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Covenants exist for a reason: they protect lenders from unexpected degradation in portfolio quality, capital structure, or liquidity. But early-stage facilities often contain covenants that reflect a lender’s fear — not the actual risk of the portfolio. As the business matures, founders naturally want those covenants relaxed. That’s smart. But the how matters. Here’s a practical framework that keeps lenders collaborative instead of defensive. 1. Start With a Partnership Fram

In many lending businesses, underwriting is seen as the engine of profitability — the place where decisions get made, risk gets priced, and growth is controlled. But as portfolios mature, something interesting happens: underwriting’s impact on long-term value starts to plateau. The real leverage shifts to how you manage the customers you already have. At Ensemblex, we’ve seen this pattern play out repeatedly across fintechs and neobanks. The fastest-growing firms learn to tr

Founders often obsess about the economics of their credit facility: the advance rate, the spread, the eligibility triggers, the covenants. And they should. These terms determine the oxygen supply for the business. But there’s another variable that rarely shows up in a spreadsheet — yet often matters far more: The quality of the lender relationship. In the early stages, many fintechs underestimate the value of a lender who is reasonable, responsive, and collaborative. But ask

When policymakers talk about consumer protection or market stability, pricing is often treated as a blunt instrument. Cap rates, fee limits, and interest ceilings are framed as straightforward levers to improve affordability. In practice, pricing changes rarely operate in isolation—and banks respond accordingly. That reality was recently highlighted by This Week in Fintech , which cited Ensemblex co-founder Shawn Budde on how banks and incumbents react to regulatory and polic

It’s a question we get from nearly every client with a credit model in production. Once you’ve launched a model, how often should you revisit it? Is there a fixed schedule you should follow? Or is it only necessary when something breaks? As with many modeling questions, the answer is: it depends. There are some clear principles we use to guide retraining cadence — and some concrete signs that it’s time to act. What we mean by retraining Let’s start by clarifying what we mean

In today’s world of fintech, where innovation drives competition and everyone is building cool new features, customer service remains an overlooked cornerstone of success—especially in the credit card sector. Customers today can face several fears and concerns when it comes to their credit card management: fraudulent transactions, hidden fees, poor communication, and inadequate support can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction. The implications of these issues are signific

Off-us data has transformed how lenders think about risk, growth, and competition. But like any powerful tool, it’s easy to misuse. In our work with clients, we’ve seen three common pitfalls — and the practices that can help avoid them. Pitfall 1: Misinterpreting Benchmarks Looking at competitor performance is incredibly valuable — but dangerous if not translated correctly. One lender assumed higher rates would automatically mean worse performance. Instead, benchmarking revea

For growing fintech lenders, renegotiating a credit facility is both an art and a science. Most companies approach it as a purely financial negotiation — rate, advance rate, covenants, prepayment terms. But the strongest negotiating position rarely comes from spreadsheets alone. It comes from performance data . A fintech we worked with had completed almost two years under its first institutional debt facility. When they entered the facility, the business was young: limited co

“How many features should I have in my model?” It sounds like a simple question. But like so many modeling decisions—especially in the credit space—the honest answer is: it depends . We often hear this question from internal teams and executives alike. It comes up when a team is building its first in-house model, when it's looking to upgrade an existing scorecard, or even when trying to explain why their current model looks the way it does. At Ensemblex, we've built models fo