SaveUp
Gamifying Financial Well-Being

When Paul Burt, a seasoned Entrepreneur, bought SaveUp almost three years ago, he made a swift decision to transform the B2C platform into a B2B platform. Burt took a visionary approach of transforming SaveUp into a platform that makes managing finance—fun. As a membership-based platform, SaveUp allows employers to better execute financial well-being programs for their employees while affinity groups can grow their membership and retain them through a unique rewards program. The unique platform exploits the innate human inclination toward the game of chance to not only improve their financial behavior and knowledge but also win real cash through online lottery—every day.

The journey to financial well-being, for a user, begins with an employer or an affinity group paying for their SaveUp membership. Once enrolled, the users can link their accounts such as savings accounts, loans, credit cards, and 401(k) plans through the app. Any activity thereafter, be it paying debt, adding money to the savings account or 401(k), or improving their financial literacy is subject to rewards. For instance, a user gets one point for every two dollars they spend on clearing their credit card bills. These points can be accumulated and used towards playing in-app games such as scratch-off games, instant wins, and the monthly jackpot of $2 million. The platform also allows users to spend their earned points on buying products with added discounts in case they decide not to play for cash or prizes. “This ability to win cash for better financial management keeps users loyal to their sponsorer, creating a win-win situation for both the users and the organization that sponsors them,” says Burt, Executive Chairman, SaveUp.

Under Burt’s leadership, SaveUp is offering a new feature, SaveUpMore, which helps users streamline their financial management. SaveUpMore provides a dashboard that displays a score based on the user’s financial performance. Having access to the users’ accounts, SaveUp currently tracks their debt ratio (asset vs. liability) and offers the best term rates for existing loans and investments.

For example, if they have a student loan on 7 percent interest, SaveUp utilizes its partner network to offer better deals with lower interest. Likewise, SaveUpMore will offer the same capabilities except more. SaveUpMore provides services such as legal will, medical power of attorney, and referral services for tax preparations. The platform also helps in securing online identity by allowing users to purchase LifeLock’s identity protection solution at a 20 percent discount. Built on Ruby on Rails, the platform leverages data analytics, machine learning, and geofencing to help institutions offer better opportunities for their members while also improving the effectiveness of their financial well-being programs.

Our unique approach of gamifying savings and paying down debt will go a long way to improve the lives of the people in the U.S. and the entire world

Taking advantage of such innovative features, a large affinity group, with 6,500 banks and credit unions, has deployed SaveUp saving rewards platform. The primary goal of the firm was to eliminate errors in their customers’ individual credit reports due to the data silos in collecting users’ banking information. With SaveUp, customers can link their financial accounts in the app, to facilitate financial tracking and ensure an accurate credit score.

“Today, millennials are prone to walking into debt for a better lifestyle, which is appalling. Our unique approach of gamifying savings and clearing debt will go a long way to improve the lives of the people in the U.S. and the entire world,” concludes Burt.