Matt Potere, CEO of Happy Money, on building a great consumer lending business

Fintech One•On•One

As long-time listeners will know, I love the consumer lending space. So, I am delighted to welcome back to the podcast Matt Potere, the CEO of Happy Money, a position he has held since September 2024. Previously, Matt served as CEO of Sunlight Financial, which he took public via SPAC in 2021. With decades of experience in consumer finance across multiple asset classes, Matt brings deep expertise in credit cycles, risk management, and building successful lending platforms.

In this episode, we discuss what differentiates Happy Money, their focus on credit unions, how they approach technology and underwriting, their big new forward flow agreement, the state of the consumer today, their use of AI, why culture is so important and much more.

In this podcast you will learn:

• What attracted Matt to the opportunity at Happy Money.
• How he describes Happy Money today.
• What he learned leading Sunlight Financial that helps at Happy Money.
• Why they have focused on partnering with credit unions.
• Who is the typical customer coming to Happy Money.
• How their origination process works with their credit union partners.
• How they are using automation and AI/ML in their underwriting.
• Matt’s perspective on the state of the US consumers.
• The primary use cases for a Happy Money loan.
• How they differentiate themselves from other fintech lenders.
• Matt’s approach to scaling a lending business.
• How they are using AI tools in their operation.
• How the $500 million deal with Fortress and Edge Focus came together.
• What are his thoughts on an IPO.
• Matt thoughts about adding new products to personal loans.
• What they are focused on for the next 12 months.

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