MyPoint Credit Union Taps Upstart AI to Reshape Community Lending

SAN DIEGO, CA – January 07, 2026 – MyPoint Credit Union, a financial institution with deep roots in the San Diego community, has announced a significant partnership with Upstart, the market-leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending marketplace. The collaboration will leverage Upstart’s powerful AI platform to offer personal loans, a move designed to expand MyPoint's reach and modernize its lending experience for a new generation of borrowers.

This partnership places the 77-year-old credit union at the forefront of a major trend in financial services: the adoption of advanced technology by community-based institutions to compete with national banking giants. MyPoint began lending through the Upstart Referral Network in September 2025, integrating a system that promises a faster, more inclusive, and entirely digital application process.

“As a San Diego-based, member-driven financial institution, MyPoint Credit Union is focused on designing lending experiences around the needs of today’s borrowers,” said Peter Butler, Chief Operating Officer at MyPoint Credit Union. “By partnering with Upstart, we are able to grow beyond our traditional channels to reach new audiences, while delivering a modern, streamlined lending experience to more individuals across the communities we serve."

Under the new model, qualified loan applicants on Upstart.com who meet MyPoint's specific credit policies will be presented with tailored offers. They are then seamlessly transitioned to a MyPoint-branded online portal to complete the application and closing process, creating a direct path to membership for new borrowers.

A Strategic Leap for Local Finance

For MyPoint Credit Union, this partnership is more than a technological upgrade; it is a strategic evolution. Founded in 1948, the institution has grown to manage over $651 million in assets for more than 27,000 members. A pivotal moment came in 2019 when it rebranded from Point Loma Credit Union to MyPoint Credit Union, a change intended to reflect a broader community focus and a commitment to modernizing its services. This collaboration with Upstart represents the next logical step in that journey.

Classified as "well-capitalized" by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), MyPoint has demonstrated steady growth, with its loan portfolio increasing by over 8% in 2024. The Upstart partnership is poised to accelerate this growth by tapping into a national marketing engine. It allows the credit union to acquire new members who fit its risk profile but may have been previously unreachable through traditional marketing and branch-based operations. This expanded reach is critical for community institutions seeking to remain competitive in an increasingly digital world.

“We’re proud to have MyPoint Credit Union be part of the family of Upstart lending partners,” stated Michael Lock, Senior Vice President of Lending Partnerships at Upstart. “By leveraging Upstart’s AI-powered, all-digital lending platform, MyPoint can expand its reach and deliver a fast, seamless borrowing experience to more creditworthy individuals across San Diego.”

The Power of the AI Lending Engine

At the heart of this partnership is Upstart's formidable AI platform. The company, which holds a commanding market share of nearly 80% in the AI lending sector, has demonstrated impressive financial performance, with revenues climbing 71% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2025. Its success is built on a model that analyzes over 1,000 variables, going far beyond the traditional FICO score to assess a borrower's true risk.

This alternative approach allows Upstart and its partners to potentially approve more borrowers than conventional models—Upstart claims a 43% higher approval rate—often at lower interest rates. For consumers, especially those with limited credit history or non-traditional income streams, this can unlock access to credit that was previously out of reach.

The platform's efficiency is another key differentiator. With over 90% of its loans fully automated with no human intervention by Upstart, the process is exceptionally fast. This automation provides institutions like MyPoint with the ability to offer the kind of rapid, digital-first experience that consumers increasingly expect, without needing to build the complex infrastructure from scratch. The partnership effectively allows MyPoint to plug into a sophisticated, pre-built system for loan origination, verification, and even servicing.

Navigating the New Frontier of AI in Lending

The embrace of AI in lending is not without its complexities and concerns. As institutions like MyPoint adopt these powerful tools, they step into a landscape shaped by intense regulatory scrutiny and evolving consumer sentiment. Federal regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), have made it clear that AI is not exempt from fair lending laws. In recent guidance, the CFPB emphasized that lenders using complex algorithms must still provide specific, accurate reasons for denying credit, pushing back against the notion of an unexplainable "black box" model.

This demand for transparency addresses a core ethical dilemma: while AI holds the promise of greater financial inclusion by moving beyond biased traditional metrics, it also risks perpetuating or even amplifying historical biases if the data it is trained on is flawed. The industry is in a constant dialogue about how to ensure these systems are fair, equitable, and transparent.

Consumer sentiment reflects this duality. While many appreciate the speed and convenience of automated loan applications, significant concerns about data privacy, security, and the lack of human oversight persist. For a member-owned institution like MyPoint, whose brand is built on community trust, success will hinge on its ability to balance the efficiency of AI with the member-centric service that has been its hallmark for decades. The challenge lies in leveraging technology to expand access without sacrificing the trust and transparency that defines community finance.