AltFiScore
Credit Card Decisioning

Rent counts. So does employment. So does saving.

AltFiScore underwrites credit card applications using rent reporting, verified income, and cash flow data — not just bureau history. Approve qualified applicants and set credit limits that grow with consumer health.

POST /v1/decisions/credit-card

271ms

Outcome

Approved

Score

748

Grade

B

Credit limit

17.5% APR · revolving

$5,000

No annual fee · 2% cash back

Alt-data signals

✓ RentTrack: 24 months on-time rent ($1,850/mo)

✓ Plaid: $3,200 stable monthly net cash flow

✓ Argyle: $58K verified income, 18mo employer

✓ CARD Act compliant · ✓ MLA verified · ✓ Schumer box generated
The problem

Credit cards perpetuate the credit-invisible problem they're meant to solve.

A consumer needs credit history to get a card, but needs a card to build credit history. Result: 70M+ Americans stuck in the underbanked bucket, while issuers compete for the same 150M scored prime customers. Rent payments, verified income, and savings discipline — the data that actually predicts card repayment — never enter the underwriting model.

$1,850/mo

Average rent payment by underbanked credit-card applicants — 24 months on time, never reported to any bureau, never counted in any decision.

Modern alt data decisioning

Rent reporting + verified income + cash flow = full underwriting picture.

AltFiScore integrates RentTrack, Plaid, and Argyle to score credit card applicants on the signals that actually predict revolving-credit performance: rent reliability, income stability, and net cash flow. Dynamic credit limits adjust as consumer health grows — automatically.

RentTrack

On-time rent payments

24 months of $1,500–$2,500 on-time rent payments is the closest credit-invisible analog to a mortgage history. Outperforms FICO for credit card repayment for borrowers under 30.

Argyle

Income stability

Verified income from payroll provider, not self-reported. Credit limits sized to actual repayment capacity, not application math.

Plaid

Net monthly cash flow

90-day analysis of money in vs. money out. Identifies applicants with $500–$3,000/mo discretionary cash flow available for revolving payments.

Plaid

Existing card utilization

Real-time across all linked accounts. More accurate than bureau-reported utilization which can be 30-60 days stale.

AltFiScore

MLA compliance check

Automatic Military Lending Act 36% MAPR detection for active-duty service members + dependents. APR capped or product denied automatically.

AltFiScore

Limit recommendation engine

Suggested credit limit based on income + rent + cash flow, capped at issuer's policy max. Grows automatically as consumer demonstrates on-time payments.

Decisioning details

Rate bands and policy thresholds

Configurable rate bands per tenant. Federal compliance caps applied automatically. All policy decisions are versioned, reproducible, and audit-logged.

GradeScore rangeAPR
A+880–10005.0%
A820–87910.5%
B740–81917.5%
C660–73921.0%
D300–65924.0%

Federal compliance caps

  • MLA 36% MAPR cap (military lending) enforced automatically
  • CARD Act compliance: 21+ years OR proof of independent income
  • Reg Z Schumer Box generated for every approval
  • Penalty APR ≤ 29.99% per CARD Act
Integration

One endpoint. JSON in, JSON out.

Idempotent. Versioned. TILA disclosures and FCRA codes built in. Sandbox tenant for testing, production tenant when you're ready.

  • 1Sign up for a sandbox tenant
  • 2POST to /v1/decisions/credit-card with consumer + card product
  • 3AltFiScore pulls RentTrack + Plaid + Argyle data as configured
  • 4Receive approval with limit recommendation + Schumer Box
  • 5Trigger card production using your existing card-issuance partner

POST /v1/decisions/credit-card

curl -X POST 'https://api.altfiscore.com/v1/decisions/credit-card' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer altfi_live_YOUR_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "consumer": { /* PII */ },
    "product": {
      "card_product_id": "cash_back_2pct",
      "requested_limit": 5000
    }
  }'

← Response · 200 OK

{
  "decision_id": "fa72...",
  "status": "complete",
  "outcome": "approved",
  "score_at_decision": 748,
  "risk_grade": "B",
  "approved_limit": "5000.00",
  "recommended_apr": "17.5",
  "card_product_id": "cash_back_2pct",
  "mla_protected": false,
  "schumer_box": {
    "purchase_apr": "17.5%",
    "balance_transfer_apr": "17.5%",
    "cash_advance_apr": "24.99%",
    "annual_fee": "$0",
    "late_payment_fee": "up to $40"
  },
  "evaluation_details": {
    "credit_limit_drivers": {
      "renttrack_24mo_ontime": "+$1500",
      "argyle_income_stability": "+$1000",
      "plaid_low_debt": "+$500",
      "base_limit": "$2000"
    }
  }
}
Compliance

Built for compliance teams.

Every decision is versioned, reproducible, and audit-logged. Adverse action codes follow ECOA Regulation B. Disclosures meet TILA Reg Z.

CARD Act

21+ year age requirement enforced unless independent income verified via Argyle. Penalty APR caps applied automatically.

Reg Z (TILA)

Schumer Box (purchase APR, balance transfer APR, cash advance APR, annual fee, penalty fees) generated for every approval.

Reg B (ECOA)

FCRA-compliant adverse action codes returned in every declined or referred decision. Age, marital status, and similar protected factors strictly excluded from scoring.

MLA

Military Lending Act 36% MAPR cap detected and applied automatically for active-duty service members and dependents.

FCRA

AltFiScore reports are not consumer credit reports under FCRA. Codes returned for downstream FCRA-compliant notice generation.

Reg E

Pre-authorized electronic transfer disclosures for autopay enrollment.

Approve credit cards on the data that actually predicts repayment.

Test sandbox applicants with RentTrack + Plaid + Argyle profiles. See exactly which alt-data signals turn declines into approvals.