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Ask HN: API for credit scores

1 points by kilimchoi ↗ HN
I was wondering why this kind of service isn't available yet. Some credit bureaus seem to offer an api but there's no good documentation and it seems to require going through an approval process. Can there be something like Stripe for checking your credit scores? Why doesn't a service like this exist yet?

6 comments

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byoung2
Checking your own score? Or anybody's score?
kilimchoi
Both. But for the latter, I would imagine you have to demonstrate that you're doing it for the right reason such as you're a bank and you want to check if someone has good credit score before lending some money.
davidg11
There are a few apps that do free credit monitoring by doing API requests to the major bureaus on the backend.
kilimchoi
which apps? and is this kinda like stripe where anyone can make an api request to the bureaus?
gregjor
All of the major credit bureaus offer APIs. But you have to get approved (not easy) and pay. Credit information is both confidential and proprietary.
kilimchoi
I wonder how easy or difficult it is for loan lending startups to get access to these APIs and if the developer experience for the api is good enough for them to keep using it.