Cushion AI technology will help Lending Club customers track bills and recurring payments, manage subscriptions, build credit history, and monitor buy now, pay later (BNPL) loans.
Lending Club, a US-based digital marketplace bank, acquired intellectual property and select talent behind Cushion, an AI-powered spending intelligence platform, to boost its offering.
The platform in question analysed users’ bank transactions and purchase data to organise bills, track spending, identify fees that might be avoided and negotiate their refunds. This analysis and the consecutive actionable insights helped consumers manage their finances more effectively through AI-powered automation. Besides, Cushion reported on-time bill payments to credit bureaus like Experian, aiding users in building their credit history.
Despite serving over one million users and recovering more than $15 million in bank and credit card fees, Cushion ceased operations in early 2025 due to challenges in achieving sustainable growth. Although the project could not survive as a standalone startup, its tech and intellectual assets will continue serving customers via the Lending Club acquisition.
According to Scott Sanborn, CEO of LendingClub, Cushion’s proprietary technology and expertise would now complement the company’s DebtIQ experience. DebtIQ is a free, AI-powered financial tool integrated into Lending Club’s mobile app to help users manage and reduce personal debt through personalised insights, credit monitoring, and actionable recommendations. The tool leverages soft inquiries from TransUnion to provide users with regular credit updates, including credit scores and reports.
By using Cushion’s technology, LendingClub will now be able to give users a clearer view of their broader financial responsibilities, not just what’s on their credit report. This upgrade follows LendingClub’s purchase of Tally in late 2024, which aims to make credit card management easier, lower interest costs, improve payment strategies, and boost users’ credit health.
“With credit card balances and interest rates at historic highs and consumers seeking ways to keep more of what they earn, the need for our solution has never been greater,” noted Scott Sanborn.
While consumer spending does not abate despite economic headwinds, more and more people have to resort to credit solutions to sustain their regular spending patterns. Many of them struggle with debt management as a result. Recent data about the U.S. consumer spending indicates that the share of active credit card holders who just made baseline payments on their cards rose to a 12-year high, while inflation has remained above the 2% target of the country’s central bank for almost four years.
