When an application isn't approved today, give people an honest next step and keep the relationship.
Point applicants who aren't ready yet to a free, educational Credit Autopsy™. You share a link. We take no lead lists, pay you nothing, never send credit information back to you, and never stand in for your required notices. Your institution can also sponsor an applicant's education if you choose.
Offer it only on a separate, compliance-approved handout, never inside a required notice. Your vendor-management review comes first, and decisions stay independent.
For banks, credit unions and CDFIs. This is not a referral-fee program. We do not guarantee credit-score changes, loan approvals or any outcome, and we make no promise about regulatory credit or recognition. The Credit Autopsy™ session is free. Additional FundedCEO™ services may carry a fee, which is explained in writing before anyone decides.
The application wasn't approved today. The applicant leaves with a letter, a feeling of embarrassment, and no idea what to do next.
You issue the required notice, and that is where your part ends. What happens next is usually nothing, and the applicant tries somewhere else or gives up. Here is where it shows up, and what a free, educational session helps the applicant understand. Nothing here explains any specific decision.
An applicant is declined and doesn't understand their own credit reports.
→Learns how to read them and what lenders commonly look at.
A thin-file applicant has no history and no explanation.
→Learns what a thin file is and common ways people build one.
A small-business owner is declined because of personal credit.
→Learns how personal and business files are commonly read.
An applicant has an item they didn't know was on their report.
→Sees all three of their own reports and can dispute inaccurate items for free.
A would-be first-time buyer isn't ready and doesn't know what to work on.
→Gets a priority list and a realistic picture, with no promise about timing.
An applicant was pitched "credit repair" by someone else.
→Gets a straight-talking, no-guarantee, no-pressure resource, with costs in writing first.
A member keeps getting turned down for the same product.
→Learns what commonly drives repeat declines, without any promise about your decision.
The relationship ends at the denial letter.
→An optional, independent next step you can offer without touching your decision or your notices.
Educational only. No approval, rate, score change or timeline is promised, and your lending decisions stay entirely your own.
I've been on the lender's side of that desk.
I spent 15 years across Morgan Stanley, HUD and Capital One, and earlier I worked as a loan officer and a realtor. I know what it takes to issue a clean decline, and I know how often the applicant leaves with no next step.
FundedCEO™ is built as education first, and kept entirely outside your decisions, your notices and your files. We are not an affiliate, and we never speak for your institution. One person's background is not a prediction of anyone's results.
Nothing paid to you, nothing shared, and fully reviewable.
Federal law makes it a crime to corruptly give or accept anything of value to influence or reward a person's work for a financial institution, and the exposure reaches individual employees as well as the institution. Mortgage referral rules add more. Bank regulators also expect you to manage the risk of any outside company you work with, including referral arrangements. So we pay you nothing, offer nothing of value to your staff, and give you a full due-diligence package.
Partner
- How applicants reach usYour staff hand over a link or QR code, separate from any required notice. The applicant registers on their own.
- What you receiveAn educational resource, approved wording, anonymous activity counts such as link clicks, and a due-diligence package on request.
- What we receive from youNothing. No lead list, no applicant or member data, no files.
- Payments and giftsNone to the institution or to any officer, employee or board member. An institution may sponsor an applicant's education, which pays for the applicant's service and never for a referral.
- Credit informationStays with the applicant. We never send scores, reports or results to you or anyone else.
The things that put a charter at risk
- Pay or accept anything of valueNo referral fees, lead fees, gifts, meals or "marketing" payments tied to referrals.
- Sit inside your noticesOur link never appears in a denial notice or adverse action letter. Legal notices stay yours and stay clean.
- Operate under your nameDepository institutions are generally excluded from credit-repair laws. We are not an affiliate and are not excluded, so we never present our service as yours.
- Imply backingOur services are not deposits and are not insured by the FDIC or NCUA. We don't use language that suggests otherwise.
- Promise outcomesNo approvals, no score changes, and no promise of regulatory credit.
Your decisions stay your decisions.
We don't touch your application process, your underwriting or your required disclosures. We run one educational session and stay out of the way.
The honest next step
- Offer the link on a separate, compliance-approved handout or message, using one written policy applied consistently.
- Keep taking applications, deciding them independently and issuing every required notice.
- Run us through your vendor-management review before sharing anything.
- Keep applicant and member information to yourself.
The education
- Run the free Credit Autopsy™ workshop or a Next Step Call.
- Disclose that we are a for-profit company, and explain any paid option and its cost in writing.
- Support your due diligence and monitoring.
- Keep attendee information confidential, even from you.
The decision
- Chooses whether to attend, with no pressure.
- Pulls their own reports through our credit-monitoring provider. Its terms, including the trial and the price after it, are on that provider's sign-up page.
- Decides whether to share anything with you.
- Can dispute inaccurate items on their own reports for free.
Four steps, with your review built in.
Introduce your institution
Tell us your charter type, regulator and compliance contact.
Complete your review
Your vendor-management and compliance teams review us. We supply a due-diligence package and sign short Partner Terms.
Approve the materials
Approved wording, a link and a QR code, kept separate from any required notice.
Share the link
The applicant decides and registers. You see anonymous activity counts only.
Rules we hold ourselves and every partner to.
We would rather lose a partner than put an applicant, or your charter, at risk.
We will never ask you to
- Accept anything of value, for the institution or for any staff member, officer or board member.
- Send us applicant or member information, or a list of names.
- Place our link in, on or alongside a required notice so it reads as part of it.
- Tell an applicant that attending improves approval odds or is required for any product.
- Steer applicants toward or away from a product, or use us in place of your own decision or denial process.
What every partner agrees to
- Complete your third-party review and get compliance sign-off on all materials.
- Offer the link under a written, consistently applied policy, so no applicant is treated differently on a prohibited basis.
- Keep staff from accepting compensation or gifts from FundedCEO™.
- Keep issuing every required denial and adverse action notice, unchanged.
- CDFIs: check your award agreements and funder rules before you share the link.
Questions institutions ask first.
Can our institution earn a referral fee or revenue share?
No. We don't pay referral fees, lead fees, revenue shares or co-marketing payments, and we don't accept them from you. Payments tied to referrals create legal exposure for an institution and for its individual employees, and we would rather give up the incentive than create it.
Can our institution sponsor an applicant's education?
Yes. An institution can pay for an applicant who wants more support. It covers the education that person receives, is agreed in writing, and is never tied to referrals. Offer it under a written policy so it is applied consistently.
Can our staff accept a gift or lunch from you?
No. We offer nothing of value to staff, officers or board members, and we won't test your gift policy.
Can we put your link in a denial or adverse action notice?
No. Those notices are legal documents, so keep them clean. If you want to offer the link, do it on a separate handout or message that your compliance team has approved, and make clear it is optional and unconnected to your decision.
Who should we offer it to?
That is your compliance team's call. A written policy applied consistently, rather than staff discretion, is the safer approach for fair-lending purposes.
Will you tell us how our applicants did?
Not unless the applicant tells you themselves. We never send credit scores, reports or results to you or to anyone else. You will see anonymous activity counts only.
Will this earn us CRA credit?
We make no promise. Whether an activity qualifies as a community development service depends on its facts, who it serves and how your regulator reads it. Ask your compliance team and examiner before you count on it.
Will you go through our vendor-management process?
Yes. We expect it and will supply a due-diligence package. We would rather be vetted than skipped.
Are you affiliated with our institution?
No, and we never present ourselves that way. An institution's exclusion from credit-repair laws does not extend to a separate for-profit company. We do not operate under your name, and our services are not deposits and are not insured by the FDIC or NCUA.
We're a CDFI with our own coaching. Why would we use you?
You may not need us. We are one more free education option for people who prefer a different format. We are not a substitute for HUD-approved housing counseling or for your own financial coaching. Check your award agreements and funders before you share the link.
Does attending affect a lending decision?
No. Your decisions stay independent. Attending is not a condition of any loan, account or service, and we make no promise about approvals.
Is it really free for applicants?
The session is free and educational. Applicants pull their own reports through our credit-monitoring provider, which currently offers a $1 trial for the first 7 days and then $29.90 a month unless the applicant cancels. Its terms are shown on that provider's sign-up page. If an applicant is interested in a paid FundedCEO™ service, we explain it and its cost in writing first.
Want a vetted, honest education resource for applicants who are not ready yet?
- A bank, credit union or CDFI in good standing with your regulator.
- You will complete your vendor-management and compliance review before sharing the link.
- You will keep our link out of every required notice.
- No referral payments or gifts.
- You will use approved wording only, with no outcome promises.
- No referral payments or gifts. Sponsoring a person's education is optional.
We review every request and we are selective on purpose. Submitting a request does not guarantee acceptance, and it creates no agreement.
Request received.
Thank you. We review every request and will email you at the address you gave. This request is not an acceptance and creates no agreement.