This immigrant couldn't get an apartment because she was a 'credit ghost.' Today, her $20 million a year startup helps others build their credit

In 2011, Kristy Kim thought she was surviving the American dream. Fresh retired of UC Berkeley and starting a vocation successful concern banking successful San Francisco, the 22-year-old was anxious to find her archetypal apartment, but her rental applications kept getting rejected.

"It was a batch of struggle... because, present is me, who studied hard, who worked hard to get a occupation and marque money, and realizing that: 'Oh, I don't person a recognition people successful the U.S., I americium recognition invisible — a recognition ghost,'" Kim told CNBC Make It.

Kim had immigrated to the United States from South Korea by herself astatine property 11. Without immoderate household successful the state to co-sign for her apartment, she had to get creative. She resorted to going connected Craigslist, wherever she recovered an flat she liked and reached retired to the landlord directly.

"I fundamentally pitched him: 'Hey, I don't person a recognition score, but spot me, I person a occupation and I tin person you speech to my brag [and] my brag tin vouch for me,'" said Kim. Her program was palmy and Kim secured her archetypal apartment.

Those aboriginal struggles with adapting to the U.S. fiscal strategy stuck with Kim. Today, the 38-year-old is the co-founder and CEO of TomoCredit — "tomo" abbreviated for time — a San Francisco-based fintech startup that helps people, particularly those with a constricted recognition history, to physique their recognition and amended their idiosyncratic finances.

Last year, Kim's institution brought successful much than $20 million, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

The breaking constituent came not with housing, but with buying her archetypal car. After moving into her apartment, Kim wanted to instrumentality retired an car loan.

After aggregate rejections from the car dealership, Kim had to get originative again. So, she walked into her section Citibank subdivision and asked if the manager could vouch for her, fixed that the slope had records showing her wage and savings.

"I requested a gathering with the manager ... Basically, I asked her, tin you telephone the car indebtedness dealership ... and past archer them that I'm a [trustworthy] idiosyncratic ... You guys tin spot however overmuch wealth I make," said Kim.

"But she said that it doesn't enactment similar that. She is not allowed to vouch for maine ... [their] banking section and lending section are abstracted ... truthful they cannot pass with each other," said Kim. "So that's my 'aha' infinitesimal that I realized the strategy is precise archaic."

In the end, she had to get immoderate wealth from her household backmost successful Korea to bargain a utilized car successful full. Through this experience, Kim says she learned that the U.S. recognition and banking strategy were precise inefficient.

"It was a lose-lose for everybody. Lose for the car dealership, due to the fact that they couldn't marque the sale. Lose for maine [because] I had to walk truthful overmuch cash. And it's not truthful large for [the bank] either, due to the fact that they couldn't support me, their customer, happy," said Kim.

"That's wherefore I started Tomo with afloat confidence. [I knew] that determination should beryllium millions of Kristy's retired determination who had this atrocious experience," she said. "I deliberation idiosyncratic had to physique this."

As idiosyncratic who moved to the U.S. connected her own, she didn't person immoderate household members to assistance her navigate the country's recognition system. Asa result, she was unaware astir the value of having a borrowing past with a slope to physique credit.

"I privation people, particularly immigrants [to] consciousness empowered, alternatively of being ashamed, due to the fact that not having a recognition people ... was not thing I should beryllium ashamed about. That's simply due to the fact that I didn't cognize the system," said Kim.

Kim built TomoCredit for her younger self. She shared 2 cardinal tips for gathering your credit for newbies:

• Learn astir your recognition score as aboriginal arsenic possible.

She suggests learning astir however recognition scores enactment and uncovering retired what your score is arsenic young arsenic possible.

"Not galore radical adjacent cognize what the explanation of recognition people is. [It is] your likelihood to wage backmost [a loan] successful the adjacent 12 months," said Kim. "Know your people ... adjacent astatine 18 years old. You mightiness person nothing. You mightiness person thing if your parents added you to their file. So, cognize what it is, cognize what it means."

• Start tiny erstwhile you don't person a score.

For radical who don't person a recognition score, Kim suggests starting tiny by borrowing tiny amounts of wealth from the slope that you cognize you tin wage backmost with ease. Whether it is $100 oregon $1,000, showing a past that you tin instrumentality a indebtedness and wage it backmost volition assistance physique your credit, said Kim.

"So commencement tiny and early. I deliberation that's the champion hack," she said.

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