ClearScore taps Open Banking to combine credit ratings with financial data

Source: ClearScore

ClearScore today marked its third anniversary by announcing it has exceeded 7m users globally and unveiling ‘OneScore’ - a world-first service that will transform the way consumers view, and take control of, their financial health.

OneScore uses multiple datasets to give people the clearest, most accurate and most complete view of their financial wellbeing ever. It is the first time that people will be able to combine their historical credit report data with the rich data revealed by their current accounts.

Through the UK’s largest Open Banking1 integration (up to 7 million people), a user will be able to see an analysis of their current account spending patterns and behaviour. OneScore also factors in data relating to debt, assets, savings and protection.

This is used to build a complete picture of their financial situation and behaviour, which is presented back to the user through a beautiful interface, based around a flower, with petals representing different aspects of their financial life. Users are given a brand-new, unique financial health score (between 0 and 1000), so they can better understand their complete financial position.

Users can then choose to follow simple recommendations to ensure they enhance their financial wellbeing and hit their financial goals. For example, taking a free personalised financial Coaching programme through ClearScore, or switching to a better mortgage, loan or credit card deal.

The announcement of OneScore follows FCA data2 which showed 24% of UK adults have little or no confidence in managing their money and 26 million people currently show one or more characteristics of potential financial vulnerability.

Justin Basini, CEO and Co-founder of ClearScore, said, “Credit scores are really useful but only reflect a small part of your financial life. Our ambition has always been to go so much further. OneScore brings together your financial past and present in one place to give you the opportunity to create a better financial future. This will be transformative for millions of people, helping them gain control of their money and access credit products more cost effectively.

“People like tracking, but don’t like most trackers. That’s why we’ve applied our fanatical focus on design and user experience to create the most engaging view of your finances ever. Months of testing, with hundreds of users, has produced an easier, calmer, more beautiful experience unlike anything anyone has ever used before. This matters: the more engaged users are, the more likely they are to learn more about their finances, the more in control they feel, the better the decisions they can make.”

Imran Gulamhuseinwala, Trustee of the government’s Open Banking Implementation Entity, said, “I applaud all applications of Open Banking which put the user in control of their data, making it easier to make more of your money. I very much hope the excellent work on OneScore will inspire other FinTechs to also innovate and make Open Banking an industry success.”

OneScore will be available to everyone, for free, from Spring 2019.

ClearScore also announced today:

• 2.4 million ClearScore users have improved their credit score in the first half of 2018 alone.
• 1.5 million users have participated in a ClearScore Coaching programme since its 2017 launch
• ClearScore is launching in India in August, and will launch in Australia later this year, following the success of its South Africa launch, where ClearScore already has more than 500,000 users
• It will hire 150 new staff across the next 12 months, adding to its existing 170-strong team

Basini concludes, “Our vision has always been to help everyone, no matter what their circumstances, achieve greater financial wellbeing. We’re well on our way to achieving that vision and the work we’ve presented today will accelerate our progress still further.”

Comments: (0)