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Special Reports
Nonprime Lending
PRBC Completes Equity Funding Round
Adds Stone As CEO.
By Bonnie Sinnock
Pay Rent Build Credit, also known as PRBC, has completed a round of equity funding
with a group of investors that included Total Technology Ventures, Omidyar Network, ACCION International and The
Center for Financial Services Innovation.
The alternative credit bureau company also has named Corey Stone as chief executive officer. Founder Michael Nathans
will continue as chairman. "We are pleased that our investors have recognized PRBC's potential," said
Mr. Nathans, in a company press release. "As more and more lenders understand the usefulness of alternative
credit data, we believe that PRBC, as a pioneer in setting standards for reliability and accuracy, and building
predictive models of loan performance, is positioned to become the country's foremost alternative data credit bureau.
Under Corey's leadership, we look forward to better serving the growing number of lenders who are underwriting
mortgages and other loans using PRBC data."
Mr. Stone - formerly vice president of business development at CheckFree and executive vice president of American
Payment Systems - told this publication his joining the company was contingent on raising the financing. "We
create credit reports [based on atypical information such as rental or utility payment histories] that fit the
established government-sponsored enterprise guidelines for nontraditional credit reports," Mr. Stone said.
He said these reports are delivered electronically, a step forward in the nontraditional credit area, which "used
to be synonymous with manual underwriting."
The new CEO said the company provides a "streamlined process" when it comes to qualifying borrowers and
makes it easy for borrowers, once qualified, to be "requalified" quickly through a permanent file held
in the company's repository.
Mr. Stone joined CheckFree in 2004 when it acquired American Payment Systems, which at that point was the country's
largest processor of in-person bill payments for telephone and utility customers. He will be based in PRBC's new
executive office in New Haven, Conn.
PRBC delivers credit reports and scores based on consumers' patterns of recurring payments for rent, phone, utilities
and other non-credit payments, offering lenders a method of evaluating the creditworthiness of the 50 million U.S.
consumers about whom too little is known to generate a Fair Isaac & Co. credit score or other common credit
assessment.
There is no charge to consumers enrolling in the service.
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