Kunal Shah Says You Need A Credit Score Of 750+ To Work At CRED

It has come out that only top-notch skills or experience do not ensure a job at Kunal Shah’s fintech firm CRED. The applicant will also need a credit score of over 750.

"The intent is simple. If you are building products that are going to drive responsible financial behaviour, we have to live it first...We can't be driving this when we ourselves don't live up to this promise," Shah said during a company event on February 25.

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Kunal Shah elaborates on the 'simple' intent

"I would love to make (the threshold) to 800, but a lot of people are starting their careers early on. They cannot achieve 800 - they need credit age to be able to achieve that. But 750 is something that we want to ensure. And a lot of people who want to join and don't have a score, they have three months to get that done, and we actually help them actively to achieve that," the Bengaluru-based fintech startup founder said.

While the practice is uncommon in India, employers in developed markets, especially those in the fintech industry, perform credit checks on job candidates.

"Sometimes, we have discovered people had a loan account that existed in the credit bureau that they did not even apply for. Just disputing that, changing these things, allows them to achieve that,” Kunal Shah elaborated.

Cred's product head, Akshay Aedula, shared that a low credit score had almost cost him this job six years ago. He remarked that 79 per cent of the Indians have faced consequences due to a low credit score as they "don't understand the system that controls their future.”

As part of the Svalbard release, CRED users can also pledge their mutual fund investments to secure digital credit lines at interest rates starting at 8.99 per cent.

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