Alternative Finances

Alternative Finances
What Smart, Conversational AI Adds To Credit Scoring
February 26, 2019

Traditional credit-scoring models have not had it easy in the court of public opinion over the last few years. The complaints vary in their specifics, but all revolve around a basic premise: The old credit-scoring models are too backward-looking in a world where real-time data is...

Alternative Finances
Nav CEO On Breaking SMB Financing’s ‘Black Box’
February 18, 2019

Starting a business in the United States requires being courageous, someone who embraces the idea of success as a long shot. In fact, to be a successful entrepreneur, it is probably best to be the sort of person who ignores the odds entirely. That’s because...

Alternative Finances
How To See The Customer ‘Beyond The Credit Score’
February 13, 2019

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” -William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet A quick glance at the most famous lines written by Shakespeare for Romeo, in his most famous play, might lead one to conclude...

Alternative Finances
Are Mortgages The On-Ramp For Lifelong Financial Management?
February 04, 2019

Of the scores of innovations and updates to consumer lending seen and written about over the last decade or so, speed is always offered as a central value proposition. Instead of spending days and weeks gathering paperwork, submitting materials and waiting around for a decision, consumers and businesses...

Alternative Finances
Petal Raises $30M To Expand Credit Card Biz
January 29, 2019

Petal, the New York-based FinTech that makes a credit card for consumers just starting out, announced Tuesday (Jan. 29) that it raised $30  million in venture funding. In a press release, Petal said Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures led the Series B round of fundraising. Other...

Alternative Finances
Changes On Deck For The CFPB’s Payday Lending Rule
January 22, 2019

Could it be that the CFPB, under new Executive Director Kathy Kraninger, will be moving directly to eliminate the more controversial provisions of its payday lending rule? According to sources cited by American Banker, the CFPB will remove the controversial underwriting rules that would have forced lenders to...

Alternative Finances
Building A Bridge To The Homeless With Breadcoin
January 15, 2019

Washington, D.C. is both a rich city and a poor city. Filled with federal workers and contractors, the nation’s capital has a high cost of living: Average monthly rent on an apartment runs about $2,000 and according to some estimates the base annual income needed to “live...

Alternative Finances
AltFin’s Bumpy Ride Into An Uncertain 2019
December 28, 2018

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” -Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens’ famous starter to A Tale of Two Cities, as it turns out, is a pretty good way to sum up the year 2018 from...

Alternative Finances
Affirm’s Levchin On Changing The Consumer Credit Conversation
December 21, 2018

The conversation about credit in the U.S. has become one of extremes. There is a growing chorus of voices that eschew credit as a “dangerous trap” that lures consumers into spending more than they can afford, in part, they say, because credit products are designed...