Block announced on 1 September 2026 that it is opening the Cash App Score to outside lenders, with Nova Credit as its distribution partner. The score, until now used only inside the app, becomes available in underwriting for credit cards, auto lending, device financing, personal lending and tenant screening.
A cash flow score, not a credit history
The Cash App Score is built on the signals seen in the app: spending, saving, repayment behaviour, paycheck deposits and peer-to-peer payments. It differs from a conventional credit score, which is built on outstanding balances and on incidents reported to credit bureaus. The difference lies in the raw material and in the tempo: a cash flow is observed day by day, a history builds over years.
What Nova Credit brings
Nova Credit supplies three things Block does not have: consumer-reporting infrastructure, a Fair Credit Reporting Act compliance framework, and a lender network that is already connected. The score travels through its cash flow intelligence platform, which spares the lender a dedicated integration. FCRA compliance is not a formality: it sets the consumer's rights over the data used to decide on their credit, including access and dispute.
Consent stays inside the app
The Cash App customer decides whether to share the score, and with whom. Notifications and consent are handled by the app, and no third-party login is required. That design avoids sharing banking credentials, a practice still common in account data access and one that leaves the consumer carrying the risk of the transfer.
- No new credentials for the consumer to hand over
- Sharing preferences are set inside Cash App
- The lender reaches the score through a platform it is already connected to
- The FCRA framework governs how the data moves
What the Borrow population shows
The published figures cover the app's own lending product. Seven active users in ten there have a FICO score below 580, a threshold that puts them outside conventional credit in most US grids. On that population, Block reports approving 38% more customers at a constant loss rate. The measure holds for that product and that population, and nothing indicates it carries over to an auto portfolio or a tenancy file.
Juan Hernandez, head of credit and underwriting at Block, frames the deal around the use of one's own financial record: “At Block, we believe people should be able to use their own financial history to unlock opportunity, on their terms.” Both companies say they will set out the detail at the Cash Flow Intelligence Summit in New York on 10 September 2026.