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Credit scores are becoming easier to access, thanks to fintech. The industry has seen a number of fintechs targeting underserved communities that don't have credit histories. And people coming in from outside the US can now migrate their credit score thanks to Nova Credit, who recently expanded its list of accepted countries in partnership with Amex.
Amex expands Nova Credit access to more US newcomers
As credit history typically stops at the border, many people who move to the US from abroad have to build consumer credit from scratch. Nova Credit wanted to address this problem and created an alternative score to assess foreign residents’ creditworthiness based on their home country credit data.
American Express partnered with Nova Credit to expand credit access to people coming in the US. Launched in 2019, access was already available for newcomers from Australia, Canada, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Now it's also available for people coming from Brazil, Dominican Republic, Kenya and Nigeria who have moved to the United States, enabling them to use their international credit history to apply for personal Amex cards by using its Credit Passport.
The Credit Passport is integrated into the American Express online Card application process, enabling applicants’ credit records from certain international credit reporting agencies to be instantly translated into a US-equivalent credit report and score.
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Things we're reading
Capital One just said bye to overdraft fees -- but are overdraft fees saying bye to banks? (The Financial Brand)
Microsoft to bake BNPL into browser with Zip (Finextra)
American Express taps Opy for its first US third-party BNPL offering (Techcrunch)
SMB lender Fundbox raises $100 million at a $1.1 billion valuation (Techcrunch)
Microloans are set to grow 180% in the next five years (The Fintech Times)
Hometap nets $60M in fresh capital for Home Loan Platform (PYMNTS)