64% of consumers are using digital banking services more than pre-pandemic
Two-thirds of colleges are currently planning to welcome students to campus in the fall, but uncertainty lingers
Online deposit rates have fallen an average of 20bp since January
Personal loan interest rates remain in flux
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Consumer Digital Servicing Adoption
Epic fielded research this week on consumer preferences regarding the use of digital servicing in their banking relationships, surveying 1,119 adults with incomes of $50,000 or greater
Unsurprisingly, consumers are using online portals and mobile apps at a greater rate than pre-pandemic, with almost two-thirds of respondents indicating greater usage of digital banking services since the onset of the quarantine
Click here for the full study
Banks have responded by increasing their focus on development of digital capabilities
Whether or not campuses open this fall remains an open question at most colleges, with most planning to re-open but reserving the right to adjust as appropriate
Epic recently repeated a March 2020 survey of incoming college freshmen and their parents, which showed continued uncertainty regarding the pandemic’s impact on campuses opening in the fall
57% of parents have heard from their child’s college regarding fall plans, up from only 30% in March
66% of parents currently believe students will be allowed on campus in the fall, which is down 7% from March
17% of parents are considering delaying their child’s entry to college
Federal student loan rates for the 2020/2021 school year were released this week, with fixed rates down 1.78% from last year. Despite the decrease, many variable private student loans are processed below the federal student loan rate of 2.75%.
Online Deposit Rates
Online deposit rates have fallen by ~20bp since January 2020
Ally recently cut rates 25bp to 1.25%, leading the way down among the top Bankrate “high interest savings” players
Alternative Lenders
Alternative lenders continue to be either absent from or at higher rates on the personal loan aggregator sites
Marcus is at 8.99% vs. a pre-shutdown rate of 6.99%
SoFi currently shows a low rate of 11.62% vs. an early March rate of 4.74%
Best Egg and Upstart reappeared on Credit Karma on 5/15 after being absent from the aggregator since March. While both remain absent from LendingTree as of this publication, we expect them to reappear after LendingTree’s weekly update this Sunday
After a number of weeks of volatility, education refinance rates have converged across most lenders to rates close to where they were in January 2020
Going Forward
Loan and rate volatility have lessened over the past few weeks compared to March and April
Digital servicing appears to have had a transitional moment