Close Menu
Invest Intellect
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Invest Intellect
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Home
    • Commodities
    • Cryptocurrency
    • Fintech
    • Investments
    • Precious Metal
    • Property
    • Stock Market
    Invest Intellect
    Home»Fintech»Equifax, Experian and TransUnion Have Cut Off Fintech Startup TomoCredit’s Reporting Access
    Fintech

    Equifax, Experian and TransUnion Have Cut Off Fintech Startup TomoCredit’s Reporting Access

    October 25, 20246 Mins Read


    The three big bureaus are crucial to Americans’ credit histories. If your payment data isn’t appearing in any of their records, you have little to no credit history.

    Getty Images

    Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, the three major credit bureaus, have all ended their data partnerships with TomoCredit, refusing to include credit lines reported by the troubled San Francisco startup, Forbes has learned. TomoCredit claims it can help boost consumers’ credit scores through features like opening a line of credit for them and reporting their rent and utility payments to the credit bureaus.

    As Forbes reported previously, Tomo has been the target of a flood of consumer complaints about the difficulty of canceling its subscriptions and recently added an option to cancel to. Consumers have also said in online forums and interviews with Forbes that Tomo’s credit lines don’t appear in their credit histories. Now there’s clear evidence that the bureaus Tomo claims on its website that it reports to aren’t accepting its information.

    In response to a list of facts and questions we sent to Tomo founder and CEO Kristy Kim about the bureaus ending their partnerships with Tomo, Kim said, “They are inaccurate,” but she failed to elaborate further or grant an interview. She added, “Tomo is filling the gap in the credit ecosystem by connecting good borrowers who happen to lack credit history and lenders. All three bureaus are great partners of Tomo as we all want to [bring] positive innovation to the industry [and] benefits to consumers.” The five-year-old startup was last valued at $222 million in a 2022 fundraise, according to PitchBook, and has raised about $40 million in equity funding from backers including Morgan Stanley and Mastercard.


    Have a story tip? Contact Jeff Kauflin at jkauflin@forbes.com or on Signal at jeff.273.


    The three big bureaus are crucial to Americans’ credit histories. If your payment data isn’t appearing in any of their records, you have little to no credit history, making it extremely difficult to get most credit cards, a personal loan, a car loan or a mortgage.

    As of today, Tomo still displays the Experian, TransUnion and Equifax logos on its website under text that reads, “Access credit building loan and tools to build your score with all three bureaus.” But Equifax has asked Tomo to remove the Equifax logo from its website, a spokesperson for the credit bureau says. Experian has done the same, according to a person familiar with the matter.

    According to data shared exclusively with Forbes by a personal finance company with access to consumer credit reports, the reports from the three bureaus show virtually no records of any lines of credit from Tomo starting in August 2024. That snapshot is starkly different from the situation earlier this year, when tens of thousands of Tomo credit lines appeared in the records of one or more of the bureaus. The data also suggests the bureaus have gone so far as to purge from consumers’ credit histories some of the information they had earlier accepted from Tomo.

    The bureaus typically don’t comment publicly on individual data furnishers like Tomo that report information to them, but an Equifax spokesperson confirmed that the company has “deactivated TomoCredit from our system.” The spokesperson also said, “Equifax carefully reviews all requests from prospective data furnishers to furnish data as well as regularly audits current data furnishers for quality, compliance and security.”

    We asked Experian if it has ended its relationship with Tomo and purged data, and a spokesperson declined to comment specifically on Tomo, saying the bureau “is committed to ensuring the information included in credit reports is as accurate as possible.” The spokesperson added, “As part of that process, we perform ongoing due diligence with each of our data furnishers to confirm the information provided adheres to our strict data standards.” A TransUnion spokesperson also wouldn’t comment on Tomo and said, “In general, we take the reliability of our data seriously and hold all furnishers to high standards in service of that work.”

    In online complaints and interviews with Forbes, consumers have repeatedly said Tomo’s credit lines sometimes don’t appear at all in their credit history. Jasmine Burch, a 35-year-old engineer from Southern California, subscribed to Tomo’s service from September 2023 through April 2024, paying $79.99 a month for its VIP plan to try to improve her credit score. She says Tomo’s credit line appeared in her credit history from all three bureaus for just one month, October 2023, and never appeared again. Felisa Ware, a 55-year-old Michigan resident who subscribed to Tomo for several months in 2023, told Forbes she never saw a Tomo credit line appear in her credit history.

    It’s unclear precisely why the bureaus have ended their partnerships with Tomo, but financial services attorneys we spoke with say credit bureaus can terminate relationships with data providers or purge historical data for several reasons. If a company like Tomo has a high rate of disputes, where consumers are saying there’s an error in their credit history related to their Tomo credit line, that’s a red flag. Other warning signs are a company failing to respond to disputes or responding in the same way to all of them. Among the most extreme reasons to remove a data furnisher would be a company producing fake credit history data and reporting it to the bureaus, though Forbes has seen no evidence that Tomo has done that.

    In April, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published highlights from its ongoing examination of the credit bureaus, it included a point that demonstrates the regulatory pressure the bureaus are under to police data furnishers like Tomo. As an example of the “deficiencies” it found in furnishers’ compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and associated regulations, the CFPB wrote, “For several months, furnishers failed to respond to all or nearly all disputes, or responded to all disputes in the same manner. Despite observing this dispute response behavior by these furnishers, [credit bureaus] continued to include information from these furnishers in consumer reports.” The CFPB didn’t name any specific companies in its findings.

    ForbesFintech App Trap: Enraged Customers Struggle To Cancel Their SubscriptionsBy Jeff KauflinForbesBehind The Pivot: Before Tomo Dropped Its Credit Card Business, It Defaulted On An SVB LoanBy Jeff KauflinForbesAfter Synapse Disaster, Stripe, Block And Other Fintech Heavyweights Join New Compliance CoalitionBy Jeff Kauflin



    Source link

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    MTN Fintech Revenue Soars 72% in Q2 2025

    Fintech

    Fintech investment holds steady amid trade war

    Fintech

    The Next Big Threat in Fintech and How to Prepare Now with Advice from Quynh Keiser 

    Fintech

    Pan-African challenge opens for fintech entrepreneurs

    Fintech

    FinTech accelerator to boost black-owned innovation in insurance

    Fintech

    Odisha to launch India’s first global FinTech hub

    Fintech
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Top Picks
    Investments

    The Rule of 55: One Way to Fund Early Retirement

    Commodities

    Attention déflagration ! Napalm Death, légende vivante du metal, sera à La Nef vendredi

    Property

    Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:GRT) Declares $0.28 Monthly Dividend

    Editors Picks

    Près du Neubourg, 150 agriculteurs réunis pour découvrir l’agriculture de demain

    June 9, 2025

    Tesla Crypto Coin in Casinos: A New Era of Digital Betting

    May 18, 2025

    Zacks Research Comments on Essex Property Trust, Inc.’s Q1 2025 Earnings (NYSE:ESS)

    July 27, 2024

    F&C UK Real Estate Investments (LON:FCRE) Stock Price Crosses Below 200 Day Moving Average of $93.40

    July 19, 2024
    What's Hot

    Les acteurs de la tech consomment toujours plus d’énergie

    April 11, 2025

    HSBC Tests Hong Kong Digital Currency on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Polygon

    July 10, 2025

    Vacant retail/commercial property in Hatboro on the market for $475K

    August 26, 2024
    Our Picks

    opportunité ou risque pour votre portefeuille d’investissement ?

    February 12, 2025

    China bans cryptocurrency: Fact vs fiction

    August 4, 2025

    3 ASX Dividend Stocks Yielding Up To 8.6%

    August 3, 2025
    Weekly Top

    MTN Fintech Revenue Soars 72% in Q2 2025

    August 4, 2025

    Fintech investment holds steady amid trade war

    August 4, 2025

    Lead singer of ‘80s metal band dies 2 weeks after getting married

    August 4, 2025
    Editor's Pick

    Agricultural, domestic products’ exhibition begins Kabul – Pajhwok Afghan News

    May 1, 2025

    FAO helps foster new food frontiers with African orphan crops

    October 11, 2024

    Knesset Reduces Real Estate Tax for New Immigrants | The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com | Hana Levi Julian | 2 Av 5784 – Monday, August 5, 2024

    August 5, 2024
    © 2025 Invest Intellect
    • Contact us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.