Exploring Life & Business with Kristy Kim of TomoCredit

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristy Kim.

Hi Kristy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started TomoCredit, in 2019 after experiencing first-hand what it’s like to be a “credit ghost” in the U.S. As a Korean immigrant, I couldn’t have fathomed that in the States, credit, not cash, is king. I was denied 5 times for an auto loan, despite having enough money in the bank to cover the car! People kept saying, “Oh, you need to have a credit score,” and I had no idea what that was, or really understood the implications of what a credit score meant in the American financial system. Here, credit is embedded into basic, everyday living essentials – like renting an apartment, buying a car, and buying a house and I was not prepared for that!

Turns out I wasn’t the only one experiencing this issue – there are 30-40M credit ghosts in the United States, which means people who have cash in the bank but are invisible to lenders, and a lot of that number also includes immigrants.

TomoCredit operates as an AI-powered financial wellness platform that caters to the “credit invisible” or anyone who is getting blocked in life by their credit score. TomoCredit was my way of nodding to people like myself who felt outside of the system and solving this problem for all of us!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Startup life is not smooth – and anyone who tells you that is either lying or doesn’t really have a startup. But building with purpose is incredibly rewarding. Some of the struggles along the way are typical startup growing pains – learning about your customers and working to find the right product for the market. This usually requires many pivots in the early years, and while that can be stressful, speed is a startup’s superpower; what you don’t have in stability or a legacy name is also the same reason you don’t have a lot of people and red tape weighing you down.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about TomoCredit ?
At TomoCredit, we are at the forefront of financial access for all. Through our new AI personal finance advisor, TomoIQ, our mission is to bring financial literacy, awareness, and access to those who have traditionally been left out of the system.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I think people are always surprised to learn that I am, in a lot of ways, TomoCredit’s first customer, because my company’s mission is directly related to the experience I lived as an immigrant. There are so many people who are hard-working, have cash in the bank, but are completely invisible to lenders, but so deserving and credit-worthy.

The “worthiness” theme around credit is also a conversation I’m looking to change, and I think people are surprised to see through our AI personal financial advisor (TomoIQ) that we celebrate individuals wherever they are in their personal finance journey. Part of the reason we built TomoIQ is that we saw people flocking to AI for therapy, because they felt like AI was a safe place to be really, brutally honest in a shame-free environment.

When I saw this, I thought, Where do people feel the most shame? Money. And so we built something that celebrated the financial journey and makes people feel worthy – no matter where on that journey they are.

On a personal note, people always seem surprised to hear that I recently completed my first triathlon. Being active is critical to my overall well-being and helps me pour creative energy into the toughest parts of my business. Owning a startup is an extreme sport, and I keep it moving to stay on top of things!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tomocredit.com
• Instagram: @kickasskristy
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristykim7/
• Twitter: https://x.com/TomoCredit