June 17, 2025
Sanjiv Das, President – Pagaya
FICO Scores Often Mean No. Meet the Scientists Rebooting It To Say Yes, Sanjiv Das – President Pagaya
Listen on:
When it comes to the financial industry the word “NO” seems like their favorite response—many banks have VP’s of No! To a promising borrower who gets denied due to a hard-set credit model, or a working parent who has a steady income but a short credit history, banks are likely to say no to both of their loan requests. One of the ways to resolve this is rebooting how FICO scores work—but good luck getting the big dog banks to learn a new system.
Sanjiv Das, the co-founder and president of Pagaya, is rebooting all of it. They are not changing how FICO scores work, but the loan system as a whole. Pagaya is an AI-powered underwriting platform connecting lending partners, like VISA, Master Card, US Bank, Ally, and SoFI with a network of over 130 institutional investors. Founded in Israel and taken public on the NASDAQ, Pagaya has optimized AI to underwrite “second-look” loans—the kind traditional lenders might decline—by partnering with financial institutions that want to expand credit access without all of risk.
The billion-dollar company has experienced massive growth, evaluated over $2.6T in loan applications and generated $32B in new credit across millions of consumers through point-of-sale, personal, and auto loans. That’s a lot of data! With hundreds of data scientists, they continue to lead the industry, expanding their platform capabilities, that go beyond the old traditional FICA score systems—and they just launched a new $1 billion POS lending program.
Sanjiv explains it all, from their underwriting engine designed to see people not just profiles to the immense power AI has on this industry and why this venture was worth leaving retirement for.
Mind The (Lending) Gaps
To explain a bit more of what Pagaya does, the specialize in “second-look” loans, loans that lenders with often reject based on the hardset rules they have in place. This is one of the main moments were Pagaya makes a difference, they add their AI model directly into a partner banks underwriting systems, where Pagaya can instantly evaluate and approve requests. All the while keeping those loans off the banks’ books. Sanjiv likes to say “the bank kept the customer, but not the asset.”
They can quickly make these approvals as they do not solely rely on FICO scores, they have a decade of real-time data and adaptive intelligence that can make these decisions instantly. There back log of data and experience allows their AI model to manage risk with a great deal of precision.
From Big Banks To Building Something New
For Sanjiv Das, joining Pagaya marked a personal and professional reboot. After decades in leadership at major institutions, Das was drawn by the opportunity to build something from the ground up. “I’d always worked in companies built by someone else 200 years ago,” he reflects. “Now, I’m part of something new—and I get to build it myself.” His excitement is also expressed in the fact that before he joined Pagaya, he had his previous business acquired, and had been retired for almost a year.
Career Lessons And Advice Your Younger Self
Sanjiv has a long history of experience from his time working, so of course we wanted him to reflect on what it means to lead in an era of transformation. His advice to his 22-year-old self? Take more risks earlier. Be ready to reinvent. And his favorite part of the job today? “Building something real—something that can change people’s lives for the better.”
From old-school banking to cutting-edge AI, Sanjiv Das has seen it all. And at Pagaya, he’s proving that you don’t need to demolish a system to reinvent it—you just need the right data, the right technology, and a willingness to lead. It also helps to have the proper wardrobe.
