Ally Financial Partners with Better.com for Digital Mortgage Experience
On April 18, 2019, Ally Financial announced a partnership with online mortgage lender Better.com to deliver a fully digital mortgage experience. Under the arrangement, Ally Bank's funding capabilities are paired with Better.com's technology platform to offer customers a streamlined, end-to-end digital mortgage process. Ally Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Ally Financial, made an additional capital investment in Better.com to increase its ownership stake.
The partnership represents Ally's strategy to embed its banking products into third-party digital platforms, a model adjacent to embedded finance. Better.com contributes its digital origination technology while Ally provides balance sheet capacity and banking infrastructure. The deal signals growing interest from digital banks in partnering with fintech platforms to distribute financial products through modern digital channels, rather than building all capabilities in-house.
- Demonstrates banks leveraging fintech platforms as distribution channels for lending products, a precursor to broader embedded lending models
- Signals that established digital banks are willing to act as balance-sheet partners behind fintech interfaces, blurring lines toward BaaS-like arrangements