A new report from Cornerstone Advisors revealed a distinct avenue through which credit unions and community banks can boost their deposit volumes and interchange income: By offering credit-building features as part of their checking and debit products.
According to “Credit Score Management: The $110 Billion Deposit and Payments Magnet,” commissioned by financial data infrastructure company Bloom Credit and authored by Cornerstone Advisors Director Elizabeth Gujral and Chief Research Officer Ron Shevlin, six in 10 Americans aged 21 to 44 with credit scores of 580 to 670 ranked credit building as the most attractive checking account feature. The consumer group also said a checking account that reports rent and bill payments to credit bureaus, thereby helping them improve their credit score, would be a “better value” than their current checking or debit card account.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Cornerstone Advisors surveyed 1,846 adult consumers in the U.S. with a subprime or near-prime credit score in Q2 2025 for the report.
The report argued that by helping consumers manage their credit scores as opposed to merely viewing them, credit unions and community banks could recapture $110 billion in deposits and generate more than $1.5 billion in interchange fees by enticing them to change accounts and alter their payment behaviors. Cornerstone based this estimation on the total U.S. population of Gen Zers, millennials and Gen Xers with subprime credit scores, the percentage of those groups who are very likely to switch to a better checking or debit product, and the percentage of those groups who consider credit reporting a “better product,” according to those surveyed for the report.
Reporting recurring bill payment data to credit bureaus, which typically focus on how consumers handle debt when determining credit scores, could help younger consumers improve their credit scores and overall financial standing, the research emphasized – something that many of them need. According to Experian, about one in three Gen Zers and 40% of millennials have subprime credit scores. And the Cornerstone survey found that 46% of Gen Zers and 57% of millennials have been denied a loan since the pandemic.
“Helping consumers establish and improve their creditworthiness by demonstrating how they handle debt and make payments is an enormous opportunity for banks and credit unions in their markets,” Shevlin said.
The study also found that among subprime and near-prime consumers:
- 73% would consider opening a new checking account if it helped them build their credit by reporting rent and utility payments to the credit bureaus;
- 79% would use a non-primary checking account more frequently to pay bills and make other purchases if it reported their rent and bill payments to the credit bureaus;
- 68% would switch their direct deposit to a non-primary checking account if it reported rent and bill payments to the credit bureaus; and
- 70% said if the financial institution that turned them down for a loan or credit card had offered them a free service to help them build their credit, they would have used it.
“A checking account with integrated credit reporting translates to improved credit product access, affordability and selection for consumers,” Bloom Credit CEO Christian Widhalm said. “These are tools that can spell differentiation for financial institutions and lead to superior financial service relationships.”
The full report can be downloaded for free here.
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