financial intelligence can help drive better outcomes for consumers. Depending on expertise, core competencies, missions and brand promises, fintechs may choose to focus on delivering one or a combination of these insights. The idea is to layer the fintech’s unique capabilities over personal data to encourage healthy behaviors and reinforce positive momentum.
This may come to life through insights, such as:
• Information on how different financial moves improve or worsen an individual’s creditworthiness
• Personalized action steps to help an individual improve their creditworthiness
• Timely alerts about potential credit and identity threats that might disrupt financial wellness
• A customized credit score history to see how credit health has changed over time
Approaching Implementation With Customer Trust In Mind
Once a fintech has determined the what and why of their personalized financial insights offering, the next step is configuring the how. Practical steps vary, but three are emerging as best practices among customer-centric firms.
Consider the end-to-end data journey.
The sensitive nature of personalized financial guidance requires careful attention to the full data journey. This spans how data is gathered, analyzed and protected to how insights are delivered.
Collaborating with credit bureaus and other regulated data intelligence sources gives a fintech access to timely, personalized information. As importantly, partnerships with regulated data providers may reduce cybersecurity, privacy and compliance risks. This is crucial to building consumer trust, which is essential for engagement. According to my company’s H1 2025 Omnichannel Fraud Report, 62% of consumers said fraud concerns were the top reason they wouldn’t use a website again.
That’s not to say fintechs should rely solely on their partners for data governance. Every organization handling personal data should comply with industry standards and regulatory requirements for data security.
Build a complete and continuous customer experience.
Many providers tend to stop at financial guidance. While they inform and encourage, they don’t offer the actual tools to empower or maintain financial wellness. Connecting a fintech’s customers to wealth-building tools takes advantage of the moment, transforming interest into action and inspiring return visits.
To achieve this, fintechs can embed actionable tools like automated savings features, credit simulators or debt management solutions into the customer experience. Integrating these tools alongside personalized guidance helps consumers move seamlessly from learning to doing, without leaving the platform.
Incentivize action with gamified experiences.
Even when elegantly directed to financially healthy tools, consumers who are new to personal finance may feel intimidated to take the next step. Fintechs have an opportunity to make financial progress feel more attainable—perhaps even fun—by incorporating gamification into their platforms. Offering rewards or recognition for completing recommended actions, such as paying down a credit card or increasing savings, taps principles of behavioral psychology that drive engagement.
When researchers at UC Davis analyzed the effects of discontinuing gamification in a Latin American bank’s mobile app, they found a 20% reduction in app logins and a 31% decline in on-time loan repayments, highlighting the influence of gamification on engagement.
Features like progress tracking, badges and points reward users for staying on track with a personalized plan, making even small steps feel like big wins.
Fintechs: Making The American Dream Possible, No Matter The Version
If history is any indication, fintechs will continue to be a driving force in advancing collective financial wellness. Innovation has played a large role in bridging critical gaps in traditional banking systems.
While the American dream means different things to different people, it’s often built on earnest hopes: a fresh start, a safe home or even just a sense that tomorrow will be better than today. It’s a worthy endeavor to empower individuals, especially those historically overlooked by mainstream financial systems, to believe in their version of the American dream. And, with the right investments in personalized data insights, strategic partnerships and a thoughtfully designed customer experience, it may also translate to good business.
The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
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