Financial technology maven Angel Rich became the first Black American to land an institutional partnership with one of the three major credit bureaus with the launch of the fintech app CreditRich with Experian this month.
As one of the most innovative micro-investing apps on the market, CreditRich has been built to provide an easy-to-use, cost-effective platform for users to wrangle spare change to pay their bills and improve their credit score quickly in real-time.
"I myself graduated college with over a hundred thousand dollars in debt, and I understand people's pain," Rich, a Hampton University graduate, told Forbes.
Similar to the popular investment app Robinhood which uses spare change to buy stocks, CreditRich empowers its community to pay bills with spare change. Ultimately, the app seeks to help millennials improve their credit score as they advance in the workforce.
“It makes sense to put financial literacy, intelligent bill pay, and credit management together on a smartphone to help people increase their credit scores faster and easier,” Rich shared in a statement, according to Black Enterprise. “I don’t want people to experience the same hurdles I did after graduating from college with $180,000 of debt.”
With a proprietary algorithm, similar to what is used by search engines to sift through countless information instantly, the CreditRich app works to help users improve their long-term financial outlook and build upon their “credit intelligence.” The app prioritizes bill payments to ensure users obtain a perfect record in the payment history category of credit score reports. It is also able to incorporate past behavior to forecast credit decisions. These insights can be used to inform the CreditRich community with detailed analytics about how to improve one’s financial health, Black Enterprise reports
Currently, the app is open to consumers in the U.S. market on Google Play.
With income inequality at its highest in 50 years, according to a report from the Pew Research Center, the effects of the current coronavirus pandemic stand to exacerbate existing financial gaps.
Rich, who is also the founder of the STEM-focused organization Black Tech Matters, said it's vital that companies view supporting employees with wealth management as important as they do in healthcare. She has aligned herself with major domestic employers to incorporate wellness initiatives, according to Forbes.
As Black Enterprise reports, Rich also founded a credit-based game called CreditStacker that teaches users how to manage and interpret their credit reports. She said she always wanted to build a company focused on helping young people and “anyone who has a dime in their pocket” as the road to financial freedom starts with having “financial literacy.”
Additionally, the HBCU alum has teamed up with popular singer and actress Naturi Naughton. Best known for her character Tasha in the Starz drama series Power, Naughton joined the team as the chief branding officer, per Black Enterprise.
“Having credit is real power,” Naughton said in a statement. "I’m elated to join the team because I believe CreditRich is going to change the game! I was a late bloomer when it came to credit building & financial literacy, but now I see that one’s credit score can be a determining factor in his/her future. Our time is now!”
