“Humans of Finance” is a series about how embedded finance helps people and businesses in the real world.

Getting behind the wheel

Roger Felder is a truck driver living in Spring, Texas. For the past three years, he’s been driving box trucks (26-foot trailers) across the American Southwest.

“What I love about trucking is that I call the shots,” says Felder. “If my family needs me, I can be there. If I want to stay closer to home, I can do that.”

"I was constantly checking my email on the road just to see if anybody had paid me.”

But it hasn’t always been a smooth ride, especially in the beginning. Like many truckers, Felder struggled with his finances.

After a trucker finishes a job, it generally takes 30–90 days for them to get paid. To get their money faster, many truckers use factoring companies, which advance the funds for a fee. But they typically charge a lot, and the payments take days to process. Plus, many factoring companies slip in hidden fees and require annual contracts.

“My finances were a mess,” recalls Felder. “I had invoices all over the place. I was constantly checking my email on the road just to see if anybody had paid me.”

An all-in-one platform that drives revenue

That’s when Felder heard about TruckSmarter, a platform that helps truckers book more loads and keep more of what they earn.

Thanks to TruckSmarter, Felder can factor his invoices for 2.5%, significantly less than he was paying the factoring companies. He no longer worries about when his money will arrive; now, he gets paid within hours of finishing a job, even on weekends and holidays. 

With TruckSmarter, Felder can find and book loads, submit invoices, purchase discounted fuel, and get paid.

But, for Felder, the biggest value-add has been the app itself. Now he can do everything he needs in one place: find and book loads, submit invoices, purchase discounted fuel, and get paid. He can see the status of his transactions in real time, so he doesn’t have to stress about whether a given payment has landed in his bank account.

Inside the app, Felder uses the TruckSmarter Checking Account and Debit Card, both of which are made available through a partnership with Thread Bank*. The checking account is what enables him to get paid so quickly—and it also happens to earn 3.27% APY**.

“TruckSmarter has been a lifesaver for me,” says Felder. “I used to worry about when I was going to get paid. Now, I can focus on growing my business.”

Fueled by embedded finance

When Felder uses TruckSmarter to factor his invoices and receive instant payouts, that’s an example of embedded finance.

Embedded finance is when a bank partners with a tech company to offer financial products tailored to the requirements of a specific industry. In this case, TruckSmarter partners with Thread Bank to offer truckers a financial operating system that fits their exact needs. 

In just a year, Felder grew his business by 4x—something that wouldn’t have been possible without embedded finance.

Using TruckSmarter has freed Felder up to hire drivers and buy more trucks. In just a year, Felder grew his business by 4x—something that wouldn’t have been possible before.

Felder has always dreamed of building an 8-figure business; now it finally seems attainable. With TruckSmarter, he can focus less on chasing down invoices and more on growing his company. He can also spend more time doing what he loves—like taking his nieces and nephews to ride roller coasters in amusement parks.

“TruckSmarter is a part of my life now,” says Felder. “It simplifies every part of trucking and makes it easier to manage my money. Because of them, I know I’m going to grow.”

*TruckSmarter is a financial technology company, and is not a bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. The TruckSmarter Visa Debit Card is issued by Thread Bank, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa is accepted. 

**Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of 3.27% is effective as of 11/01/2023. This is a variable rate and may change after the account is opened. Fees could affect earnings on the account.