FinTech News
TomoCredit Offering Proprietary TomoScore to Businesses
TomoCredit has announced that it will be bringing its unique creditworthiness model to more businesses.
About TomoScore and the expansion:
TomoScore is an underwriting model designed as an alternative to FICO or other traditional credit models. Among the factors Tomo’s model looks at are cash flow as well as on-time payments for bills, regular income, monthly rent payments, and investments. By focusing on these elements, TomoScore allows those who are often “credit invisible” to be correctly assessed for creditworthiness. This includes new U.S. citizens, small business owners, students, and other younger adults who may not have established traditional credit yet.
Previously proprietary to TomoCredit, the company has revealed plans to offer TomoScore to businesses. According to the startup, this option will give lenders a way to identify quality borrowers even if they don’t have a credit history. Additionally, Tomo says that default rates for those qualified via TomoScore are lower than the industry average.
What they’re saying:
Speaking on the need for TomoScore, TomoCredit founder Kristy Kim stated, “Our current credit bureau system is outdated and prescriptive, presenting large hurdles for millions of consumers. I experienced this difficulty firsthand when as an immigrant and a recent college graduate with no credit history, I had to pay cash for a car because I faced multiple auto loan rejections.” Kim continued, “TomoScore solves that problem by providing lenders with a way to identify high-quality borrowers, even if they lack a traditional credit score, by evaluating real-time cash flow attributes that other credit rating methods overlook.”
Additionally, TomoCredit board member John Suh explained the move of expanding TomoScore, saying, “The Tomo team understands the ‘cash rich, credit poor’ customer segment better than anyone else operating in the space. Despite having a wealth of bank transaction data, this community of upwardly mobile and highly educated individuals has historically been ignored by U.S. financial institutions. Tomo’s B2B expansion — starting with the TomoScore — is going to change that by providing a host of new products and services for them.”
My thoughts:
Once again, we’re seeing a consumer-facing FinTech expand by offering a behind-the-scenes B2B service. This has been a consistent trend in recent years as startups leverage their proof of concept to grow their business by partnering with existing institutions. However, unlike some other FinTechs, such as Spiral, that shut down their consumer offerings to go in a new direction, it looks as though TomoCredit will continue with its TomoCard even as it brings the TomoScore model to new venues.
To me this seems like a solid strategy. However, it will be interesting to see what types of businesses implement TomoScore and how that integration is marketed.
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