SANTA CLARA, Calif.–The fintech startup Aven is sharing some of the reasons it decided to donate “a few million dollars” to help get a new credit union off the ground.
Aven, a $2.2 billion fintech best known for its HELOC-backed credit card, has helped Haven Federal Credit Union, which, as the CU Daily reported earlier, was one of just three new federal charters granted by NCUA during 2025. Haven FCU is a multiple common bond credit union, with a potential membership of more than 300,000.
In a blog post, the company said, “Five years ago, we launched Aven with a mission to reduce the cost of capital for American consumers, and (now) we have taken a big step to drive our mission forward for even more people.”
Seeking to Scale
Aven said that as a major sponsor of the new credit union, it will partner closely with Haven to help it to build and scale.
“Credit unions are some of the most beloved and trusted organizations in America, and for good reason,” the company said. “As not-for-profit financial institutions, their vision and goal is to play a meaningful role in improving the financial wellbeing of their members and anchoring local communities. Credit unions have long broadened access to capital and wealth by offering some of the highest yields on deposits and some of the lowest rates on loans.”
Support for Underserved Areas
Aven shares it shares Haven’s vision and goals of providing affordable, convenient, and transparent financial products for homeowners and aspiring homeowners in underserved communities nationwide to reduce the costs and barriers to homeownership.
“Over the past three years, Aven thought about what a financial institution would look like if it used modern technology to bring speed, transparency, and a “wow” factor to members, while lowering operational costs,” Aven said in its blog post. “Aven worked with homeowners organizations, local leaders in underserved communities, consumers across the country, and experienced credit union leaders to address real community needs together.”
Goal is to Reduce Costs
In a statement to the CU Daily, Aven said it plans to work with the credit union to provide members with products that include credit cards and HELOCs with a goal of reducing the “cost of capital for consumers and promote homeownership.”
On the deposit side, the plan is to offer high-yield share accounts and regular share draft accounts.
“The credit union may partner with multiple third-party providers and loan originators, including Aven, to become the best one-stop shop for its members’ financial needs,” the company said in its statement to the CU Daily. “Haven FCU will decide whether to partner with Aven to offer financial products based on what best serves its members’ needs.
What’s Coming
In an interview with Forbes, Aven cofounder and CEO Sadi Khan said he expects Haven FCU to start offering digital banking products this year and to open a physical location over the next 18 months. He told the publication the credit union’s management team will decide how many branches it opens.
Founded in 2019, Aven reached a $2 billion valuation last year. It has issued $4 billion in loans and has more than 75,000 customers. Aven targets consumers with prime and super prime FICO scores that are usually above 700, Forbes reported.
“The credit union is a very Americana object,” Khan says. “It really represents a by-the-people, for-the-people institution, which has always resonated with me.”
A Personal Story
Khan was born in Bangladesh and raised in Toronto, and after he graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2008 he told Forbes his first bank account was at First Tech Credit Union. First Tech accepts as members employees of many tech companies, including Microsoft, where Khan worked for a few years after college.
While most traditional banks “were unable to underwrite me as a young immigrant without any credit history in the United States,” First Tech used Khan’s Microsoft employment letter to open his account, Forbes reported.
According to the report, Khan first started working on Haven’s application for a de novo federal credit union banking charter back in 2023.
Rigorous Process’
“After a rigorous process that included Haven providing its business plans, marketing plans and financial projections and undergoing stress-testing in areas like interest rate risk, liquidity and credit risk, it finally got approved in December 2025,” Khan said.
Khan and another Aven employee will sit on Haven’s five-person board of directors. Chris Tissue, who is chief operating officer at credit union consulting firm CUCollaborate, will be the board’s chairperson.
The FOM
According to Haven FCU, its FOM includes four groups:
- A geographic area of 300,000 “underserved” people it has chosen in California’s Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, where 71% of residents are considered low-income by the Census Bureau. Forty-one percent of the residents in this region are Hispanic, 28% are Asian and 84% rent their homes.
- The second and third groups are members and employees of a California-based homeowners association and the Community Impact Fund, which provides charitable, 0% interest loans to employees facing emergencies. Both organizations have national memberships.
- Aven’s 80 employees
Must be ‘Best in Class’
The new credit union will only sell Aven’s products like its credit cards or personal loans if Haven’s management determines they’re “best-in-class,” Khan told Forbes. So, how can consumers be sure that Haven will put its own members’ interests first, instead of prioritizing Aven’s business?
Haven Chair Chris Tissue told Forbes the rigorous charter-approval process helps weed out people who aren’t dedicated to the credit union business model and that credit unions have conflict-of-interest policies and procedures that regulators periodically examine them on. He also cited the democratic nature of board elections, saying a board member can be voted out.
