Mastercard: How open banking helps everyone who deserves credit get credit

When Kristy Kim moved to the U.S. with her family from South Korea, she worked hard to achieve the American Dream. But when she graduated from a top university and landed a high-paying job in investment banking, she realized her years of scrimping and saving didn’t pay off in one crucial way – she had no credit file, so she wasn’t eligible for a car loan. She had to pay cash. 

Now Kim has launched TomoCredit Inc., a startup that uses with Finicity’s open banking platform to determine which applicants are qualified for credit, and how much credit to offer them. Traditionally, lenders use a credit score, but many people, including immigrants to the U.S. and young people, have not built up a credit history. TomoCredit’s research indicates that legacy lending policies keep 40 million people from accessing credit and the ability to build wealth. 

Using consumer-permissioned real-time data from than 10,000 financial institutions, Finicity can help TomoCredit get a clearer picture of an applicant’s financial health, improving risk assessment and credit decisioning. Once approved, applicants receive a TomoCredit Mastercard credit card with no fees and 0% APR. 

“Enabling people to access and control their data, while ensuring best practices to protect both that data and the consumer, will continue to drive tremendous innovation that increases financial literacy, inclusion and health,” Finicity CEO Steve Smith says. 

Want to learn more about Kim’s journey, how the TomoCredit Mastercard works, and how TomoCredit. Finicity and Mastercard are enabling inclusive credit? Read more on the Mastercard Newsroom.