Two years after American Express began allowing immigrants to operate their credit scores in their home countries, the company is expanding the service to cover people from four other countries.
People arriving in the United States from Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya and the Dominican Republic can now use their home country credit history to apply for an American Express credit card, the company said on Tuesday.
The move – which expands an ongoing partnership with cross-border credit score provider Nova Credit – could give Amex an edge in winning business with immigrants. More than 40 million people living in the United States were born in foreign countries, according to the Pew Research Center.
Bloomberg
Nova Credit’s Credit Passport system extracts data from applicants’ history in their home country, including their bill payments, car payments, and property records. The process generates an equivalent U.S. credit score, which potential customers can authorize when they apply for a card online, Amex said in a press release.
Amex previously offered the service through Nova Credit to customers in Mexico, India, Canada, UK and Australia. Nova Credit said on its website that it plans to eventually include Chinese and Jamaican consumer credit scores.
“Serving newcomers allows us to support more people and keep our commitment to building everyone’s financial confidence,” said Sara Milsten, senior vice president of new member acquisition for US consumer services at Amex. , in the press release.
“Our work with American Express over the past two years has shown us the tremendous impact of access to financial services on newcomers,” Misha Esipov, co-founder and CEO of Nova Credit, said in the statement.
Since launching in 2016, Nova Credit has raised approximately $ 70 million from a diverse group of funders, including actor Ashton Kutcher and former baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
Other credit card issuers using the startup’s services include Citigroup, Petal, Deserve and Applied Bank.
