Candidly, the leading AI-driven student debt and savings optimization platform, announced today a partnership with intellicents to bring Candidly’s student debt solutions to intellicents’ customers who include plan sponsors and their plan participants. This collaboration serves to support intellicents on its mission to help the typical American worker - “the underserved” - get their financial house in order by helping them plan and pay for college, repay student debt, and build savings via access to Candidly.

For the majority of the 45 million Americans who carry student debt, the return of federal student loan repayment — which resumed in Fall 2023 after a three-and-a-half year-long moratorium — has proved challenging. Nearly 40% of borrowers failed to make their first post-moratorium payment.

The burden of these monthly payments, which average nearly $400, set off a domino effect of financial impacts that often last a lifetime. 80% of borrowers delay retirement savings while paying off college debt, and by age 30, the average borrower has 50% less retirement savings than peers who didn’t take out loans to pay for school. Working Americans with student loan debt face more financial instability on the road to retirement, too, no doubt contributing to the emergency savings crisis: over half of Americans say their rainy day fund is lacking, and almost a quarter don’t have any emergency savings at all. In recognition of the urgent need to support financial wellbeing in the workforce, intellicents has partnered with Candidly to provide its customers access to Candidly’s suite of student loan and financial wellness benefits.

“The average American’s poor overall financial health was exposed during the covid pandemic as they struggled with nonexistent budgeting skills, no emergency savings, and an enormous debt load. These issues plague every demographic, regardless of age, gender, race, and income,” said Brad Arends, Co-Founder and CEO of intellicents. “Like intellicents, Candidly recognizes the terminal impact poor debt management can have on the finances of the American worker and their families. They are the industry leader in providing student debt solutions and together we are on a crusade to ‘over-serve the Underserved.’ Thank you Laurel Taylor for your vision, commitment, and passion on this issue.”

As borrowers have been thrust back into student loan repayment, Candidly has realized an increase of utilization upwards of 460% and met this critical moment by providing massive financial relief via personalized guidance while also enabling workers to discover, compare, and apply for federal income-driven repayment and public service forgiveness plans. For example, through Candidly, workers who qualify for the new Save on A Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan have saved an average of $453 on their monthly payments. Further, Candidly’s Student Loan Retirement Match solution operationalizes the provision of SECURE Act 2.0 that went into effect on January 1, 2024, enabling employers to match employees’ student loan payments with tax-advantaged retirement plan contributions. Candidly has urgently translated smart SECURE 2.0 policy into practice, enabling workers to make simultaneous progress on paying down debt, building emergency savings, and retirement savings. Finally, Candidly enables seamless deployment of Section 127 benefits, facilitating up to $5,250 in annual contributions for past, present, or future education expenses (tuition reimbursement to student loan repayment), made possible by the CARES Act.

"Brad Arends is a visionary. Together, our mission is to enable Americans of all ages and wages to go beyond debt, into wellness, and ultimately wealth. This is our shared legacy. It is an honor to partner with intellicents, bringing our innovative student debt, savings, and retirement savings solutions to the plan sponsors and participants we collectively serve," said Laurel Taylor, Founder and CEO at Candidly.

For more information about Candidly and intellicents, please visit Candidly and intellicents.

About Candidly

Candidly is an AI-driven student debt and savings optimization platform that addresses the full lifecycle of education expenses and empowers people to make simultaneous progress on paying down student debt and building wealth. Candidly partners with leading employers, and financial services companies serving the workplace like 401(k) and 403(b) recordkeepers, retirement plan advisors, and more, creating a holistic and inclusive workplace benefit and embedded finance solution. For more information, visit www.getcandidly.com.

About intellicents

intellicents is reimagining financial services for employers and individuals. Through fiduciary retirement plan services for plan sponsors and participants, wealth management, worksite financial planning, and insurance consulting they are paving a smarter way for the American worker and their employer.

With headquarters in Alber Lea, Minnesota, and branch offices in Eden Prairie, MN*; Pella and Lake Mills, Iowa; Overland Park and Lawrence, Kansas; Tacoma, Washington; Golden, Colorado; Southlake and Austin, Texas, they serve almost 400 employers, with over 54,000 participants, and over $4.75 billion in retirement and another $1.46 billion in personal financial planning assets under management and advisement. More information about intellicents can be found at www.intellicents.com.

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