Bloom Credit Wants to Help Grow Member Credit Profiles
- Roy Urrico
- 6 hours ago
- 6 min read
By Roy Urrico
New York City based Bloom Credit, an application programming interface (API) platform designed to modernize the credit data ecosystem infrastructure, wants to support credit unions helping members build their credit profiles. Navy Federal Credit Union just announced implementation of Bloom+ to boost its members’ credit history.
Bloom Credit’s platform provides APIs for data access (credit inquiries) and furnishment (credit reporting). The furnishment APIs also support consumer permissioned data (CPD) and provides the foundation for turnkey financial inclusion solutions for credit unions and banks.
Bloom+, introduced in 2024, allows financial institutions to offer accountholders the ability to report alternative credit scoring data from their primary checking accounts. “Banks and credit unions want to help their customers to build better financial health. If you are making regular bill payments on time, you should be able to leverage that data to initiate or build your credit profile,” said Christian Widhalm, CEO of Bloom Credit.
Navy FCU on Board with Credit+
Vienna, Va.-based Navy Federal ($181 billion, 14.3 million members) revealed checking account enhancements for members including the opportunity to build or improve their credit history with Bloom+.
“Navy Federal continues to understand and adapt to the unique financial challenges members are facing, especially when it comes to managing their finances on the go,” said Pete Amstutz, senior vice president of savings and membership at Nacy FCU. “These new features demonstrate our commitment to delivering flexible and reliable banking solutions that meet the evolving needs of our members, no matter where they are in the world.”
One key feature now available to Navy Federal members is Bloom+, which facilitates the seamless reporting of non-traditional payments to a major credit bureau, such as utilities and rent, made within a Navy Federal checking account, allowing these payments to factor into their credit score.
"We are looking forward to partnering with Navy Federal to give members a simple, convenient and expanded option for building credit history," said Widhalm. "We appreciate that Navy Federal is thinking ahead of the curve and modernizing how to help its members better demonstrate creditworthiness and gain more affordable access to credit, simply by leveraging their everyday bill payment history."
Bringing in a CU Solutions Expert
Last month, Bloom Credit announced two new hires: former Experian executive Christa Degnan as the new chief product officer; and Tushar Mukhija as its new head of Credit Union Solutions/Strategy and Partnerships.
Finopotamus sat down with Mukhija, to discuss what he foresees as Bloom Credit’s development in the credit union space. Before joining Bloom Credit, Mukhija was chief growth officer at Members Development Company (MDC), a network of credit union industry leaders conducting research and development (R&D) initiatives.
“It’s rare that the value proposition of a fintech’s product is so clear in the way it adds to the bottom line,” said Mukhija about his new role with Bloom. “Consumer-permissioned data gives consumers power and credit unions a competitive advantage. I am thrilled to be joining Bloom and introducing Bloom+ to the credit union network.”
Mukhija described how he hopes to bring the same R&D fintech energy he experienced with MDC’s work with groups such as Curql, a collective of over 130 credit unions jointly investing in fintech. “I got exposed to a lot of the innovator CEOs, the fintech CEOs, in that space. The startup and this fintech market and this relationship between fintechs and credit unions have evolved drastically.”
Mukhija continued, “The Bloom+ business model was primarily the reason that I came over and I decided to run the credit union vertical for Bloom credit. The exciting part of Bloom+ for us is it really helps members build credit history without the burden of debt. Think about the 40% of Americans who do not have access to mainstream credit, that is around a hundred million Americans.”
Making Credit More Accessible
Bloom Credit, Mukhija explained, refers to consumers who are either credit unserved or underserved with little or no credit history as “credit invisible.” These individuals, which includes college students and immigrants, may experience higher borrowing costs because they cannot access mainstream credit rates or products.
Mukhija described how “I am personally passionate about this because when we migrated to the country in early childhood, I did not have a credit score. You do not bring your credit score from another country to the United States and go, ‘okay, now I'm established.’ You start from the bottom up.”
In order to build credit, individuals may take out a credit building credit card, or a secured credit card, pay it off every month on time; or take out a loan and pay those premiums monthly, making sure to establish an immaculate payment history. Then they must see whether that was good enough after six months or a year to establish or pull up their credit score.
Bloom+, conversely, lets credit unions white label this product, said Mukhija. Bloom+ originates anywhere a credit union or bank wants to engage with their members/customers, allowing them to connect their primary account and to choose the types of payments they want to use to build credit including rent; utilities; telecommunications; and buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans. Bloom+ verifies these payments and furnishes them to the credit bureaus where they end up on the consumer’s core credit file.
This is especially significant for credit unions, emphasized Mukhija, given their mission, “people helping people.” By serving their members’ best interests and creating trust, credit unions can also improve deposit retention and increase lending opportunities. “It is founded on the premise of you are not just another repository account number to us. You are a member, your part of this credit union, your part of this community, we want to help you.”
Mukhija explained, “Quantification of financial health of their members has always been difficult for credit unions. This actually is qualitative and quantitative where (credit unions) can take that to the regulatory agencies and go, ‘look’ we are actually helping the invisible be visible. But also, I think the bigger piece of the balance sheet for credit unions with this technology is the stickiness of organic growth. I mean, the concept of PFI (private finance initiative) has diminished with neobanks, fintechs with big banks. Credit unions do not have to budget as much. They are not nimble or versatile enough to adapt to ever changing needs.”
The credit union also benefits by building a stable financial environment around those members. “The ability to report their reoccurring payments and help build credit, is fantastic,” Mukhija noted. “Bloom+ is a really disruptive new product.”
The $372 million Newtown, Penn.-based Inspire Federal Credit Union, which supports more than 16,500 members, was the first Bloom+ client. Lenders here are increasingly receptive to using alternative data, such as regular utility payments, as a measure of creditworthiness. “Today, more than ever, the communities we serve need access to affordable credit," said Jim Merrill, CEO of Inspire FCU. "Bloom+ gives our members and the communities we serve the critical ability to demonstrate their creditworthiness in new ways.”
Integrating Bloom+ With CUs
How does Bloom Credit plan to integrate those credit-building concepts into a credit union’s tech strategy?
“2025 and 2026, what I have heard from credit unions, are all about the back-office efficiencies, doing an application rationalization. It is leveraging AI (artificial intelligence) to really look at all their technology stack and reprioritize, decommission or commission new ones. We want to make experience for credit unions as seamless as possible,” said Mukhija.
For this reason, he said Bloom Credit offers two methods for credit unions to implement Bloom+. “One is through the aggregator model (like Plaid, Finicity, MX). And we can get that going in about two plus weeks. So really speed to market, get it out to your members, let us start benefiting your members and adding value to their lives,” Mukhija explained.
The other model is just direct API integration. “That takes a little longer either through the core or digital banking platform, which for us implementation is just around eight plus weeks to integrate that model,” Mukhija noted.
Because “this is so disruptive and so impactful off the bat,” Mukhija told Finoptamus what he has recommended to some credit union clients, “Let us get it rolled out. Let us have a phased approach of working with the aggregator. Let us get it launched, co-branded, white labeled by the credit unions. Then we can talk about the integration piece as we work through that journey.”