Student debt has long been treated as a financial dead end. Candidly wants to reframe it as a solvable—and even strategic—part of long-term wealth building, and its newly released 2025 Annual Impact Report suggests the approach is gaining real traction.
The company, which bills itself as the market’s only AI-driven student debt and savings optimization platform, reported $2.3 billion in projected student debt impact and $66 million in projected additional retirement savings in 2025. Those numbers arrive alongside the debut of Cait, Candidly’s conversational AI advisor, and the Candidly Intelligence Center, a multi-agent AI system designed to deliver personalized financial guidance at enterprise scale.
In a fintech sector crowded with budgeting apps and lightweight chatbots, Candidly is making a sharper claim: that AI can guide people through some of the most complex financial decisions of their lives—and actually get them to act.
Beyond Chatbots: Why Cait Matters
Cait isn’t positioned as another friendly chatbot answering surface-level questions. Instead, Candidly built it to span the entire education financing lifecycle, from managing existing student loans to planning for future education costs—and critically, understanding how those decisions ripple into retirement savings.
That focus appears to be paying off. According to the report:
- 71% of users click through to recommended next steps when Cait suggests them, compared with roughly 50% product exploration rates without the AI layer.
- 61% of returning users explore new financial topics, signaling that Cait isn’t a one-time help desk but an ongoing guide as users move through different life stages.
In plain terms, users aren’t just chatting—they’re changing behavior. That’s a meaningful distinction in a market where engagement often stops at awareness.
Real Impact in a Volatile Student Loan Market
Candidly’s results land at a time when the student loan landscape remains unsettled, with shifting federal repayment programs and widespread borrower confusion. Against that backdrop, the company’s core offerings delivered measurable outcomes:
- Federal Repayment Optimization: Users qualifying for new repayment plans reduced monthly bills by an average of $337, cutting roughly 33 months off repayment timelines and generating $146 million in projected debt impact.
- Employer Student Loan Contributions: Candidly facilitated $73 million in employer contributions in 2025, paired with a 73% reduction in employee turnover risk among participants.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Notably, 61% of PSLF applications submitted through the platform came from first-time applicants, highlighting how education and guided workflows unlock programs many borrowers never access.
- Student Loan Retirement Match: Participants saw a 52% reduction in turnover likelihood and an average of $62,275 in projected additional retirement savings.
- Financial Coaching Expansion: Coaching now covers the full spectrum of education financing, earning a 9.7/10 satisfaction score and delivering $18,258 in average projected debt impact per user.
Taken together, the data suggests Candidly isn’t just easing financial stress—it’s aligning debt management with long-term financial stability in a way few platforms attempt.
Why Employers Are Paying Attention
One of the clearest signals of momentum is adoption. Candidly reported a 121% increase in new employers offering the platform in 2025.
That growth reflects a broader HR and benefits trend: student debt assistance is no longer a niche perk. With younger workers delaying home ownership and retirement contributions, employers are looking for benefits that improve both financial wellness and retention. Candidly’s data-backed reductions in turnover risk give HR leaders something rare in benefits tech—numbers that tie directly to workforce outcomes.
The company underscored this shift by hosting its first HR Leadership Summit, focused on how AI is reshaping employee benefits and the future of work.
AI With Empathy, Not Just Efficiency
Founder and CEO Laurel Taylor has consistently framed Candidly’s mission as balancing automation with human-centered design. That philosophy runs through the report.
“In 2025, we demonstrated that AI can democratize financial guidance at scale without sacrificing experiences rich in empathy,” Taylor said. “We’re not just helping people manage debt. We’re expanding access to wealth-building opportunities that have been out of reach for millions of Americans.”
That emphasis matters. Financial decisions around debt and retirement are deeply personal—and historically accessible only through expensive advisors. Candidly is betting that multi-agent AI systems like the Intelligence Center can close that gap without losing trust.
Industry Recognition—and What Comes Next
The market has taken notice. In 2025, Candidly:
- Won the Fintech Breakthrough Award for Best Student Loan Management Platform for the third consecutive year
- Landed on Forbes’ Best Startup Employers list
- Saw Taylor recognized by Inc. Magazine and the American Fintech Council
- Earned a coveted invitation to join the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer cohort after appearing at Davos
The bigger takeaway isn’t the trophies—it’s validation that AI-driven financial guidance is maturing from experiment to infrastructure.
As regulatory complexity grows and financial decisions become harder to navigate alone, platforms that combine AI fluency, behavioral nudges, and measurable outcomes are likely to define the next phase of fintech. Candidly’s 2025 results suggest that student debt—once viewed purely as a burden—may be one of the most powerful entry points for that transformation.
Power Tomorrow’s Intelligence — Build It with TechEdgeAI
