Bed Bath & Beyond Launches Homeownership Program With Alliant

Bed Bath & Beyond is continuing its pivot beyond the home decor world via a new partnership with Alliant Credit Union.

The companies on Monday (Sept. 21) announced the Journey Home program,  designed to help people “prepare financially, purchase a home, and manage the transition into homeownership,” as Alliant said in a news release.

According to the release, the program addresses two stages of homeownership. For people still getting ready to buy, there is Journey Home Savings, designed to help consumers build funds for a down payment.

For those ready to buy, Journey Home connects things like home search, real estate professionals, Alliant financing, closing support and resources for moving.

The launch of Journey Home follows the companies’ announcement last week of their plans to establish the “Beyond Credit Union, powered by Alliant and expected to launch in the first quarter of next year.

This is part of an ongoing transformation for Bed Bath & Beyond, which recently announced plans to adopt a new “corporate identity,” Neighborhood Intelligence.

Earlier this year, the company reached an agreement to acquire Tokens.com with the goal of establishing what it called a unified investment platform bridging traditional real estate finance with blockchain-based tokenization.

Bed Bath & Beyond Executive Chairman and CEO Marcus Lemonis described the deal as part of a long-term vision to create “responsible, compliant liquidity pathways” for homeowners. It is also in keeping with the company’s broader goal of developing an “integrated home ecosystem” where commerce, insurance and financial services come together.

In other credit union news, recent PYMNTS Intelligence/Velera research found that there is a growing opportunity for credit unions (CUs) and FinTechs to work together, though interest alone will not be enough to produce new products for members.

As noted in “FinTechs Want In: How Credit Unions Can Turn Partnerships Into Growth,” CUs serve nearly 146 million members throughout the U.S., a level of research offering FinTechs access to a large and established market.

For their part, credit unions gain access to technology that can help them improve service, add products and respond to the changing needs of their members.

“Both sides see the potential,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this month. “The challenge is getting from interest to launch. FinTechs say long approval cycles and older systems can slow progress. Credit unions report internal barriers that make it harder to bring new ideas to market.”