Driving Home Equity Growth Through Digital Engagement

In today's competitive lending landscape, credit unions and banks face mounting pressure to grow their home equity portfolios while meeting members' expectations for digital experiences. The data reveals a clear opportunity: by implementing Chimney's digital home equity solution, financial institutions can establish a predictable, measurable pipeline of quality loans.

The Digital Engagement Challenge

Home equity lending traditionally relies on branch traffic, outbound calling, and direct mail—approaches that are increasingly less effective with digitally-oriented consumers. Without a modern digital channel, financial institutions miss connecting with members at the moment they're considering their home equity options.

Many members who would qualify for home equity products never apply because they:

• Don't know how much equity they have
• Aren't aware of their institution's competitive offerings
• Go to Zillow or Rocket to look up home values and home equity questions

The Chimney Solution: An Automated Funnel of Applications

Chimney transforms home lending into a fully digital journey from awareness to application. Our platform creates a personalized experience that guides members through understanding their available equity, exploring loan options, and then seamlessly connects them to your existing application process or loan officer.

Based on aggregated benchmark data from multiple financial institutions, we've identified consistent patterns in member engagement and conversion. The monthly funnel for an institution with 100,000 digital users demonstrates the power of this approach:

• 10,000 members enroll in MyHomeTracker (10% adoption rate)
• 4,701 members actively engage monthly (47.01% monthly active rate)
• 404 members click on invitations to apply (8.6% click rate)
• 10 loans fund each month (2.49% funded loan rate)

For a typical 100,000-member institution, Chimney's impact translates to:

• 120 additional home equity loans annually
• $6,000,000 in new loan volume
• $225,000 in annual interest income (at 4.5% average rate)
• $2,025,000 in lifetime interest income (10-year term with average retention)

Benchmarking Results for 100,000 Member Credit Union

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Starting Point: Total Membership Base

• 100,000 members: The credit union's total membership base

Stage 1: Enrollment

• 10,000 members (Chimney clients see 10% adoption from their digital user base in Year 1)
• These members are enrolled in MyHomeTracker
• This is a one-time setup where members enable the platform and they are always connected in their banking app

Stage 2: Engagement - Monthly Active Users

• 4,701 members (47% of those who adopted)
• These are members who actively engage with the platform monthly
• They represent your engaged user base

Stage 3: Conversion - Offer Clicks

• 404 offer clicks (8.6% of active users)
• These members see and click on specific home equity offers

Stage 4: Applications Submitted

• 48 members (15% of those who clicked offers)
• These members move from offer clicks to actual application submission
• This is where serious intent is demonstrated

Stage 5: Funded Loans

• 10 funded loans per month (2.49% of clicks)
• These members complete the entire process from click to closing
• At an average loan amount of $50,000 this generates $321,336 in loan volume monthly

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And what about for your size? You can use this benchmark data to easily forecast the balance sheet impact from adding Chimney. Remember, this data is using a 2.49% Click to Close rate. That means only 2.49% of people that click an offer in Chimney end up applying and getting approved.

Key Benchmarks from Actual Client Data

After analyzing the client data, here are the accurate benchmark metrics:

1. Enrolled to Monthly Active Rate: 47.01%
   • Nearly half of members who enroll in Chimney become monthly active users
   • This is higher than our initial estimate and shows strong engagement
2. Monthly Active to Offer Clicks: 8.60%
   • Of active users, 8.6% click on offers each month
   • This represents members discovering and exploring their prequalified loan options
3. Click to Close (Funded Loans): 2.49%
   • This conversion rate is consistent across multiple clients
   • It represents the percentage of clicks that result in a funded loan
4. Average Loan Amount: $50,000
   • Based on data from the benchmark clients
   • This number is primarily made up of home equity loans, home improvement loans, and refis.

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Implementation Considerations

For credit union executives considering Chimney, the key factors to focus on are:

1. Member Adoption: Strategies to drive the initial 10% adoption rate. Chimney offers auto-enroll to roll out MyHomeTracker to every member automatically.
2. Engagement Tactics: Methods to maintain high monthly active user rates.
3. Offer Optimization: Ways to increase the percentage of active users who click on offers.
4. Application Experience: Ensuring a smooth process from click to application

Beyond the Direct Lending Impact

1. Higher quality leads - Members connect with your application process or loan officers when they're ready to apply
2. Reduced staff workload - Digital engagement educates members before they reach your team
3. 24/7 engagement capability - Members can explore options outside branch hours
4. Seamless handoff - Members transition smoothly from Chimney to your application process
5. Enhanced Member Experience: Members receive personalized, digital home equity options instead of generic marketing
6. Operational Efficiency: Digital pre-qualification reduces staff workload and increases pull-through rates
7. Competitive Positioning: Positions the credit union as digitally competitive against online lenders and large banks
8. Data-Driven Insights: Provides valuable data on member behavior and preferences
9. Cross-Selling Opportunities: Creates touchpoints for other financial products and services

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Few Resources Required for MyHomeTracker

Financial institutions that implement Chimney see measurable results within the first 90 days. Our implementation team ensures you achieve these benchmark rates through:

1. Customized marketing campaigns to drive enrollment
2. Training for your loan officers to effectively convert Chimney leads
3. Regular reporting and optimization to exceed benchmark rates

As the data clearly demonstrates, Chimney creates a predictable pipeline of home equity leads that grows with your institution. For marketing and lending teams seeking measurable growth in today's digital-first environment, Chimney's solution delivers both immediate results and long-term portfolio impact.

Interested in learning how these number will translate for you? Sales@Chimney.io to see how these numbers would translate for your specific institution and how quickly you can begin building your digital home loan pipeline.