Challenging the dominance of credit score incumbents like Equifax and Credit Karma, a California tech entrepreneur, Chad Swensen, has developed NEFT, which offers consumers a way to get a look at their credit ratings without it having a negative effect, our Kevin Dugan reports.

NEFT, short for New England Funding Technologies, just scored $10 million in Series A funding and Swensen is in discussions with banks to include his technology in mobile banking apps.

Swensen, who surfs in his spare time, tells On the Money he’s discussing partnerships with banks to get around the credit reference companies. The discussions are aimed at avoiding the “hard pull” lender inquiries that can reduce consumer credit scores.

“Because we’re working directly with the bank, we can do a soft pull and know where you’re at,” Swensen said.