Yardi announced the integration of Nova Credit’s cash flow underwriting solution, Cash Atlas, into its ScreeningWorks Pro platform. This enables property managers to approve previously credit-invisible applicants by evaluating their ability to pay through bank data rather than traditional credit data alone.
The collaboration addresses a critical gap, as 49 million Americans, or 19% of the adult population, are either credit invisible or have an insufficient credit history for traditional scoring, according to research conducted by Oliver Wyman. This lack of traditional credit data has historically excluded millions of qualified applicants from rental housing, including gig workers, recent graduates, immigrants and young professionals, who demonstrate financial responsibility through their banking behavior rather than traditional credit products. In contrast, according to the FDIC, 95.5% of U.S. households have bank accounts, providing transaction data that can be used to assess their financial risk more accurately.
This integration marks the first at-scale application of cash flow data in tenant screening, representing a significant shift in how the rental industry evaluates applicants. Over six million units using ScreeningWorks Pro can now transition to more objective and inclusive assessment methods.
“Traditional credit data misses a population of financially responsible renters who simply haven’t used credit products or haven’t used them long enough,” said Patrick Hennessey, vice president at Yardi. “Cash flow data provides a full financial picture, which is more predictive of their ability to pay rent on time. This gives our clients the ability to approve more applicants while maintaining rigorous risk assessment standards.”
For property management companies, the integration offers access to real-time financial data that provides more accurate payment prediction than traditional credit data alone; the ability to serve growing renter segments, including gig workers, young professionals and new-to-country residents and connection to 49 million credit-invisible Americans, reducing vacancy rates and accelerating unit fills.
For rental applicants, the benefits include fair assessments based on actual ability to pay rent through verified and up-to-date bank data, not historic credit history and expanded opportunities for responsible renters who are building credit.
“We’re helping property managers discover qualified renters within their existing applicant pool — renters they previously would have missed based on traditional credit data,” said Akaash Gupta, head of tenant screening partnerships at Nova Credit. “This is a competitive advantage in any rental market and offers a fairer view of what it means to be a ‘qualified’ applicant.”
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