Since 2016, Marble Financial Inc. CEO Karim Nanji and his team have been helping underserved Canadians become financially fit.
More than 5 million consumers suffer from sub-par credit, chronic debt, and poor spending/money management habits - which hurts their ability to obtain personal loans and mortgages, build savings or achieve their financial goals (and some peace-of-mind.)
But Marble’s mission goes way beyond traditional financial wellness and planning.
The company uses the power of artificial intelligence, data science, and machine learning via its proprietary MyMarble financial wellness platform to analyze a client’s credit and banking data.
Algorithms crunch the numbers and connect the dots to create expert-guided personalized solutions that can improve credit scores, reduce debt, and offer practical steps toward financial wellbeing.
“A significant portion of the consumer base in North America are marginalized, meaning that they cannot walk into a mainstream financial institution and get the services that other people have,” he said, stressing that “Northern Americans need credit to survive.”
The key to improving a client’s financial health means developing prescriptive programs to boost that individual’s credit score because, as Marble puts it, “technology can lead to great credit, and great credit leads to financial success.”
A higher credit score dramatically increases that individual’s chances in both securing a loan and a lower interest rate as well. Without proper/or no credit, at-risk consumers typically turn to high-interest lenders, which do nothing to help their financial situations other than increase their debt loads. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and shutdowns have only made matters worse.
Boosting credit scores
What makes Marble’s technology so unique is that it increases the credit score for a client when it is most needed, such as during a loan or credit card application process.
And by boosting, say, a young single mother’s credit score that is also good for businesses - especially for car dealers and mortgage companies. Not only does the young mom need the loan to buy a car or house but those businesses also want and need to close the deal as well. It’s a win-win.
“We're actually helping rehabilitate those consumers who are walking away unhappy, and helping our partners ultimately make these consumers happy,” said Nanji, noting that satisfied customers typically return to request additional financing or products like insurance.
“We don't just give you your credit score,” he explained. “Our platform uses AI to analyze an electronic copy, for example, of your credit report. And it may say you have a credit score of 700. Great, you're the top 40% of Americans. But did you know you'll have 50 points available today? Our technology will tell you -- you have 50 points available today and you can get those additional 50 points by paying $10 on this date and paying MasterCard $50 on this date, and you can get 10 points here and 20 points here. So, we provide a prescriptive recommendation.”
He added: “We can monetize that customer because throughout all of this, with the consumer's consent, Marble is continuing to collect data on the consumer and then being able to be pre-qualified down the road.”
To build good credit, consumers need to build as well a good credit history, an essential track record showing them faithfully paying their bills on time.
The company recently rolled out its new credit-improvement subscription program called 'Boost' designed to help Canadians who have limited access to credit cards, department store credit cards, and lines of credit that are reported to TransUnion and Equifax (NYSE:EFX) (the overlords of credit scores) and are needed to assess and ascertain a consumers’ monthly credit score.
The Boost program is a 12-month interest-free installment loan that finances and grants the MyMarble client a yearly subscription to MyMarble’s premium service. Here’s the sweet spot: A small monthly installment loan payment of $34.99 is reported to both TransUnion and Equifax (NYSE:EFX) as a new positive tradeline on the client’s credit report, thus laying the foundations for building a positive credit history.
Spreading financial literacy
But Marble does way more than improve credit scores. Financial literacy is a key component of its MyMarble platform.
“Many of our customers don’t have the sufficient knowledge to properly understand some of the complex or even simple data around credit, debt, and spending,” Nanji said. “We have Marble Learn as part of the platform that offers over 15 courses to set the foundation and empower our members to act on the data. This is so they can understand why the recommendations positively impact their financial health and move along their journey quickly and efficiently.”
In addition, for lenders, the company offers Marble Connect API, its grey-labeled platform that provides valuable data insights to lenders about whom to lend to or what kind of products will be most suitable for a borrower.
“This is quite an important aspect to our growth strategy because it means thousands of Canadians will be getting access to Marble at the point of intent when it is most desired and required by the business and customer,” he added.
Looking ahead, Nanji said the company is making plans to enter the massive US market in 2022 as it continues to build partnerships in both countries.
“We're always in the market looking for opportunities of other like-minded companies that it would maybe make sense to kind of be joined at the halfway point in order to further our cause and accelerate our offerings and getting into new verticals and markets,” he said.
Marble intends to expand its sales universe, which includes getting ready to extend its financial wellness platform to the workplace - specifically for the rising cost of employee benefits. As anxiety and depression affect millions of workers who do not come to work, many turn to workplace-funded pharmaceuticals to cope, which is a costly expense for the employer.
The company hopes its MyMarble platform can provide workers with necessary programs and tools to make them feel better and happier about their finances, as well as their jobs.
“All of this is predicated on stress associated with the lack of financial wellness,” Nanji said.
Indeed, in the end, one’s mental state can determine whether one feels financially fit regardless of whether they have good credit, savings, etc.
“It is very much the psyche and feeling comfortable that you can live within your means, and you have a plan for the future, and you have a plan for an emergency,” Nanji added.
Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham