FAQ
Debt Optimizer Getting Started
Does using the Debt Optimizer impact my credit?
No, using Solve Finance does not impact your credit score. We use a “soft pull” inquiry to be able to view your credit score and existing debt.
Why do you ask for my name, date of birth, address, last four of social….?
These are all to find the best financing options for you, automate pulling in what debts you owe at what interest rates to get an idea of where we can find places for you to save or borrow better to reach your goals.
By entering the last four digits of your social security number, we can pull your debts and credit score from the credit bureaus. This saves you time in manually adding all your existing debts.
I move a lot, which address should I use?
Enter the address connected to your existing borrowing or where you get the majority of your mail.
Should I enter my income or my household income?
When entering income, use your total household income.
Something looks broken
Get in touch! Email us at [email protected] or call us at (201) 777-1898.
Which savings goal should I select?
Solve Finance offers two savings goals: pay off your debt faster or pay less each month. By paying off your debt faster you will save money on the total interest but may pay more per month. Paying less each month may increase the interest you pay, but will let you bring down your monthly payment. If your goal is to decrease your debt-to-income ratio in order to purchase a home, select to pay less each month.
What’s my debt-to-income ratio?
Your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) is the percentage of your gross monthly income that goes to any monthly obligations you owe such as debts and rent. Because this ratio takes into account all your debts and obligations, it is sometimes referred to as a “back-end” debt-to-income ratio by mortgage lenders. Lenders evaluate your financial situation with this DTI ratio precisely to figure out how much cushion there is in your monthly budget for emergency expenses and other shocks.
How is Solve able to pull my existing debt to my dashboard?
Solve Finance uses a “soft pull” inquiry to be able to view your credit score and existing debt from the credit bureaus. This does not impact your credit score and allows us to put shopping for personalized options for you on automatic.
The Debt Optimizer says I’m fully optimized, what should I do next?
Sit back and relax! Solve Finance will alert you when the best time to refinance is.
Security
What is your security policy?
Your data security is a top priority to Solve Finance. We use double encryption, and access control.
Where can I find more information on your security policies?
See our full policy here.
Help
How can I contact Solve?
Email us at [email protected] or call us at +1 201 777 1898
The Basics
What is Solve Finance’s mission?
Solve Finance’s mission is to help households save money and manage their debts perfectly, by aligning incentives and automating credit expertise with AI.
How much can I save? Why bother getting any advice or help?
By using our Debt Optimizer, the average household in the US could save over $1,000 per year by choosing the right debt stack, shopping, refinancing (lowering the cost of existing debts), and repaying debts optimally.
Using our home finance tools can save the average new borrower $5,000.
Who are you/Why should I trust Solve Finance to answer my borrowing question?
-
We’re a team of PhDs; credit researchers, originators and experts; and computer scientists with decades of experience optimizing financial and other real-world problems.
-
We are incentive aligned. Our business plan is to earn 10% of the value we add, i.e. money we save borrowers. We think we can build a bigger business by doing good/doing better for borrowers and not limiting your options by selling you and your data to lenders. You might not know it, but most online borrowing advice’s sole source of revenue is getting paid by the subset of lenders they show prices from which limits your savings. Ultimately, users or businesses who sponsor our service for their users can pay us - we’ll figure it out, the important part is we won’t limit your options or have to worry about why we’re showing you a particular option - it’s simply the best one for your situation and goals.
What if I have a question I don’t see automated help for?
Get in touch! We love hearing from our early users and building more features to save money.
How do other borrowing advisors and home finance calculators get paid?
You might not know it, but most online borrowing advice’s sole source of revenue is getting paid by the subset of lenders they show prices from. Existing marketplaces, price comparison websites and advice for borrowing get paid kickbacks or referral fees by lenders for each user that visits or starts a process with a particular lender (a “lead”). This means a few things: 1) for something like live prices, the prices are limited to a small subset of lenders, 2) the costs are hidden. You eventually pay, it’s just tacked onto the price of the loan. Lenders have to pay for the $3000 in lead costs somewhere!, 3) we don’t see other websites simplifying prices for you - we don’t think they can ruthlessly fight for you to minimize your costs against lenders.
As they say, if you aren’t paying for it, you’re the product.
How do you get paid?
Currently, Solve is paid by cosponsors who pay on behalf of users to have access to the product. We are not paid by lenders for placement in our products. We think we can build a bigger business by doing better for our borrowers and not maximizing short-run revenue by selling you and your data to lenders, and our business plan is to earn 10% of the value our users agree we add. While we’re in beta we are charging 0% to users.
Is Solve Finance a lender?
No, Solve Finance is not a lender. We are an unbiased source of advice. Our platform simply provides information to users looking to save money.
I’m confused by financial terminology, how can you help?
Check out the Solve Finance Debt Glossary for a plain English guide of financial terminology.