How Petal founder Andrew Endicott proved alternative credit works, and what he's betting on next

16/07/2025 26 min
How Petal founder Andrew Endicott proved alternative credit works, and what he's betting on next

Listen "How Petal founder Andrew Endicott proved alternative credit works, and what he's betting on next"

Episode Synopsis

The credit industry is shifting how it evaluates borrowers. Traditional credit scoring has left over a billion people without access to financial services, but lenders are increasingly turning to alternative data—bank transactions, spending patterns, real-time financial behavior—to make more informed decisions about creditworthiness.

Andrew Endicott has been at the center of this shift. As co-founder of Petal, he pioneered what they called “cash flow underwriting”—using real-time bank data alongside traditional credit reports to approve people for credit cards who would otherwise be turned away. The approach worked: Petal raised nearly $1 billion, proving that alternative underwriting isn’t just better for consumers—it’s good business.

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