Enabling access to credit for immigrants, US-based fintech firm goes to Europe

San Francisco-founded Nova Credit is now expanding into Europe. Its first pitstop is the U.K. where it aims to make relocating between countries more frictionless for immigrants.

The cross-border credit bureau is on a mission to accelerate financial inclusion for millions of creditworthy individuals who immigrate to new countries every year. Upon arrival, these individuals are without any credit history that lenders in their destination country can evaluate. Subsequently, they struggle to access fairly-priced credit-based products like credit cards, car finance, or phone contracts and pay as much as six months’ rent upfront or find a guarantor to secure an apartment.

This is where the Nova Passport comes in. It pulls newcomers’ established credit data from their country of origin and converts it into an equivalent score and report suitable for use by lenders and financial services providers in their new host country. The company’s U.S. clients include American Express, Verizon, and SoFi.

Replicating the same model in the U.K., the company’s expansion into Europe is expected to benefit the immigrants in the U.K. Of the 10 million immigrants living in the U.K. today, 3.5 million are relative newcomers who have little or no U.K. credit history but who, based on the historic credit data in their country of origin, could be categorised by lenders as creditworthy borrowers. 

Matt Davies, head, UK market development, Nova Credit, said: “By 2035, 100% of the U.K.’s annual net population growth is expected to come from immigration. Creating financial services that work for these people - the majority of whom are highly skilled and educated - from day one of their arrival is essential. We bring the knowledge, experience and relationships that Nova Credit has built over several years to enable the U.K. and European lenders and financial services providers to gain access to this deserving but massively underserved, untapped market.”