A Passion for Giving People a Shot at the American Dream

How One Auburn NVA Company Aims to Drive Creditworthiness for New U.S. Arrivals  

Zakariya Veasy, a senior in Computer Software Engineering at Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, is passionate about solving a critical challenge facing new arrivals to America coming from countries with less-than-widespread availability of traditional financial services. Zak founded OMNIS to develop secure, easy-to-use solutions for those coming to the U.S. who often face significant obstacles in attempting to establish credit once they get here.  

OMNIS is a crowdsourced social media platform that enables individuals to borrow money through family- and personal community-based short-term micro-loans that not only provide much-needed financial support but also help them build their credit profiles here in their new homeland. The record of borrowing and repayments these individuals establish through the OMNIS platform translate into real-world evidence of their creditworthiness, which they can use to qualify for checking accounts, loans, credit cards and a host of essential financial services from banks, credit unions and other financial institutions here in the U.S. 

“We all know how hard it is to get credit when you have no history of borrowing – it’s the Catch-22 of the financial industry,” notes Zak, “even for those born here. Imagine how difficult it is for new arrivals to borrow money on favorable terms when they don’t have a history of borrowing and making timely payments in this country.” 

According to Zak, the unique financial needs of those new to the U.S. are typically ignored or – even worse, marginalized – by U.S. banks, driving them into the throes of predatory lenders. “The unbanked and underbanked are far too often forced to turn to high-interest payday lenders, pawn shops or other sky-high interest options in an attempt to stay financially solvent. With effective interest rates as high as 400%, the negative impact these financial traps have on immigrants only adds to their already precarious financial situation.” 

With OMNIS, underserved and overlooked demographics are able to build personal community-based credit that can translate into much broader creditworthiness at U.S. financial institutions.

Embracing the American Dream

Growing up, Zak’s father was a diplomat, so he never really lived in the U.S. for very long. From Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa to London, England and Tijuana, Mexico, Zak says his upbringing gave him a up-close-and-personal perspective on the challenges the underbanked face, particularly in the U.S.   

“It was in Tijuana, Mexico where the need for OMNIS became clear to me. I would see people go from Tijuana to San Diego every morning and return to Mexico that same night, bringing back the dollars they’ve earned. I wondered why they don’t simply open an account in the U.S., where they could easily send that money to their families without crossing the border every day. I soon discovered just how hard it is for immigrants to enter the U.S. financial services market, making it virtually impossible for them to fully participate in our economy and realize all the benefits of the American Dream.” 

Zak’s current line of work – he’s a banking IT consultant at First Independence Bank, one of the largest minority-owned banks in the U.S. – takes him all over the world, offering him the opportunity to meet a wide variety of people. One person he encountered was Paulina, an immigrant from Argentina who came to the U.S. in search of the American Dream – ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ – something not readily available to her in her original homeland. 

 “Paulina immigrates to Florida, where she quickly gets a job while living in an extended stay motel, which is really expensive compared to what she would pay for an apartment. She gets a bus pass so she can go to and from work. She’s doing everything she can to support herself, but it’s tough getting far enough ahead to save for the first-month’s rent, last-month’s rent and the security deposit required for an apartment.  

 But eventually she does save enough, only to be subjected to the credit check most U.S. landlords require and which she cannot pass – she simply doesn’t have any evidence of verifiable credit here, no credit score whatsoever. From a financial industry perspective, she doesn’t exist.” 

That’s where OMNIS comes in.  

With the help of OMNIS, she starts taking out loans from her friends and family back in Argentina and paying them off according to the terms she and her lenders agree upon up front. She’s building financial credibility – a record of borrowing and repayment – while also becoming financially literate. OMNIS reports the record of the creditworthiness she’s establishing on the OMNIS platform to the banks the company is connected with here in the U.S. – they are, by law, the only entities able to update credit scores. Before too long, she’s able to rent an apartment. 

“She’s building a credit history here, and now she can buy a sofa, some furniture and other household items – she’s on her way. She saves enough for a downpayment and buys a car. Thanks to her new-found, decidedly personal understanding of how the financial industry works here, she applies for a job at a local bank – which she gets. She is now living the American Dream, thanks to OMNIS and, of course, her own dedication and hard work. That’s our mission, our value proposition personified.” 

How Omnis Works

OMNIS is an application software program users install on their phone that enables them to reach out to their contacts for financial assistance via a customized request based on their specific financial needs and their ability to pay it back. OMNIS users can set the amount and terms of a loan being requested, and their contacts or anyone on the platform can agree to participate at whatever level they feel comfortable. They don’t have to take on the total amount being financed – they can loan $50, $100, $1,000, etc., towards the total based on the terms being offered and their individual willingness or ability to lend. 

“The first objective of the two-pronged OMNIS value proposition is providing access to the capital our users need on repayment terms they can meet,” Zak points out. “This ability to structure the amount being requested according to conditions set by the user and agreed-upon by the individual lenders or contributors drives a large part of the value we deliver.” 

Using Paulina as an example, Zak notes that once she enters her story and the amount and terms of the loan being requested, she is able to choose her payment plan – 18 months, 12 months, or six months. “Let’s just say she requests a $2,600 loan at a 5% interest rate to be paid back over 12 months – which she broadcasts either publicly across our network or only to family and friends in her contact list – it’s her choice. Individuals can either loan her all or part of the total amount requested or choose to simply donate money outright to help meet her current financial need. These donated or gifted amounts effectively reduce how much she ends up borrowing. So, what starts out as a request to borrow $2,600 might end up being $2,000 or less, thanks to those who gift vs. lend.” 

Paulina can also entertain offers for loans with different terms than what she’s proposed – including offers to lend to her at a higher interest rate or even at little or no interest – which she can accept or decline. She’ll agree to some or all of the incoming offers, and those transactions she accepts will automatically be put onto her loan balance. She’ll get a notification from OMNIS every time a payment is due and when she makes a payment, helping her keep abreast of her financial condition on a daily basis. She can even choose to make payments earlier than required, if she likes, which improves her credit rating on the OMNIS platform.  

Ready for Prime Time

But access to capital on favorable terms – as important as that is – just starts to scratch the surface of the value provided by the OMNIS platform. The second component of the OMNIS value proposition is the credit being built by the borrower as a result of paying back the loan they take out on a timely basis and according to the terms specified. Users receive a “community credit” rating based on the 100-point OMNIS credit score, which the company reports to the banks it partners with. This history of “non-traditional” loans and regular repayments ends up serving as a borrower’s entry point into the U.S. credit market.   

Zak notes that minority depository institutions and community banks like his employer, First Independence Bank, and Auburn University Credit Union – two of OMNIS’ financial services partners – represent the most promising opportunities for expanding the reach of the OMNIS platform through licensing agreement that bring new customers to the bank or credit union. 

“These community-oriented financial institutions are seeking to help much the same demographic we are targeting – they want them as customers. Like us, they know that research indicates international micro-loans are paid back 98% of the time. And that same data also shows having a personal connection between lending parties further reduces loan default rates below 1%. This is attractive to financial institutions seeking to add qualified customers to their local community banking rolls.” 

The Auburn Family Delivers 

Zak credits the Auburn Family and the New Venture Accelerator for helping him and his team get their new business off the ground. One person whose experience and insight has been particularly instrumental, according to Zak, is Kenneth Kelly, chairman and CEO of First Independence Bank and an alumnus of Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.  

Kelly put Zak in touch with Dimitrius Hutcherson, EVP, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Administrative Officer at First Independence, to help work through all the connectivity requirements necessary to set up a direct link between OMNIS and banks. 

“The level of integration we need to establish between our platform and financial institutions is daunting,” says Zak, “and it can take a long time because of all the regulations involved. But we’re beginning to get there, thanks to Kenneth and his team. We wouldn’t be as far along as we are today without them.” 

Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator also ranks high on Zak’s gratitude list.  

“Drafting, refining, and fleshing out our business plan was unlike anything I’d done before – and that process continues as we evolve our product development strategy and roll-out plans. Our fundraising approach is based initially on seed financing pitch competitions, and nothing compares to having seasoned entrepreneurs like Jennifer Nay and Lou Bifano from the NVA put us through our paces in staged practice sessions and pitch rehearsals.”  

Challenging? Yes. But worth it? Absolutely. 

To learn more about the New Venture Accelerator, visit https://nva.auburn.edu/ or contact Lou Bifano at LouBifano@auburn.edu.  

To connect with Zakariya, please reach out to Auburn Entrepreneur-in-Residence Jennifer Nay at jgn0012@auburn.edu.