Block Partners With Nova Credit to Open Cash App Score to External Lenders

Block is opening its proprietary Cash App Score to external lenders for the first time, partnering with Nova Credit to distribute the cash-flow-based metric. For fintech professionals, this represents a significant shift in credit underwriting, moving beyond traditional bureau data to leverage real-time behavioral signals from millions of active digital wallet users.

What was announced

The partnership embeds the Cash App Score directly into Nova Credit’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform, allowing lenders to access the metric within their existing underwriting workflows. Unlike traditional credit scores that rely on historical debt repayment, the Cash App Score utilizes millions of real-time, first-party signals from the Cash App ecosystem. These include spending patterns, saving habits, repayment behavior, paycheck deposits, and peer-to-peer (P2P) activity. This provides a near real-time picture of a consumer's financial health rather than a static look-back at credit history.

The service is designed for lenders across several verticals where Cash App does not currently compete, including auto lending, credit card issuance, device financing, personal loans, and tenant screening. For consumers, the system requires no new credentialing or third-party logins. Cash App users can view their score in the Money Tab of the app, and they maintain control over whether and how their data is shared with external partners through a direct consent framework managed by Cash App.

The technology already powers Block’s internal lending products. In the Cash App Borrow segment, the model has demonstrated the ability to approve 38 percent more customers at the same loss rate compared to traditional scoring methods. Notably, approximately 70 percent of active Borrow customers possess FICO scores below 580, a demographic typically underserved by conventional models. Block’s internal analysis suggests this technology could potentially increase approvals by 30 percent for auto loans and 28 percent for credit cards while maintaining comparable loss rates.

"At Block, we believe people should be able to use their own financial history to unlock opportunity, on their terms. 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."

Juan Hernandez, Head of Credit and Underwriting at Block.

The companies involved

Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) is a global technology company with a focus on financial services. Its ecosystem is comprised of several major brands, including Square, which provides commerce solutions for merchants; Cash App, a consumer financial platform; and Afterpay, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider. The company also operates Tidal, a platform for musicians, and Bitkey, a self-custody bitcoin wallet. Block has increasingly focused on integrating its various arms to create a comprehensive financial ecosystem for both individuals and businesses.

Nova Credit is a credit infrastructure company that specializes in cash flow underwriting and alternative data. The company provides the consumer-reporting infrastructure and FCRA-compliance frameworks necessary for lenders to adopt non-traditional scoring models. Its Cash Flow Intelligence Platform, which includes the Cash Atlas tool, is used by a network of lenders to gain deeper insight into applicant affordability. Misha Esipov serves as Co-founder and CEO of Nova Credit, leading the firm's efforts to expand credit access through data-driven infrastructure.

What FF News has reported before

FF News recently highlighted the growing financial strain on American consumers, which underscores the demand for more nuanced underwriting tools. In August 2026, we reported on the JD Power 2026 Study: 60% of U.S. Credit Card Customers Now Classified as Financially Unhealthy, a trend that suggests traditional credit scores may no longer capture the full reality of consumer risk. Additionally, Block’s merchant-facing arm has been active in expanding its technological footprint; we covered how Square and Google Expand Partnership to Launch AI-Driven Food Ordering via Ask Maps earlier this month, demonstrating the company's broader strategy of embedding financial and commercial services into everyday digital interactions.

What this means

This announcement moves the needle by weaponizing first-party ecosystem data as a commercial product. By exporting the Cash App Score, Block is challenging the dominance of traditional credit bureaus, particularly in the sub-600 FICO segment where traditional data is often thin or "stale." Lenders are under increasing pressure to find growth without increasing loss rates, and real-time cash flow data is the most logical frontier for that expansion. This move raises a critical question for the sector: as "walled garden" platforms like Block begin to monetize their proprietary data for underwriting, will traditional bureaus be relegated to secondary verification sources for the next generation of borrowers?