Think of it as Shark Tank with a credit union spin, and it’s just been renewed for another season.
The 2025 Innovation Series from CreditUnions.com and Callahan & Associates is underway. Every year since 2018, this series has offered a select group of suppliers 10 minutes each to impress an audience of credit union decision-makers. It’s simple: Each vendor pitches its offerings and attendees vote on their favorites.
The Innovation Series was a hit from the get-go and continues to grow in popularity. This year’s focus areas include financial wellness, member experience, lending, digital, analytics, and member engagement.
Read on for more from this year’s financial wellness finalists Debbie, Silvur, and Starlight. Plus, make sure to join us for the Innovations In Financial Wellness webinar. Register today!
Debbie
Describe your innovation.
Debbie is the first member growth and loyalty-as-a-service platform in one – we help credit unions grow by rewarding consumers for positive financial behavior, like saving and making on-time payments. Debbie has been able to drive over 10,000 new member applications since launch, as well as millions of dollars in new deposits and loans.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
The average member acquisition cost for credit unions is around $450, and many credit unions struggle to grow, especially within the younger millennial and Gen Z generations. We help credit unions source and onboard new, young members, while helping retain them by rewarding behaviors that benefits both the member and the credit union.
How does it increase member value?
Both new and existing members are able to access the Debbie platform to set financial goals, track their spending, and earn rewards for hitting milestones. Our users on average have 10x-ed their monthly savings and reduced missed payments by 35%. Users also have access to a curriculum specially designed to cover both basic financial literacy and the behavioral psychology of money. Most financial literacy has a tough time engaging with consumers, while our module completion rates are close to 90%, with hundreds of thousands of modules completed to date. We have found that consumers want to better understand their financial decision-making and habits more than just traditional financial literacy.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
- Unlike other member-growth platforms that simply promote individual credit union products and have no ongoing relationship with the member, Debbie helps to engage and retain the member over time, helping to drive added deposits and product discovery. Our conversion to additional products has been around 7-10% on average, which is best in class.
- Our rewards program has been tried and tested over years of consumer usage, removing the need for credit unions to calculate how much to offer for various tasks.
- Our platform utilizes open banking to track member transactions and balances, removing the need for any technical integrations with the credit union. This increases our speed to delivery and reduces cost for the credit union.
Silvur
Describe your innovation.
Silvur is an award-winning retirement CUSO committed to empowering members 50 and older to retire with confidence. Partnering with financial institutions, Silvur delivers personalized, holistic retirement education through innovative, patent-pending financial tools— including our exclusive Retirement Score. Our platform keeps members informed with up-to-date insights on Social Security, Medicare, retirement savings accounts, and more, ensuring they navigate retirement with clarity and peace of mind.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
Silvur ensures that all members have a plan for retirement, not just the 2-3% currently served by wealth management. Silvur’s platform engages and supports members over 50 with a focus on helping navigate critical retirement decisions including Medicare and Social Security. Members over 50 are credit union’s largest deposit holders, hold over 80% of US household wealth, and are the first generation to retire without the benefit of a pension. Silvur makes it easy to help them while growing wallet share.
How does it increase member value?
Our calculators and tools guide retirement-age members through key decisions like the best time to elect social security. Our Retirement School offers personalized education and important news updates. Members access these resources through a white-labeled experience that is purpose-built for their generation and seamlessly integrated with the credit union’s brand. From the credit union’s perspective, the value of each member is also increased. With the data and insights Silvur shares, credit unions can unlock $3,000 in annual recurring revenue per member.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
Silvur is unique because of the member demographic we focus on – members age 50+. These are key members for credit unions as they hold a majority of the deposits and assets, which help keep the lending machine running to serve younger members in their peak borrowing years. Silvur provides financial education that is good for the member while delivering business results that are good for the credit union. Truly a win-win. Through the data and insights collected via the platform, Silvur helps credit unions capture and retain direct deposit relationships, uncovers hundreds of millions in new deposit and wealth opportunities, reduces direct deposit attrition and asset flight, and helps expand the relationship within the household. By partnering with Silvur Insurance on Medicare, credit unions can also increase non-interest income and protect their overall member relationship from moving to new competitors who are focused on the 50+ demographic.
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Starlight
Describe your innovation.
Starlight is an AI-powered platform that integrates with credit unions to help members access financial assistance through programs administered by various institutions including state and county benefits programs. Our solution proactively identifies eligible members; guides them through application processes; and unlock crucial financial assistance and deepens the CU product offering.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
Credit unions face a critical challenge: 60% of Americans are struggling financially, yet many credit unions lack the tools to effectively serve these members. With 46.6% of members with credit scores below 680 experiencing loan rejections in the last year, there’s a clear gap in meeting member needs. Credit unions need solutions to show up for all members, especially the folks temporarily facing financial stress and also, to stay competitive with modern fintech players who serve this segment more immediately.
How does it increase member value?
Starlight drives demonstrable member impact through a white-labeled solution that strengthens credit union relationships. Our platform doubles member engagement rates and delivers average savings of $750 per member through estimated benefits. As an embedded solution, we build trust and value in the credit union brand while requiring minimal integration effort – most partners go live in under 3 weeks. This allows credit unions to immediately address pressing member needs while deepening relationships and showcasing proactive technology forward presence.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
Unlike general financial tools or direct-to-consumer apps, Starlight is uniquely embedded within the member’s trusted credit union. Our white-labeled solution becomes part of the credit union’s offering, building trust and engagement through the institution’s existing relationship. By combining intelligent AI powered data analysis with benefits expertise, we provide a delightful member experience, rapid path to impact and personalized guidance, truly serving members’ immediate needs through their trusted financial partner. Rather than just a long list of resources which members have to comb through, or just giving budgeting advice without a path to improving disposable income, we serve the immediate needs of the member and give them a rich ongoing experience of a high touch front line team member, but digitally.