Elevate Funding Strengthens Compliance and Monitor Abilities

Yesterday, Elevate Funding announced that it would be using the PerformLine Platform to enhance its compliance and email monitoring abilities.

“Terminology is very important in this industry,” said Elevate Funding CEO Heather Francis.

Francis said that much of Elevate’s decision to use PerformLine is to make sure that the correct terms are being used so that the company is consistent in how it presents its MCA product, both to merchants and to referral partners.

“We’ve always been very in tuned to our image, both with our referral partners and with our merchants, and we like to make sure it’s a consistent image,” Francis said.

Together with PerformLine, Elevate Funding created a list of 500 problematic words or phrases. If these terms are used in an email – written by an Elevate Funding employee, a merchant or a referral partner – the email will get flagged and brought to the attention of Francis. Some red flag key terms include “loan,” “term,” “payback” and “free.” Regardless of who wrote the word, the Elevate Funding employee will be asked to send a clarifying follow-up email.

For example, Francis said that if a merchant sends an email that reads “What is my loan balance?” this email would be flagged and the company employee would respond, clarifying that the MCA deal is not a loan.  In addition to being clear with customers and referral partners, the PerformLine service is beneficial for compliance reasons.

“In today’s regulatory environment, Elevate must stay on top of its compliance procedures not only to satisfy industry requirements but to ensure the security of sensitive data,” Francis said. “This includes all levels of interactions with our referral partners and the small business owners we service. PerformLine has provided the opportunity to review this information with speed and accuracy, so our compliance team can address any issues as they occur.”

Other funders, like GreenBox Capital, have employed monitoring capabilities not just to protect themselves from legal liability, but to protect merchant data.

Based in Gainesville, FL, Elevate Funding employs about 20 people.

Todd Stone was a reporter for deBanked.