Schwaner & Co. provides partnership development for lending companies, from target selection and executive outreach through negotiation and launch coordination. We help you distribute credit through software platforms, financial institutions, employers, retailers and consumer brands that can offer your loan, card or financing product to their own customers, members or users.
Every engagement is run by a senior partnerships executive, supported by a team that handles research, materials and follow-up.
Lending partnership consulting focused on distribution
Your next borrower may already be a customer of a software platform, a member of a credit union or an employee of a company with a payroll provider. A useful partnership gives that organization a clear reason to offer your credit product and gives its customers a practical reason to apply.
Our lending partnership consulting starts with the partner's commercial incentive and the borrower's reason to adopt. We determine which companies reach the right borrowers, what the arrangement could look like, how applications and approvals would flow and whether the opportunity justifies the work required to launch.
For a personal lender, the objective might be referral volume from banks and credit unions that decline or cannot serve certain applicants. For a BNPL or point of sale provider, it might be placement inside commerce platforms and merchant software. For a small business lender, it could be distribution through accounting, payroll or commerce software where the business already manages its cash. For an earned wage access provider, it is usually payroll and workforce platforms. We build the partnership approach around your product, credit box, economics and growth priorities.
Where lending companies can find distribution
Lending businesses reach borrowers in different ways. These are examples of partner categories we would evaluate based on your product, market, funding and operating capabilities.
| Lending segment | Potential distribution partners | What we would evaluate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal loans | Banks and credit unions, personal finance apps, comparison marketplaces, debt resolution companies and employers | Borrower fit with your credit box, referral economics and how declined or partially served applicants are routed to you |
| Buy now pay later and point of sale financing | Commerce platforms, merchant software, payment providers, retailers and service businesses with large average tickets | Average order value, approval rates, checkout placement and who owns the merchant relationship |
| Small business lending | Accounting and bookkeeping software, payroll providers, commerce and marketplace platforms, payment processors and banks | Access to the business's financial data, timing of the capital need and the partner's role in origination |
| Mortgage and home equity | Real estate brokerages, homebuilders, personal finance apps, banks and credit unions, insurance carriers and home services platforms | Referral compliance requirements, lead quality and where in the home journey the introduction happens |
| Credit cards and credit building | Consumer brands, retailers, airlines and travel companies, membership organizations, neobanks and rent and bill payment platforms | Program economics, brand fit, customer acquisition cost against lifetime value and clearly assigned program responsibilities |
| Earned wage access | Payroll providers, human capital management and timekeeping systems, staffing agencies and large hourly employers | Integration path, employer adoption, payroll timing and the provider's commercial incentive to offer you |
| Underwriting and decisioning technology | Banks and credit unions, lending platforms, core providers and loan origination systems | Where your model fits the lender's decision flow, data requirements and the partner's route to its lending clients |
Partnership models for lending growth
Embedded lending partnerships
Embedded lending places a credit product inside another company's product or customer workflow. A commerce platform offers financing at checkout, an accounting platform offers a working capital line when cash runs short, a payroll system offers early access to earned wages. The customer applies where they already are, and the platform earns revenue from a product it did not have to build.
We identify platforms where your credit product solves a specific customer problem and where the platform has a credible commercial reason to offer it. The discussions address placement, revenue sharing, customer ownership, data access and launch requirements. Your credit, product and compliance teams assess underwriting, disclosures and the technical fit while we coordinate the commercial work. Lending as a service and credit as a service describe the same arrangement from the provider's side, where you supply the capital, underwriting and servicing behind another brand's offer.
Point of sale and BNPL partnerships
Point of sale lending reaches borrowers at the moment of purchase through merchants, commerce platforms and payment providers. The partner's checkout is your acquisition channel, and the merchant's interest is higher conversion and larger orders.
We assess where your financing fits the merchant's sales process, what the platform already offers, how approval rates and average ticket size affect the economics and who owns merchant onboarding and support. For platform partnerships, we also work through placement among existing financing options and the commercial terms that make your product worth promoting.
Bank and credit union partnerships
Banks and credit unions can distribute a lender's product to members and customers they cannot serve themselves, or offer a lender-branded version of your product under their own name. Referral networks route declined or out-of-policy applicants to a partner lender. Lender-branded programs let the institution keep the customer relationship while you supply the technology, underwriting or capital.
We focus on the member benefit, the institution's distribution role, referral attribution and the commercial arrangement. Your compliance and legal teams evaluate the regulatory requirements that apply to the relationship, including any sponsor bank or third-party risk review the institution requires.
Co-brand, affinity and employer partnerships
Consumer brands, retailers, membership organizations and employers can offer a card, loan or credit building product to a large, loyal audience. The partner's interest is usually customer loyalty, a new revenue line or an employee benefit, and the economics depend on acquisition cost against lifetime value.
We evaluate audience size and fit, the partner's marketing commitment, program economics and the responsibilities each side carries for marketing, servicing and compliance. Card programs in particular need clear ownership of issuing, processing and program management before the commercial conversation can close.
What makes a lending partnership worth pursuing
A partner's customer count is only a starting point. We evaluate how much of that audience fits your credit box, how applications would reach you, what share would be approved and funded and whether the expected revenue justifies the costs of integration, partner compensation and servicing.
- Borrower access. Which customers can the partner actually reach, and how many of them fit your underwriting criteria?
- Product fit. Does your credit product solve a meaningful problem at a specific moment in the customer's workflow, with the terms and coverage that moment requires?
- Conversion. What moves a customer from seeing the offer to a completed application, an approval and a funded loan?
- Economics. What origination volume is plausible, what revenue remains after partner compensation, credit losses and servicing costs, and how does that compare with your current acquisition cost?
- Compliance path. Which licenses, disclosures, bank approvals and partner oversight requirements apply, and can both sides clear them in a reasonable time?
- Partner commitment. Who owns the opportunity on each side, and can both organizations commit the people and approvals needed to launch?
For example, a commerce platform with tens of thousands of merchants may have limited near-term potential if its average ticket is too small for your product or an existing financing partner holds exclusivity. A regional credit union with a clear referral need could deserve priority if its members fit your credit box and its leadership is ready to act.
Our approach to partner selection is explained further in how we identify strategic partners.
How we develop your lending partnership pipeline
Identify the right targets
We agree on the product, borrower segment, commercial objective and partner categories to pursue. Research then narrows the opportunity to specific companies, relevant decision-makers and a clear partnership rationale. You can see why each target belongs on the list and which assumptions still need to be tested.
Engage the decision-makers
We open executive conversations with an explanation of why the partnership could matter to that company and what revenue or customer benefit it could produce. Existing relationships help where there is relevant overlap; we also develop new conversations through targeted outreach. Follow-up addresses the partner's questions and keeps the next decision clear.
Qualify the opportunity
Discovery tests borrower demand, product fit, economics, compliance requirements and the partner's willingness to act. We establish who needs to be involved and what each side needs to evaluate. Every active opportunity has a next step, an owner on each side and a target date for the next decision.
Scope and negotiate the agreement
We develop the commercial proposal and lead negotiations around the agreed partnership model. Topics may include revenue sharing or referral fees, attribution, customer ownership, exclusivity, marketing commitments, minimum volumes and responsibilities for launch, servicing and support. We coordinate with your legal, compliance, credit and product leads so decisions and outstanding requirements stay visible.
Coordinate launch and handover
Once an agreement is signed, we coordinate the commercial work needed to prepare the partnership for launch. That includes agreed responsibilities, supporting materials, launch milestones and the handover of contacts and deal documents. Your teams retain responsibility for technical implementation, credit policy and approvals. Ongoing partner management stays with your team unless separately scoped.
Weekly pipeline reviews distinguish outreach, qualified opportunities, proposals, signed agreements and launched partners. Once a partner is live, reporting should separately show applications, approvals, funded volume and revenue.
See our business development consulting services for the broader deliverables and reporting.
Senior partnership leadership and execution
Every engagement is run by a senior partnerships executive who leads partner strategy, executive conversations and commercial negotiations. That ownership continues through agreement and launch coordination.
A supporting team handles research, materials, scheduling and follow-up. Your team receives regular pipeline updates with clear next steps, outstanding decisions and an owner for each opportunity.
This engagement fits a lender with a clear product, a defined growth priority and internal capacity to evaluate and launch partnerships. We can lead a specific distribution initiative alongside your business development team. If you need senior ownership across a broader mandate, our fractional head of partnerships service explains that structure.
Lending partnership development FAQs
What is embedded lending?
Embedded lending is the offer of a loan, line of credit or financing product inside another company's product or customer experience, such as financing at a retailer's checkout, a working capital offer inside accounting software or earned wage access inside a payroll system. The lender supplies the credit, underwriting and servicing. The platform supplies the customer and the moment of need. Lending as a service and credit as a service describe the same model from the lender's side.
What is lending partnership development?
Lending partnership development is the work of identifying, negotiating and preparing commercial relationships that help a lender reach borrowers through another business. It includes partner selection, executive outreach, qualification, commercial terms and launch coordination. Depending on the product, the relationship may involve referrals, a lender-branded program, co-branding or embedded distribution.
Can you help us find embedded lending and point of sale partners?
Yes. We evaluate commerce platforms, merchant software, payment providers and vertical software based on their customers, average transaction size, existing financing relationships, economics and ability to launch. A platform is a type of partner; embedded lending describes how the credit product is offered inside it. The same platform could instead use a referral arrangement if integration is not justified.
Do you work with banks and credit unions as partners?
Yes, as distribution partners for your product. We develop referral and lender-branded relationships where an institution offers your product to its customers or members. We do not source sponsor banks or arrange charter access; those are compliance and infrastructure decisions your team leads, and we coordinate the commercial conversation around them.
Can you work alongside our internal business development team?
Yes. Outsourced lending business development can support a defined product, market or partner category while your internal team manages other priorities. We agree on account ownership, decision authority and reporting at the start so both teams know who leads each relationship and when credit, compliance or product specialists should participate.
Who handles underwriting, licensing and compliance approvals?
Your credit, compliance, legal and product teams own credit policy, licensing, disclosures, fair lending review and any bank partner or regulator approvals. Schwaner & Co. coordinates the commercial requirements, documents dependencies and keeps the partner discussion moving. Responsibilities for integration, servicing, marketing compliance and ongoing management are agreed before launch.
How long does it take to launch a lending partnership?
Timing depends on the partnership model, the partner's priorities, technical work and approval requirements. Referral arrangements typically move faster than embedded integrations or card programs. We establish milestones after discovery and track progress against them. A signed agreement, a launched partner and a funded loan are separate milestones; the timeline should make each one clear.
How are lending partnership engagements priced?
Schwaner & Co. works on a monthly retainer plus a performance fee on closed partnerships. The scope reflects the products, partner categories and work involved. We agree on responsibilities, commercial terms and how a closed partnership is defined before the engagement begins.
Discuss your lending partnership goals
Tell us about your credit product, the borrowers you want to reach and the growth priority you want partnerships to support. We will prepare an initial map of eight to ten potential partners for one product and use a 20-minute conversation to discuss where there may be a fit.