LifeCents partners with BayPort Credit Union, creates custom version of its app

If you’re still struggling to manage your finances and have a membership with this Newport News, Va.-based credit union, you just might be in luck with a new app offering.

LifeCents curates a financial wellness app that helps consumers improve their financial health. After launching in 2005 as FELA, the financial education and literacy company, the fintech company recently rebranded to LifeCents and relocated its headquarters to Northern Virginia.

LifeCents is now partnering with BayPort Credit Union, which is adapting the LifeCents solution into a custom app called SmartCents. The app will use AI and gamification to help BayPort’s 140,000 members “discover the mindset of their finances,” a press release states. The joint initiative also comes with a $50,000 Debt Paydown Sweepstakes to drive user engagement.

We're excited to announce our partnership with @BayPort_CU to offer SmartCents. https://t.co/zQZClNGhf8

— LifeCents (@LifeCents) April 10, 2019

“We are thrilled to collaborate with BayPort Credit Union and to use our financial wellness technology for such a meaningful and impactful education initiative,” Blake Allison, founder and CEO of LifeCents said in a statement. “This is the kind of program that will have a profound and positive impact on many people’s lives and the local community.”

SmartCents will offer BayPort customers personalized and interactive learning experiences, like education workshops and financial coaching, using LifeCents’ tech. The $50,000 Debt Paydown Sweepstakes will be split multiple ways: one member will receive up to $25,000 toward their debt and 25 members will get $1,000, the press release states. BayPort members and non-members can automatically enter the sweepstakes by registering for SmartCents and completing the “Welcome” Badge. Up to four additional entries can be made when BayPort members complete activities from the app’s “Habits Discovery” Badges; non-members cannot enter the sweepstakes more than once.

“In working with LifeCents to launch SmartCents, BayPort’s financial education capabilities have been enhanced even further and enables us to better improve the financial health of our members, their families, and our community–whether that is achieved directly with our members or supporting financial literacy in schools,” Jim Mears, CEO for BayPort Credit Union, said in the press release.