OnDeck Canada, Credit Union Announce Partnership

Today sees the partnership of OnDeck Canada and Coast Capital Savings, the first collaboration of its kind in Canada, being between an online lending company and a federal credit union.

Beginning this month, small business members of Coast Capital will be able to apply for term loan financing from OnDeck Canada of up to CAD$250,000 online, in branch, and via the Coast Capital Contact Centre. And as a perk of partnering with an alternative financing company, Coast Capital members will benefit from the fast turnaround times for approvals and funds being made available that are typical of the industry, with waits being as short as one day.

The move comes as OnDeck Canada is expanding to Quebec, paralleling Coast Capital’s efforts to spread across the nation, beyond its home of British Colombia. Both parties appear to be approaching the partnership with similar visions of where it will take them, with Tiffany Kayar, the OnDeck Canada Communications Manager, explaining that OnDeck is able to further help fund those small businesses who have been historically underserved by alternative financing, and Coast Capital will benefit from a greater national presence.

It is one more notch on OnDeck’s belt of partnerships, coming after the online lender linked with JPMorgan Chase in 2017 and PNC Financial Services Group last year to extend loans to businesses.

And for Coast Capital, which has the largest membership base of any credit union in Canada, it is a development that is consistent with their history of innovation. Having offered Canada’s first free checking account from a full-service financial institution and Help Extras^®, which further assist members with investing, this opening up of funding channels to small business owners further cements Coast Capital’s position as a unique non-bank choice for finance management.

With small businesses comprising 98% of Canadian businesses, this partnership is hoping to provide support for such a large sector of the country’s economy. Saying in a press release that “As the proven leader in online small business lending, OnDeck Canada is delighted to partner with Coast Capital to offer online financing to its small business customers, ensuring that their unique and ever-evolving needs are met faster than ever with the power of automation and a world class digitized customer experience,” Neil Wechsler, CEO of OnDeck Canada, is confident that the synergy between OnDeck’s tech and Coast Capital’s membership will benefit the Canadian business community. Just as Derek Turner, Head of Small Business at Coast Capital, is sure that the partnership will “deliver the Coast Capital experience that so many members already enjoy, to even more people across Canada.”

Brendan Garrett was a Reporter at deBanked.