Why Your Company Needs This Financing Tool
Financing is often one of the most nerve wracking aspects of closing on a home improvement project for both the homeowner and the contractor. But with the right financing tool, your company can make it easier to get the deal across the line. Enter: Momnt, the API-based platform that allows contractors to provide low-friction, affordable financing to their customers at the point of need. We sat down with Michael O’Connell, Vice President of Partnerships at Momnt to learn more about how they’re making financing options more accessible than ever.
Ingage: Can you tell us about Momnt and how you work in the home improvement industry?
Michael O’Connell: Momnt was founded by a group of thought leaders and fintech experts in the industry who saw the home improvement landscape shifting as tech adoption was growing and changing the way we work. They asked “how can we use embedded fintech to reshape point-of-sale financing?” And the result is Momnt, the leader in financing for home improvement companies who want to make it easier and more secure for their customers to purchase large projects.
Ingage: Walk us through how a company gets started with Momnt.
Michael: We’ve found that oftentimes getting started with a financing company can be an arduous task. That’s why Momnt has taken the best practices from our consumer underwriting and created a similar process for contractors. This results in most contractors quickly getting approved and ready to sell in just one sitting. Our goal is to lower the hurdle to adopt financing options and make it easy for sales reps to go out and close deals quickly and efficiently.
Ingage: There are a few other financing companies out there, what do you think sets you apart from them?
Michael: Momnt is different than most financing platforms out there because we are a modern platform, we have more flexibility. Momnt is the first to offer a turn-key embedded finance option for technology partners. We also specialize in working with manufacturers who would prefer a white-labeled finance program for their networks. Our application process allows homeowners the privacy of a consumer-apply and multi-offer experience. All while allowing the contractors to stay in control. Many contractors are seeking out the flexibility of funding that a Momnt line-of-credit offers them. That, coupled with same-day payments makes our funding the best in the industry. Essentially, we offer contractors the ability to set up an experience that will work best with their customers which leads to homeowners being more comfortable with selecting financing options. This alleviates a few concerns, one of them being the worry that reps won’t talk about financing or misrepresent options. With Momnt, we can immediately understand the homeowner's credit situation and provide flexible options that result in more closed deals and less lag time.
Ingage: What made you want to partner with Ingage and what kind of results have you seen since we joined forces?
Michael: I was initially drawn to Ingage after learning that some of Momnt’s top-performing clients were using the presentation platform. It was like the secret weapon for many top contractors and we realized this would be the perfect partnership to give sales reps a 1-2 punch in every one of their meetings. And we’ve seen some great results since partnering with Ingage, with one of our mutual customers seeing their average ticket go from $17,000 to $28,700 after adopting both platforms.
Ingage: Even with those amazing results, some sales leaders are still a little weary of adopting tech, especially for financing. What would you say to help them better understand the need for technology?
Michael: It’s important to remember that every generation is now using technology to help them make purchases. Whether they’re Millennials or Baby Boomers, consumers will take time to research your brand online before reaching out. The same decision making process will go into paying for a home improvement project. The ease of the Momnt application and multi-offer experience will empower consumers to make the best payment option. I have found that sales leaders who are weary of financing are that way because they are concerned of a sales rep not fully understanding the financing plans being offered. The majority of feedback we hear is how easy the Momnt process is for sales reps of all experience levels.
Ingage: What do you see for the future of the home improvement industry, especially as we head into the end of the year?
Michael: I’m especially interested in the rise of virtual reality, visualization tools, and e-commerce for home improvement sales. I think these tools will transform the way contractors sell projects by making it easier for homeowners. We will see embedded fintech become a dominant feature for tech platforms that offer estimates. Momnt is excited to have several of these projects already in motion. There’s also countless opportunities to use technology to help the home improvement industry catch up to other industries out there which I think we’ll see more of in the coming year.
About Momnt
Momnt powers modern lending solutions for businesses to provide low-friction, affordable financing to their customers at the point of need. Our API-based platforms creatively leverage alternative data sources and ML/AI-informed decisioning to present real-time loan offers fit to each individual borrower, all done within the banking industry’s current regulatory infrastructure Momnt has reimagined consumer lending so that financial institutions can quickly and easily gain share of the market; by offering downstream credit through existing business customer relationships or the Momnt network, they drive demand for local businesses’ goods and services and meet consumers where they are.