Partnership Overview
- INvestEd is Indiana's free expert resource for college planning and financial aid.
- Credible powers their student loan and refinance marketplaces.
The Partner
- INvestEd (Indiana Secondary Market for Education Loans, Inc.) is an Indiana nonprofit providing free, expert financial aid guidance to students, parents, and counselors statewide.
The Challenge
- After exhausting federal and other aid, families faced a fragmented private loan landscape with no transparent way to easily compare rates and terms. Financial aid offices had no neutral tool providing important details beyond ranges of rates to recommend.
The Solution
- The INvestEd Student Loan Marketplace and Refi Loan Marketplace, powered by Credible. Personalized, prequalified rates from multiple lenders with no credit impact.
The Impact
- Seamless loan comparison bolstering a statewide financial literacy ecosystem, empowering Hoosier students and those attending Indiana colleges to quickly see and compare their private student loan options.
Education First, Lending Last
How INvestEd's philosophy aligned perfectly with Credible's marketplace model.
The Gap Families Were Falling Into
INvestEd's outreach team works directly with families at FAFSA workshops, Financial Aid Nights, award letter reviews, and college fairs across Indiana. Their message has always been consistent: maximize grants and scholarships, then use federal loans, and borrow private loans only as a last resort.
But when families did reach that last step, they would too often be directed to pages displaying wide ranges of interest rates to choose from. Financial aid counselors had no neutral, multi-lender, detailed comparison tool to recommend. Families were left to visit individual lender websites one at a time, with no way to know if they were getting a competitive rate.
Why INvestEd Chose Credible
INvestEd needed a partner that matched their nonprofit mission; one that prioritized transparency over selling a single product. Credible's marketplace model was the fit: families see real, personalized rates from multiple lenders ranked by affordability, not by advertising spend. A soft credit inquiry means exploring options doesn't hurt anyone's credit score.
The technical integration was equally important: Credible's platform works with existing certification and disbursement processes. Financial aid offices didn't need to change their systems, train on new software, or alter their counseling workflows.
Woven Into the Fabric of Indiana's Outreach
This isn't a marketplace that lives on a forgotten corner of a website. INvestEd leverages the Credible-powered experience across their entire statewide mission to help students limit excessive student loan debt. The marketplace is the natural endpoint of a journey that begins with financial literacy.
How it Works: Simple for Students. Seamless for Schools.
The Credible-powered marketplace fits into existing workflows, not around them.
What Sets This Apart: Built for Trust, Not for Transactions
The features that make this partnership a model for every financial aid office.
Unbiased Comparison
Credible is a marketplace, not a lender. Families see rates ranked by fit, not by who pays the highest referral fee.
No Credit Impact
Soft credit inquiry means students and parents can explore every option without worrying about their score.
7-Day Concierge Support
Credible's customer care team fields the common questions that otherwise inundate your financial aid office.
Zero Operational Lift
No new systems, no IT project, no vendor onboarding. Certification and funds flow through your existing infrastructure.
Voices from Indiana
Hear from the institutions and partners using the Credible-powered marketplace every day.
“Thousands of families have been able to quickly and accurately see exactly what student loan rates and terms are available, because of our partnership with Credible. As the engine powering the INvestEd Student Loan Marketplace, this tool shows families specific details so an educated loan decision can be made as opposed to another “as low as” guess. It’s had a significant impact and will be even more important in the coming year"
— Bill Wozniak
Director of Marketing, INvestEd · Co-Chair, College Goal Sunday
“As families search for gap funding options after federal student loans, the INvestEd Student Loan Marketplace powered by Credible has been a key tool that I’ve used at multiple institutions. The ability to shop ACTUALLY rates and not ranges of rates for multiple lenders in one place at no cost and no impact on credit is huge for our families. If they need to borrow, this tool allows them to know the actual costs, rates, and terms to make an informed borrowing decision. This marketplace has allowed us to better serve our families while staying in compliance.”
— Robert Sommers
Executive Director of Financial Aid, Taylor University
For Financial Aid Offices: Why This Model Works for Every Campus
The INvestEd partnership demonstrates four principles that apply to any institution.
Ready to Bring Credible to Your Students?
Learn More1While Credible’s prequalified rates dashboard will always present lending options in an unbiased manner, there is also paid advertising space available to lending partners on the site. Those advertisements will always be clearly marked as advertisements.
2Prequalified rates are not offers of credit and are based on information Credible receives from the borrower about their credit profile, in addition to a soft credit pull. That means that if, for example, the information the borrower enters changes or is in error, prequalified rates will not match offers of credit.