Block Lets Lenders Access Cash App Credit Insights

Block says it is opening its Cash App score to external lenders for the first time.

Using Nova Credit as a distribution partner, Block will make Cash App’s proprietary, cash flow-based credit score available to lenders via Nova Credit’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform, the company announced Tuesday (Sept. 1).

“We built Cash App Score to see the financial activity of millions of people the traditional credit system misses, and it’s now the same technology at the center of how we manage credit across Block, where we use it to understand risk in near real-time,” Juan Hernandez, Block’s head of credit and underwriting, said in a news release. “Partnering with Nova Credit lets us put that capability in the hands of lenders through infrastructure they already trust, so more of those consumers can be reached responsibly, while they stay informed and in control of their data.”

According to the release, Cash App Score is designed to provide a picture of a person’s financial health using “signals from across the Cash App ecosystem,” such as spending, saving, repayment behavior, paycheck deposits, and peer-to-peer activity. In doing so, it reflects a broader glimpse of consumer financial behavior beyond credit histories, the company said.

Now, lenders will be able to incorporate this score into underwriting for things like credit cards, auto lending, device financing, personal lending and tenant screening, “all areas where Cash App does not compete,” to provider lenders with a “comprehensive, near real-time view of a consumer’s ability to pay,” the company added.

“By bringing the Cash App Score into Nova Credit’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform, we’re giving lenders a unique tool to develop a richer, near real-time view of tens of millions of credit-seeking Americans,” said Misha Esipov, Nova Credit’s co-founder and CEO. “Our joint goal is to help Americans put their best financial foot forward, using the apps they already rely on every day.”

Meanwhile, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research examines some of the pressures facing consumers on the lower end of the credit spectrum.

Those findings show that many subprime consumers simply don’t have cards. In February, 35% of this group had neither a credit card nor a store card. The same was true of just 12% of prime consumers, and 4% of super-prime consumers.

“That leaves a sizable group beyond the reach of conventional card rewards, credit-building features and emergency spending capacity,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

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