Neo-bank Dora partners with TrustPlus to bring financial coaching to un- and under-banked

TrustPlus offers fintechs the human connection and expert guidance that drives product engagement and impact.

At our core TrustPlus is designed to unite fintech with the human connection and expert guidance that drives optimal product engagement.

Leading innovators in the space like neo-bank Dora understand this axiom, and our new partnership will contribute to the growing body of research that proves it.

The first neo-bank powered by the credit union movement, Dora was founded in 2021 to reduce racial and economic disparity and provide access to fair financial products and services to everyone, especially the 50 million people in the U.S. who aren’t served by mainstream banks.

Through things like free checking accounts, early pay with direct deposit, and instant debit card freeze/unfreeze, “Dora exists to give the unbanked and underbanked access to fair financial services,” said Kristi Kenworthy, Managing Director at Dora, when announcing the partnership last week.

“Providing personalized Financial Coaching is the next logical step to helping nearly 50 million individuals, on their journey from financial exclusion to financial empowerment.”

Event-Based Financial Coaching

Our partnership with Dora makes “event-based Financial Coaching” available to Dora users, enabling them to seamlessly connect with a TrustPlus Financial Coach who can help them navigate financial challenges through their preferred communication channel — text, email, phone or Skype, in English and in Spanish.

“We are excited to partner with Dora Financial as they innovate into new technology and banking spaces. We can’t wait to measure how these innovations, when paired with our own technology and Financial Coaching services, will make us a powerful driver for financial wellness across the country,” added Christopher L. Starr, Senior Director of Innovation at Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, home of yours truly, TrustPlus.

Financial Coaching services have been made possible by grant funds generously provided through Inclusiv’s partnership with Prudential.

Innovation Agenda

We enter our partnership with Dora with a learning and innovation agenda and the following hypotheses:

💡 TrustPlus will help Dora’s end-users make the most of their banking tools by helping them improve their credit scores, reduce debt, grow their savings and improve overall financial health.

💡 By using a single-sign-on service, end-users will be able to easily sign up for Financial Coaching at the very moment they’re thinking about their money, making TrustPlus Personal Finance Coaching the default banking experience.

💡 Dora and TrustPlus will learn about the specific banking scenarios — such as overdrafting, depleted savings, or debt payments — that prompt end-users to engage with TrustPlus Financial Coaches.

Together, answers to these questions will help us and Dora to empower more people on the road to financial health and better design products and services to meet workers’ needs. We look forward to sharing learnings from our partnership in the months ahead which will inform our own innovation and, we hope, contribute to broader innovation in the space.

Fintech Friends, We’re Here for You

If you’re a fintech leader reading this, thinking maybe we should partner, then hallelujah, I mean, then there are a few things you should know. Well, one thing, really: We’re selective in our partnerships.

We partner exclusively with mission-aligned fintechs like Dora, Landed, PerkUp, Prosperi-Key, and SaverLife–who are 1) passionate about ending financial insecurity among workers; 2) cognizant of the need for a human touch in financial technology solutions, and; 3) eager to tackle a good design challenge while learning together.

Sound like you? Contact us at fintechs@mytrustplus.org.

Together we’ll provide Personal Finance Coaching to your users, explore innovative approaches to product integration, user experience, and data analytics, and blend the human with the algorithmic to optimize your engagement and impact.