Q2 Helps UK-Based Knoma Offer Zero-interest, No-fee Student Loans in Minutes

Q2 helps Knoma streamline its student loan process, reducing funding decision timing from three to six months down to minutes

Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:QTWO), a leading provider of digital transformation solutions for banking and lending, today announced UK-based Knoma, which provides zero-interest, no-fee student loans, has partnered with Q2 Lending to reduce the average student wait time for loan decisions from several months to less than two minutes. By harnessing Q2 Lending, which securely automates end-to-end loan management from application to repayment, Knoma has created a fast, cost-effective system to transform the student lending industry.

Knoma – which provides student loans to working adults taking continuing education classes in technology-related fields – can now safely and accurately automate student loan decisioning for more than 90% of its applications without needing a secondary review. Knoma CEO and Founder Brett Shanley said, “It would cost me millions if I spent all my time trying to build this kind of system from scratch—and it would take years to do it. Q2 did all that for me at a fraction of the cost, whilst enabling the business to have live MVP within 6 months.”

“We’ve flipped the student financing model on its head by having our educational partners pay the interest on the loan, instead of charging the student. This allows us to offer fair, transparent funding to our students while guaranteeing there are no hidden fees, and in return, our educational partners receive incremental uplift in their enrollment.”

Q2 Lending – which incorporates Q2 Originate, Q2 Portal and Q2 Loan servicing – serves as Knoma’s backbone and provides students with a clean, modern interface from loan application to payoff. Knoma’s main system, powered by Q2, enables quick, accurate and flexible workflows that configure and adapt to Knoma’s internal criteria for loan suitability and approval, underwriting, compliance, risk assessment and identity verification. It automates loan deposits to universities and educational partners, securely linking payments to the students who received funding, and showing the transaction history to both students and educational partners.

The fully automated platform is able to push and pull data through multiple APIs, reducing the administrative burden and time typically associated with loan processing. Only 10% of loan applications require a secondary review, reducing Knoma’s business costs and creating a flexible, scalable system that can easily be expanded.

Q2’s single-source backend seamlessly integrates with Salesforce and draws upon other best-in-class fintechs to gather and evaluate multiple data points to render reliable loan decisions. Student identity verification is done through Onfido, credit history and banking data flows through True Layer and Credit Kudos. Conga, available as an optional API on Q2’s platform, automatically populates the student loan contract, gathers the student’s signature and helps manage repayment schedules.

“We are excited to work with Knoma to help simplify and transform the loan process experience so students can continue their education,” said Ian Nelson, managing director EMEA, Q2. “By leveraging Q2’s innovation, Knoma has a reliable, flexible ecosystem that is scalable on a worldwide basis. We are proud to be part of this important work.”

To learn more about Knoma and Q2 Lending:

• BLOG: Q2 Lending Enables Knoma to Cut Student Loan Evaluations from Months to Minutes

• VIDEO: FINTECH Circle: “Responsible Fintech” featuring Q2 and Knoma.

About Knoma

UK-based Knoma, which provides zero-interest, no-fee student loans, helps students start their lifelong learning journey today, spread the cost over interest-free instalments and gain access to the Knowledge Market. To learn more, please visit Knoma.

About Q2 Holdings, Inc.

Q2 is a financial experience company dedicated to providing digital banking and lending solutions to banks, credit unions, alternative finance and fintech companies in the U.S. and internationally. With comprehensive end-to-end solution sets, Q2 enables its partners to provide cohesive, secure, data-driven experiences to every account holder – from consumer to small business and corporate. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Q2 has offices worldwide and is publicly traded on the NYSE under the stock symbol QTWO. To learn more, please visit Q2.com.

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