18th March 2022.
We’ve been working with Credit Kudos since 2018 to deliver a more secure and efficient way for customers of banks, building societies and lenders to provide financial information during their income and expenditure (I&E) reviews using Open Banking.
Through this partnership, we’ve developed an offering to ensure a slick Open Banking process – plus integrated a whole host of new features and services – which has enhanced the way banks and building societies collate and hold data about their customers.
Credit Kudos is a challenger credit reference agency and Open Banking provider that is disrupting the market and innovating the traditional credit assessment model. Founded in 2015, Credit Kudos has signed over 100+ clients, and is integrated with some of the largest banks, lenders and brokers in Europe. Credit Kudos most recently won ‘Credit Information Provider of the Year’ in the National Credit Awards 2021, and ‘Best Credit Information Provider’ at the Lending Awards.
Consumer lending is a £28 billion market in the UK, but due to insufficient data, many find it difficult to access affordable credit. Traditional methods of reviewing a borrower’s creditworthiness rely on opaque processes centred on historical repayments, leaving many individuals with thin or no credit history with few or only high cost credit options.
Open Banking data provides lenders with rich insights beyond traditional credit reports, providing a more comprehensive view of a borrower’s creditworthiness and ability to repay.
We use Open Banking to assist bank and building society customers who have fallen into arrears. These individuals are subsequently contacted to determine their financial situations and allow them to consider all available solutions.
This journey provides our clients’ customers with the option of using Open Banking to carry out their I&Es – more than 50% use this, and by doing so agents can then gain even more insight into customers’ spending patterns, including how long their bank accounts have been open and identify whether the customer is vulnerable.
This in-depth analysis of customers’ situations mean agents can determine how best to signpost them to the correct solution, such as repayment arrangement, suitable lending product – or even free debt advice.
Using this technology, a UK T1 bank was able to improve its collections and recoveries process and deliver an enhanced service to customers seeking financial advice. This was a critical component in helping reduce high call volumes being received by the bank’s contact centres during pandemic,
More than 30,000 customers carried out affordability assessments using our digital journey and opted to do this using Open Banking.
“Covid changed the future digital landscape within financial services. Working closely with our clients to understand their new regulatory obligations and what their requirements were, we quickly changed our focus and developed several features designed to help them digitally manage the bow waves of customers requesting and coming to the end of these payment holidays.
“Open Banking has been integral to this – and we’ve enhanced our offering to include features, such as digital triage, chatbot, arrangement proposals to repay arrears and automating requests for future affordability assessments.
“Our work alongside Credit Kudos has helped to limit the impact of the current downturn by building new experiences, helping their customers manage debt, adjust budgets, and make full use of new government initiatives.”
Susan Rann, CEO
“Credit Kudos is obsessed with creating easy-to-use technology for the best customer experiences possible. Open Banking has not only improved the credit underwriting process, but also significantly increased the speed and ease of collections and lending journeys.
“With a lot of strain being put on the financial services industry during the pandemic, it is great to be working with Paylink Solutions and helping people during these testing times.”
Freddy Kelly, CEO
