Former Hapoel Tel Aviv captain and Israel national team player Shimon Gershon has launched Direct Guarantees, a new digital platform whose TV ads are already running. Gershon says he invested about NIS 12 million in the company and owns 100% of it. The service lets apartment renters provide landlords with a guarantee online in about five minutes, without depositing cash, after the company underwrites the tenant and, if criteria are met, issues the guarantee. The company charges the tenant 6.5% of the guarantee each year.
The model differs from WeCheck, which primarily serves landlords. Gershon said Direct Guarantees focuses on tenants and aims to offer an alternative to a security deposit or bank guarantee. He said the company has already signed cooperation agreements with Mivne Real Estate, Rent It and City Boy. The platform is also preparing additional products, including a major partnership with The Phoenix in contents insurance, and it is exploring financing and loan solutions for moving costs.
Direct Guarantees has received approval to operate as a reporting entity in Israel’s credit-data system, after what Gershon described as a strict regulatory process with Bank of Israel. With the customer’s consent, the company can pull a detailed credit report, use an algorithm to underwrite in minutes, and then report the deal into the customer’s credit history. Gershon said serious breaches could affect a renter’s credit score and make future borrowing harder.
He said the service is designed to replace common landlord compromises such as post-dated checks or informal guarantees. On a NIS 15,000 guarantee, he said, the cost is about NIS 81 per month, compared with a bank guarantee that freezes cash and adds bank fees. Gershon said the goal is to reach 10% of Israel’s roughly 900,000 rental units within five years, or about 90,000 active guarantees. The company already covers more than 500 apartments and expects to become profitable at around 1,000 active guarantees. The idea came from a personal rental dispute in which, he said, a landlord confiscated a NIS 30,000 guarantee over damaged grass.
