Block to Expand Cash App Score Access to Lenders Through Nova Credit Partnership
Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) has announced plans to make its proprietary Cash App Score available to external lenders for the first time, marking a significant expansion of the company’s cash flow-based approach to credit assessment. Under a new partnership with Nova Credit, the Cash App Score will be distributed through Nova Credit’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform, allowing participating lenders to incorporate the score into existing underwriting workflows.
The partnership is designed to give lenders a broader and more current view of a consumer’s financial health than traditional credit scoring methods may provide. By incorporating cash flow and financial activity, the Cash App Score is intended to help lenders evaluate consumers based on a wider range of financial behaviors rather than relying primarily on historical credit information.
The collaboration also aims to make the score accessible without requiring consumers to complete additional credentialing through a third-party platform. Cash App will manage consumer notifications and consent directly, while customers will have control over whether and how their information is shared with participating lending partners.
Cash App Score Brings a Different Approach to Credit Assessment
Cash App Score has begun rolling out to Cash App customers and is designed to provide a near-real-time assessment of financial activity.
The score draws on millions of first-party signals generated across the Cash App ecosystem. These signals can include spending and saving behavior, repayment activity, paycheck deposits, and peer-to-peer transactions. By bringing these different categories of financial activity together, the system is intended to create a more detailed picture of a consumer’s current financial position.
This approach differs from conventional credit scores, which generally place substantial emphasis on historical credit behavior. Cash App Score instead incorporates both historical and current financial activity, allowing changes in a customer’s financial circumstances to be reflected more quickly.
For consumers, the score is accessible within Cash App through the Money Tab. Customers can view their score, understand some of the factors influencing it, and take steps intended to improve their financial standing.
Block said early customer engagement with the score has been strong. Within 30 days, the company reported that 551% of customers return to check their score, indicating repeated engagement with the feature.
The company also emphasized that consumers will retain control over how their Cash App Score is shared with third-party lenders. Customers will be able to establish their preferences for sharing, while Cash App will handle notifications and consent directly.
Importantly, the process does not require customers to create or use a separate third-party login.
Block Seeks to Expand Credit Access
The decision to make Cash App Score available to external lenders reflects Block’s broader strategy of using financial data and technology to address limitations in traditional credit underwriting.
Many consumers may have limited credit histories or credit profiles that do not fully capture their current financial circumstances. This can make it difficult for conventional credit models to accurately assess their ability to repay a loan or credit product.
Block believes that analyzing cash flow and other financial signals can provide lenders with additional information about consumers who may otherwise be underserved by traditional credit systems.
“At Block, we believe people should be able to use their own financial history to unlock opportunity, on their terms,” said Juan Hernandez, Head of Credit and Underwriting at Block.
“We built Cash App Score to see the financial activity of millions of people the traditional credit system misses, and it’s now the same technology at the center of how we manage credit across Block, where we use it to understand risk in near real-time. Partnering with Nova Credit lets us put that capability in the hands of lenders through infrastructure they already trust, so more of those consumers can be reached responsibly, while they stay informed and in control of their data.”
The company’s objective is therefore not simply to create another credit score, but to provide lenders with an additional source of information that could potentially broaden access to credit while maintaining risk controls.
Technology Already Used Across Block’s Lending Business
The technology underlying Cash App Score is not new to Block’s lending operations. The company said the same technology already powers underwriting across its consumer lending products.
One of the longest-running applications has been within Cash App Borrow, where Block has used the technology to evaluate borrowers and manage credit risk.
According to Block, Cash App Borrow approves 38% more customers at the same loss rate compared with traditional credit scores.
The company also reported that approximately 70% of active Cash App Borrow customers have FICO scores below 580 while maintaining the company’s target repayment rate. The figure illustrates the population Block believes conventional credit models may underserve.
These results are central to Block’s argument for expanding Cash App Score beyond its own lending ecosystem. If cash flow and real-time financial behavior can provide useful risk information for consumers with lower traditional credit scores, lenders could potentially use those signals to evaluate a broader population of applicants.
Block’s analysis also points to potential applications outside its existing consumer lending products. Across additional lending categories, the company estimates that its technology could support the approval of 30% more auto loans and 28% more credit card applications at comparable loss rates compared with traditional methods.
The estimates highlight the potential commercial opportunity for cash flow-based underwriting across different areas of consumer finance.
Near-Real-Time Data Could Help Lenders Respond to Changing Conditions
Another distinguishing feature of Block’s technology is its ability to monitor financial conditions continuously.
Traditional credit information can be heavily dependent on historical data, meaning changes in a consumer’s financial circumstances may not immediately appear in their credit profile. Cash flow data, by comparison, can provide more current information about income, spending, repayment activity, and other financial behaviors.
Block said its technology does more than evaluate the creditworthiness of individual consumers. It also allows the company to monitor consumer financial health across its portfolio in near real time.
This capability can help Block assess how broader economic conditions are affecting consumers and its lending portfolio. The company can use these insights to model potential scenarios and adjust credit policies dynamically rather than relying solely on lagging economic or credit indicators.
For external lenders, this means Cash App Score is intended to function as more than a static credit signal.
The infrastructure supporting the score is designed to continuously adapt as economic conditions and consumer financial behaviors change. This is the same underlying approach Block uses to manage its own lending portfolio.
Nova Credit to Distribute Cash App Score
Nova Credit will play a central role in bringing Cash App Score to external lenders.
Through Nova Credit’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform, lenders will be able to incorporate the score into existing underwriting processes across several lending and financial services categories.
These areas include credit cards, auto lending, device financing, personal lending, and tenant screening. Block noted that these are areas in which Cash App does not compete directly.
The availability of Cash App Score through a platform already used by lenders is intended to simplify adoption. Rather than requiring financial institutions to build an entirely new integration, lenders can access the score through infrastructure designed to support cash flow-based underwriting.
The solution can also be used alongside Nova Credit’s Cash Atlas, giving lenders additional cash flow context through a single integration.
This combination could provide lenders with multiple layers of information when assessing applicants, potentially allowing them to consider income and financial behavior alongside conventional credit information.
Consumer Consent and Data Control Remain Central
As financial institutions increasingly use alternative data for underwriting, consumer control and transparency have become important considerations.
Block said Cash App customers will determine their preferences regarding whether and how their Cash App Score is shared with third-party lending partners.
Cash App will manage customer notifications and consent directly, while the process will not require consumers to provide credentials to an outside platform.
This approach is intended to give customers greater visibility into the use of their financial information while allowing lenders to obtain additional information through an established infrastructure.
The model reflects the broader movement toward consumer-permissioned financial data, where individuals can decide whether their financial information is shared for specific purposes.
For lenders, having access to consumer-authorized cash flow information can potentially supplement traditional credit reports and improve the depth of information available during underwriting.
Nova Credit Brings Consumer Reporting and Compliance Infrastructure
Beyond serving as a distribution channel, Nova Credit brings experience in deploying cash flow-based credit scoring solutions.
The company also provides consumer-reporting infrastructure and an FCRA-compliance framework, along with an established network of lenders.
These capabilities are intended to help transform Cash App Score from a proprietary financial technology into a solution that external lenders can incorporate into their credit decisioning processes.
Misha Esipov, Co-founder and CEO of Nova Credit, said the partnership is intended to provide lenders with a broader view of consumers seeking credit.
“By bringing the Cash App Score into Nova Credit’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform, we’re giving lenders a unique tool to develop a richer, near real-time view of tens of millions of credit-seeking Americans,” said Esipov. “Our joint goal is to help Americans put their best financial foot forward, using the apps they already rely on every day.”
A Potential Shift in Consumer Credit Underwriting
The partnership between Block and Nova Credit represents another development in the growing use of cash flow information in consumer lending.
As financial services become increasingly digital, consumers generate large volumes of financial data through banking applications, payment platforms, payroll deposits, savings activity, and everyday transactions. Companies are increasingly exploring how that information can be used to complement traditional credit histories.
For lenders, the potential advantage is access to more current information about a borrower’s financial circumstances. For consumers, alternative approaches could provide additional opportunities to demonstrate creditworthiness when traditional credit scores do not fully reflect their ability to repay.
Block’s decision to make Cash App Score available outside its own ecosystem could therefore broaden the potential reach of its underwriting technology.
Through Nova Credit’s platform, lenders across multiple verticals will have an opportunity to incorporate a cash flow-based signal into their existing underwriting processes. The partnership could also help accelerate the adoption of alternative credit assessment methods by reducing technical and operational barriers for participating institutions.
At the same time, the use of financial data in credit decisions requires careful attention to consumer consent, transparency, regulatory requirements, and responsible lending practices.
Block and Nova Credit are positioning their partnership around those considerations, with consumer-controlled sharing, established reporting infrastructure, and compliance capabilities forming important parts of the offering.
Block’s expansion of Cash App Score into the external lending market marks a new stage in the company’s efforts to apply its financial technology beyond its own products.
The company has already used the technology to support underwriting across its consumer lending business, including Cash App Borrow. Its reported results—including higher approval rates at comparable loss rates—provide the foundation for offering the technology to other lenders.
Through Nova Credit’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform, Cash App Score will become accessible across credit cards, auto loans, device financing, personal lending, and tenant screening.
The partnership comes as lenders continue looking for ways to improve underwriting accuracy, expand responsible access to credit, and obtain more timely information about consumers’ financial circumstances.
With its emphasis on real-time and first-party financial signals, Cash App Score offers an alternative perspective that can complement traditional credit information. By combining this technology with Nova Credit’s distribution network and consumer-reporting infrastructure, Block aims to give lenders another tool for evaluating credit risk.
Ultimately, the partnership could help advance the role of cash flow data in modern underwriting while giving consumers more opportunities to use their financial history to demonstrate creditworthiness.
As the financial services industry continues to evolve toward data-driven and increasingly personalized lending, the ability to evaluate consumers using both traditional credit information and current financial behavior could become an increasingly important component of responsible credit decision-making.
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