Despite all the advances in fintech lending, the way data has been furnished to the credit bureaus has remained largely unchanged for several decades. We still operate on a 30-day payment cycle with no allowance for real time data. Not to mention all the recent credit innovations such as BNPL and short-term cash advances. This is about to change.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Christian Widhalm, the CEO of Bloom Credit. They have created a system that can work with cash flow data, can work with BNPL, can work with real time payment data, all while staying within the legacy confines of the Metro 2 data format of the credit bureaus.

In this podcast you will learn:

• How Christian helped the founder of Bloom Credit get things going.
• Why Bloom Credit pivoted from B2C to B2B.
• What convinced him to join as CEO in 2021.
• The problems with Metro 2, the 26-year-old credit bureau data format.
• How their solution works as the intermediary between the bureaus and lenders.
• How Bloom Credit works with real time payment data.
• Why they store the payment data themselves.
• The types of FIs using Bloom Credit today.
• How Bloom Plus works and how it is different from Experian Boost.
• How Bloom Plus can help people build credit without taking on debt.
• The key trade lines from a checking account that are reportable to the bureaus.
• How new immigrants and new adults can enter the credit system.
• Why this is such a great opportunity for community banks and credit unions.
• How winning Finovate Best in Show in May has helped Bloom Credit over the last few months.
• Christian's vision for Bloom Credit.

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