From 'credit ghost' to boss: Woman denied housing in US, now leading $20M startup; helps others build credit

Landing a banking job in San Francisco in 2011 straight out of UC Berkeley should’ve been Kristy Kim’s ticket to the American dream. The 22-year-old had just landed a job in investment banking in San Francisco and was eager to find her first apartment. But the process quickly turned into a nightmare as every rental application she submitted was rejected.The reason? She didn’t have a US credit score.“It was a lot of struggle... because, here is me, who studied hard, who worked hard to get a job and make money, and realizing that: ‘Oh, I don’t have a credit score in the US , I am credit invisible — a credit ghost,’” Kim told CNBC Make It.Kim had immigrated from South Korea to the US at the age of 11, without family support. With no one to co-sign her lease, she had to improvise. She went directly to a landlord she found on Craigslist and pitched herself. “I basically said: ‘Hey, I don’t have a credit score, but trust me, I have a job and my boss can vouch for me.’” The landlord agreed, and Kim secured her first apartment.The bigger shock came when Kim tried to buy her first car. Repeatedly denied an auto loan because of her lack of credit history, she again tried to think creatively. This time, she walked into her local Citibank branch and asked the manager to vouch for her based on her salary and savings.But the manager explained the rules: the bank’s lending and banking departments were siloed. No one could intervene.“I requested a meeting with the manager ... Basically, I asked her, can you call the auto loan dealership ... and then tell them that I’m a [trustworthy] person ... You guys can see how much money I make,” said Kim.“But she said that it doesn’t work like that. She is not allowed to vouch for me ... [their] banking department and lending department are separate ... so they cannot communicate with each other,” said Kim. “So that’s my ‘aha’ moment that I realized the system is very archaic.”Frustrated, she borrowed money from her family in Korea and bought a used car outright. But the experience left her determined.“It was a lose-lose for everybody. Lose for the auto dealership, because they couldn’t make the sale. Lose for me [because] I had to spend so much cash. And it’s not so great for [the bank] either, because they couldn’t keep me, their customer, happy,” said Kim.Those setbacks planted the seed for TomoCredit, the fintech startup Kim would later found to help others like her — immigrants, students, and young professionals with little or no credit history.Launched in San Francisco, TomoCredit (short for “tomorrow”) provides products designed for people with “thin” or non-existent credit files. The company’s mission is simple: make it easier for people to build credit without facing the systemic barriers Kim once encountered.“That’s why I started Tomo with full confidence,” she said. “I knew there should be millions of Kristy’s out there who had this bad experience. Somebody had to build this.”TomoCredit has clearly struck a chord. Fintech generated more than $20 million in revenue last year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC.Kim, now 38, says she built TomoCredit for her younger self. “As someone who moved here alone, I didn’t know how important a borrowing history was. I want people, especially immigrants [to] feel empowered, instead of being ashamed, because not having a credit score ... was not something I should be ashamed about. That’s simply because I didn’t know the system,” said Kim.Her message: not having a credit score isn’t a personal failure. It’s the result of a system designed to exclude those without family ties, long borrowing histories, or co-signers.For those starting out, Kim offers two key pieces of advice:Kim’s journey from being a “credit ghost” to building a company that serves others like her reflects a broader truth: millions of people in America still struggle with access to the financial system.TomoCredit’s growth shows both the demand for new solutions and the opportunity for fintech to disrupt entrenched banking practices.For Kim, the mission is deeply personal. “Not having a credit score was never something to be ashamed of. I just didn’t know the system. Now, we’re making sure others don’t have to go through the same struggle.”