Funeral Safe & Co-op

Funeral Safe and Co-op Funeralcare have had a long-standing partnership, with Funeral Safe providing financing options for Co-op Funeralcare’s clients when a funeral is the last thing a family expects. However, part of Co-op's process, and a highly sensitive part, is the requirement to perform a Soft Credit Check on each of its new clients to ensure the service they provide can be financed in a way that doesn't put the client in a difficult financial position. Unfortunately, the way this process ran was causing issues as it was manually done. The process involved funeral directors collecting customer details through a Microsoft form, sending them to an internal credit team, and waiting for them to log into Experian to perform the credit check. Any mistakes required starting over, causing delays of 8 to 24 hours. This inefficiency discouraged funeral directors from completing credit checks, leading to customer frustration and rising financial risk for Co-op Funeralcare.

Co-op Funeralcare needed a faster, more reliable solution to reduce bad debt and speed up credit checks. They wanted to empower funeral directors to determine payment terms and approvals directly at the funeral home, eliminating long wait times and improving client satisfaction.

Upon understanding this problem, Funeral Safe stepped in to provide a solution. They had spotted a way to streamline the Soft Credit Check process for the entire Co-op Funeralcare team and, simultaneously, could enhance its brand visibility and expand its financing services. By providing a platform that could deliver instant credit checks, they aimed to strengthen their position in the funeral financing market and support Co-op's ambition for greater client satisfaction.

Steadfast Collective partnered with Co-op Funeralcare and Funeral Safe to tackle these challenges. We proposed an automated tool to streamline the soft credit check process, significantly reduce turnaround times, and help lower bad debt. At the same time, the tool could offer higher reporting levels than before for both Co-op and Funeral Safe and remove the need for manual credit checks. Leveraging LendFusion, the existing system used by Funeral Safe, we developed a platform that integrated seamlessly with Co-op Funeralcare’s systems via API. This integration enabled funeral directors to receive instant feedback on payment terms.

The new tool reduced soft credit check times from 24 hours to less than three minutes, cutting bad debt and improving customer satisfaction. For Funeral Safe, the platform increased brand visibility and tripled financing users, solidifying their market position. We're excited to continue working with both brands with ongoing care and support to help them achieve their goals as they grow.