Block, Inc. announced it has provided access to more than $200 billion to customers in global lending across its portfolio of credit products, including Cash App Borrow, Afterpay, and Square Loans.¹
The milestone comes as traditional credit systems face a legitimacy crisis, with nearly 100 million Americans excluded from affordable credit by backward-looking scoring models built on delayed data that no longer reflects how people actually manage their money. „Traditional underwriting, with its incomplete view on real financial behavior, penalizes exactly the customers who demonstrate strong repayment behavior in Block’s ecosystem.” – the company said.
Meanwhile, Gen Z, who is expected to comprise 30% of the workforce by 2030, increasingly rejects traditional credit products, with 48% without credit cards and 68% reporting anxiety from credit card bills.
Redefining Credit Through Near Real-Time Data
Block’s credit infrastructure uses near real-time behavioral data instead of delayed credit bureau reports. For example, Cash App analyzes earning, saving, spending, and repayment patterns across its 58 million monthly actives to generate an internal Cash App Score for each customer. This approach has enabled 38% more Cash App Borrow loan approvals at the same loss rates compared to traditional credit underwriting, demonstrating that our product design coupled with strong underwriting models can drive materially stronger performance. This is all while maintaining industry-leading performance metrics across all lending products.
„The company’s integrated ecosystem creates unique advantages that pure-play credit companies and traditional banks cannot replicate. When customers use Cash App for their paycheck, spending, savings, and investments, Block develops a comprehensive financial picture that enables better underwriting and customer experience than fragmented legacy systems.”- the company explained.
„Traditional lenders use scale to be more selective; we use it to be more inclusive while managing risk responsibly,” said Brian Boates, Risk Lead at Block. „Our near real-time underwriting models don’t just expand access—they create better outcomes for both customers and our business. This isn’t theoretical; we’ve proven it by scaling to $200 billion in lending while maintaining consistent loss rates.”
Proven Performance Across All Products
Block’s $200 billion milestone spans three distinct products, each serving different customer needs:
Cash App Borrow: Short-term loans averaging 21 days, with 97% repayment rates despite 70% of borrowers having FICO scores below 580
Afterpay: Buy now, pay later with 96% of installments paid on time and 98% of purchases incurring no late fees
Square Loans: Small business lending with less than 3% loss rates, with 58% going to women-owned businesses and 34% to minority-owned businesses
Square Financial Services, Inc. (SFS) is Block’s in-house bank and helps provide Block the opportunity to execute on its purpose of economic empowerment. SFS has originated more than $20 billion in loans across Square Loans and Cash App Borrow since the Bank’s inception, supporting both sellers and consumers. As the Bank continues to grow, SFS’s share of total Block lending originations is increasing. In 2025, SFS began originating all Cash App Borrow loans to further expand the Borrow product to customers across the country. This positions Block as one of the most mature technology companies operating a fully integrated in-house bank.
Building Credit Infrastructure for the Future
As Block continues to expand access to credit, the company recently completed a pilot providing select customers visibility into their Cash App Score, a near real-time measure of financial health used for Cash App Borrow eligibility. Via the pilot, customers were able to see what drives their score and take actions to improve it, gaining unprecedented transparency and the ability to unlock more credit through positive financial behaviors.
Internal testing shows Cash App’s underwriting models deliver significantly stronger predictive accuracy than traditional credit scoring across revolving credit and longer-term loans like auto loans, student loans, and mortgages. Based on a recent analysis, Cash App’s models can approve 30% more auto loans at identical loss rates compared to conventional methods.
These results give Block confidence in expanding access within its lending suite and exploring opportunities for the Cash App Score to help customers qualify for external products—auto loans, credit cards, rental applications—through strategic partnerships. „With American household debt reaching $18.59 trillion and credit card balances at historic highs, Block’s transparent, fixed-term credit products provide a responsible alternative to the revolving debt cycle trapping millions of Americans” – the company concluded.
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¹ This figure reflects only the amount customers finance, rather than total merchandise volume often reported in BNPL. Cash App Borrow and Square Loans are issued by Square Financial Services, Inc.
About Cash App
Cash App is the money app. Banking* on Cash App is easy: customers can receive paychecks early with direct deposit, spend money where Visa is accepted with a personalized Cash App Card, and grow their money with a separate savings balance – all without hidden fees. Customers can also create a unique $Cashtag to share with anyone to get paid fast, make purchases with Cash App Pay, trade stocks and buy and sell bitcoin, and pay over time with Cash App Afterpay. Download Cash App for free at cash.app/download.
*Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank.
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