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Nigerian immigrants begin access to credit facilities in U.S.

By Gloria Ehiaghe
17 October 2019   |   3:02 am
Notwithstanding the challenges many businesses face in accessing credit facilities in the United States (U.S.), there is now a higher prospect as credit-worthy Nigerians relocating to the U.S. can now use their international credit history to access such facilities.

Notwithstanding the challenges many businesses face in accessing credit facilities in the United States (U.S.), there is now a higher prospect as credit-worthy Nigerians relocating to the U.S. can now use their international credit history to access such facilities.

Before now, Nigerians relocating to the U.S. had no financial credit records that the financial institutions there could rely on to assess their creditworthiness.

Nigerians, who approached such institutions, would have to show their financial integrity through a third party, mainly U.S. citizens who would stand in as guarantors.

Entrepreneurs, especially those in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), faced a similar challenge accessing credit from Nigerian banks, due to credibility issues of the potential borrowers.

To this end, CRC Credit Bureau has partnered Nova Credit, a US-based credit score firm to extend facility opportunities to access credit.

The new service, known as Nova Connect, accesses individual Nigerian data from CRC Credit Bureau in Nigeria and transmits such credit history data to a U.S. equivalent credit score in a format familiar to American underwriters, who use them to evaluate applications for credit products.

With this new opportunity, migrants from Nigeria do not have to start from scratch, and can start to benefit immediately from the credit history they built in their home country, and from there build a U.S. credit score.

CRC Credit Bureau provides a nationwide repository on credit profiles of corporate entities as well as consumers, thus improving the ability of credit providers and borrowers to make informed lending and borrowing decisions.

The bureau’s database covers the credit industry, which includes commercial banks, non-bank institutions, retailers, utility service providers, and fintech.

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