Why We Started
In 2019, James Whitfield — who had spent 10 years as a lending officer at two regional banks — left to solve a problem he'd watched repeat itself daily: creditworthy people with stable incomes being declined for loans on FICO scores alone, then turning to payday lenders charging 300–600% APR.
"I was approving and declining loan applications every day," James says. "And it became clear that the score cutoffs we used weren't measuring someone's ability to repay — they were measuring their history with the credit system. Those are different things."
He brought in Maria Santos, a credit risk analyst, and together they built a marketplace that connects borrowers with licensed lenders — using income-based underwriting, full TILA disclosure before signing, and zero tolerance for hidden fees.
