The CEO of the hottest fintech startup talks expansion plans, the checking account, and Goldman Sachs
"We ignore FICO as an input because it's just not meaningful," he told Business Insider.
Things like spending patterns and career prospects are much more meaningful to Cagney - and to SoFi, which recently hauled in $1 billion, making its Series E investment round the biggest fintech fundraising deal ever.
The company has amassed a reported valuation in excess of $4 billion and, recently, cracked the $5 billion mark for total loans originated across student loan and mortgage refinancings and personal loans.
For SoFi's - and Cagney's - next act, the company will take on mortgage lenders. It's an industry that has seen increased challenges to traditional loan providers like Wells Fargo in recent years. He even thinks SoFi could one day take on fintech's biggest challenge, and one of Wall Street's biggest businesses: the checking account.
He's not stopping there. SoFi could yet take on wealth management, which has attracted numerous startups, as Cagney tries to take his company and the budding online banking industry into the stratosphere. He thinks SoFi has the potential to become a $30 billion firm.
Business Insider recently caught up with Cagney, who sounded off on everything from interest rates to key court decisions. Following are excerpts from that conversation.