STILT (YC W16) Helps Expats in the U.S. Get Low-Interest Loans

by Y Combinator2/25/2016

Around 4.5 million expats from all over the world are in U.S. on long term visas. About a million of these are
students who spend $30 billion on
education in the U.S. every year — and may need student loans.

However, many do not have credit scores and thus have no access to credit-based services such as loans, credit cards, and post-paid phones. Many of these people have no other option but to borrow money from family members, acquaintances, or friends, often at sky-high interest rates.

STILT is a company launching out of our Winter 2016 class that provides a better solution. STILT provides loans of up to $25,000 to foreign nationals in the U.S. at better rates than existing options, and without needing a cosigner.

VentureBeat’s Ken Yeung wrote about STILT in an article published recently:

“But in lieu of the credit history the average U.S. citizen has, the
company considers a person’s job history, college transcript, visa
status, social media profiles, and bank accounts to determine someone’s
creditworthiness. All of this information is entered into Stilt’s
algorithm, which will assess whether money should be lent out.

The company also takes into account why you want the loan, such as
paying rent, school tuition, repayment of previous loans (some
international students want to get rid of their large debts back home),
relocation assistance, and more.”

Read the full story in VentureBeat here.

Author

  • Y Combinator

    Y Combinator created a new model for funding early stage startups. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200). The startups move to Silicon