US-based Bloom Credit has launched a tool for banks and credit unions to offer their customers the ability to report alternative credit scoring data from their primary checking accounts to credit bureaus, to help build credit profiles.
There are 45 million Americans who are considered ‘credit invisible’, which means they have little or no credit history and, as a consequence, face higher borrowing costs.
Inspire Federal Credit Union has been named as the first client of the new feature, ‘Bloom+’, while TransUnion has partnered with Bloom Credit to be the initial receiver of the data.
Jim Merrill, chief executive officer of Inspire Federal Credit Union, said: “Bloom Plus gives our members and the communities we serve the critical ability to demonstrate their creditworthiness in new ways.”
Bloom+, which is a white-labelled, no-code API, gives customers of banks and credit unions the option to connect their primary account and to choose the types of payments they want to build credit with, including rent, utilities, and telecommunications.
It then verifies the validity of the payments and supplies them to the credit bureaus, where they end up on the consumer’s core credit file.
“If you’re making regular bill payments on time, you should be able to leverage that data to initiate or build your credit profile,” said Christian Widhalm, chief executive officer of Bloom Credit.
“We’re pleased to introduce Bloom+ which provides the bridge between a customer’s bill payment history and getting that data, accurately, to the credit bureaus.”
David Goldberg, senior vice president at TransUnion added: “The consumer-permissioned data reporting that Bloom+ enables, provides a more holistic view into financial obligations millions of consumers meet every month and may not be reflected in traditional credit data.
“It’s a huge step forward in driving more confident lending and empowering consumers.”
