i3 - November/December 2017 - 56

Policy

By Sara Garvin

FAC E S O F I N N OVAT I O N

Nick Sky, co-founder
and CEO, ChangEd

or recent college graduates, paying off the average
$36,000 student loan can be daunting - especially
when principle and interest payments can double the
cost of student loan repayment. Instead of counting down the
years to repay your debt, what if you could "nickel and dime your
student loans?" This is exactly what Dan Stelmach had in mind
when he pitched ChangEd to his brother Nick. Together, Dan
and Nick founded the new mobile app and platform, which helps
student loan borrowers make additional interest payments
toward their loans by using the spare change rounded up from
everyday purchases. Since its launch in March 2017, ChangEd
has sent more than $25,000 in loan payments, saving users
years off their repayment plans and thousands in interest costs.

Q What differentiates ChangEd
from traditional banking?

A We started with a simple, innovative

method of debt repayment by aligning with
natural spending, being budget-friendly,
and automating a smart financial decision
by sending your spare change to help
pay off student loans sooner and for less.
By developing relationships with the majority
of student-loan servicers in the U.S., we're
helping borrowers pay off their loans earlier.
This differentiates ChangEd into a fullfeatured student-loan repayment platform.

He said to himself,
'Man, something
needs to change.
Boom! Change -
spare change. What
if I rounded up the
spare change from
my transactions
and sent that to my
student loans?'

Q How did ChangEd start?
A ChangEd is the brainchild of

Dan, one of our co-founders (my
brother). Dan looked over his
student loan statements after
making payments for several years.
He noticed how much he was
paying in interest and how much
time he still had to make payments.
He said to himself, "Man, something needs to change. Boom!
Change - spare change. What if
I rounded up the spare change
from my transactions and sent that
to my student loans?" Dan came to
me with the idea along with a list of
features and concepts that would
be part of the app. I said, "Dude,
this is a great idea, but let's take it
one step at a time. Let's see if
there's a need for something like
this in the market." My brother and
I sat down, wrote out a quick
business plan, ran the numbers
and pulled a friend's bank
statements to see how much the
average person can round up
($30-$50/month on average).
From there we developed the app
through a local developer. In
January 2017, we launched a beta
app, and officially launched in
March 2017 after Apple featured us
as one of their "new apps we love."
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

Q What are some of your

biggest regulatory hurdles?
Because of the scalability of ChangEd,
we do not have many hurdles on the banking
and regulatory side. One set of hurdles we do
foresee are the political and federal regulatory
concerns facing federal student debt, and
how payments are applied for our members.

Q
A

What's next for ChangEd?
ChangEd has a goal to send more than
$100,000 in student loan payments by the
end of 2017. We're building a new "friends
and family contribution" feature that will help
members pay off their loans sooner allowing
them to live life without enormous debt.
We also hope to further develop our relationships with universities and alumni associations
to offer students a solution to help them get
ahead of debt. The earlier, the more effective!
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

https://www.gochanged.com/

i3 - November/December 2017

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