EVERYDAY LOANS TEAMS UP WITH EQUIFAX ACCOUNTSCORE AND EVERYTHING FINANCIAL FOR OPEN BANKING PILOT

Everyday Loans has announced the launch of its Open Banking pilot with Equifax Accountscore and Everything Financial.

The pilot is the start of a six-month programme that is designed to introduce all customers to use Open Banking as part of the loan application and underwriting process.

The secure technology has been initially implemented across its central lending department and two branches as a trial to optimise the customer consent process and improve operational efficiencies.

With Open Banking technology, borrowers agree to giving access to their bank statements and transactions during the application process - removing the need to send copies of bank statements to the lender, which improves the efficiency and accuracy with which the loan application can be processed.

Jon Wiggins, CEO of Everyday Loans, explains why the company has embarked on the pilot scheme: “Our strategic view is for Open Banking data to eventually replace manual review of customer bank statements. It does away with those initial customer calls to request bank statements whilst making sure income and expenditure is more visible – further strengthening our already robust creditworthiness and affordability assessments.

“However, it’s important to stress that we remain fully committed to branch-based relationship lending and believe that supplementary Open Banking technology will further improve our customer service levels, as we’ll be able to make even better credit decisions.”

Agnieszka Jouille, Divisional General Manager at Everyday Loans who drove the project, said: “Relying solely on traditional credit scoring methods can provide a limited and inaccurate customer profile. By combining them with what is believed to be the future of fintech, our underwriters can provide financial products that are even more carefully tailored to our customers' needs and lifestyles. Similarly, it more quickly identifies those applicants who will be ineligible for a loan. It’s about ensuring our credit decisioning and underwriting is better than ever.

“All in all, we believe a complete move to Open Banking – whilst remaining loyal to our successful business model of relationship branch-based lending - will provide significant improvements for our customers, as well as for our overall efficiency as a business.”

Everyday Loans has worked with strategic partner Everything Financial to develop and optimise its customer journey, as well as its loan application and underwriting process