Five Star Bank, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and fintech startup LoanGlide of Folsom have teamed up to make paperless energy-efficient home upgrade loans available in Sacramento.
SMUD’s Sustainable Home Improvement Loans can be used to finance installation of solar, cool roof, windows, battery storage, electric vehicle chargers and the conversion of gas to electric appliances.
“We are very happy to work with SMUD to help protect the earth’s natural resources,” said Five Star Bank CEO James Beckwith, in a news release. “LoanGlide is a great technology partner helping the bank execute on its commitment to sustainable energy in our region.”
LoanGlide is a 2019 startup that offers a mobile platform for consumers to get instant financing from lenders for home improvement loans and for elective medical procedures, co-founder O'Neil Nalavadi told the Business Journal.
Consumers can fill out the application on their smartphone or computer to see if they qualify, and find out in less than a minute, Nalavadi said.
For many of its customers, LoanGlide offers access to multiple lenders. In the case of the SMUD program with Five Star Bank, it is a closed loop with just Five Star making the loans to contractors selected by SMUD.
Five Star Bank is the primary subsidiary of Rancho Cordova-based Five Star Bancorp (Nasdaq: FSBC), which became a public company last year.
To get started, SMUD customers choose a SMUD-approved contractor for eligible work, and once work is agreed to, the customer applies for the loan.
Some of the projects have rebates available from SMUD. The loans are currently priced at about 5% to 7.5%.
LoanGlide is a portfolio company of Folsom venture capital firm Moneta Ventures.
“We’ve been under the radar building the platform,” Nalavadi said. “Now we are ready for more prime-time business.”
