Mark Cuban-Backed Startup Lets ‘Low FICO’ People Tap Used Car Equity – Even If Not Paid Off – For 30% APR

While Mark Cuban may be a ‘benevolent pill merchant’ – providing low-income Americans with cheap prescription drugs, the billionaire just helped raise $50 million for a Series B round in a Dallas-based financial technology firm that lets people with terrible credit scores tap into the equity in their depreciating used cars at a 30% interest rate – even if it’s not paid off – in which case the entire auto loan is transferred). 

The startup, Yendo Inc., makes it even easier to squeeze blood from that stone. After signing up, the company issues the borrower a credit card – which incurs an additional 3% fee if used at an ATM to pull cash out. 

[Yendo] offers credit cards backed by vehicle equity to help customers get access to credit who may not be able to otherwise due to low FICO scores. The credit card functions like a normal card. Instead of a cash deposit, it’s secured by the value of a person’s car. -Dallas Business Journal

In addition to Cuban – an early investor in the company, Yendo received funding from Spice Expeditions, Autotech Ventures, FPV Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners and Clocktower Technology Ventures. As Dallas Business Journal notes, Spice Expeditions founder Nick Huber will join Yendo’s board, along with Lyft co-founder Logan Green. 

Founded in 2021, the company will use the funding to build an AI-powered digital bank that will decrease onboarding and operating costs – allowing them to focus on “opening doors for underserved Americans.” The company says that there’s more than $4 trillion in “untapped assets held by nonprime Americans.

Last May, the company raised $165 million in new capital – much if it debt, to increase lending through its asset-backed credit cards. Read more about their history here.

Also – for some reason all of Yendo’s advertising shows black people using their lending: 

Mela from Phoenix, AZ “hardly had to leave the couch” to tap into her car’s equity. And apparently one of the highest interest rates on the planet “worked great” for her budget. 

So, basically targeting the people screwed over in the Tricolor collapse. 

h/t Capital.news