creditworthiness
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Latest property news
Tenant creditworthiness platform CreditLadder passes 1,000-branch mark
Rental payment recognition platform CreditLadder says it now has over 1,000 letting agent branches who have tenants on the service, making it the most widely available in the UK’s rapidly growing market for creditworthiness improvement, it claims. Started up in 2016 and based in London, until recently CreditLadder was alone in the private rented sector but it’s been joined by several competitors since after, in December 2017, HM Treasury announced a £2 million Rent Recognition Challenge to help kickstart innovation within the creditworthiness sector. These include Bud, Canopy, MoveMe and RentalStep, all of which are now involved in a feisty battle for market share, and a slice of the £2 million government funding. As The Negotiator reported last month, Canopy recently signed a deal with the John Lewis Partnership to help its employees improve their credit scores. Rent default Many of these services, including CreditLadder, claim their service helps letting agents differentiate themselves in crowded rental markets, enables agents to offer landlords a ‘value add’ to their service, and that tenants using them are less likely to default on their rent. This helps agents and landlords attract more reliable renters, it is claimed. “We’ve always believed good behaviour should…
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Latest property news
Hybrid letting agency claims tenant creditworthiness ‘first’ after deal with Experian
Hybrid lettings agency No Agent is to begin reporting its tenant’s payment histories to partner credit reference agency Experian, and is claiming to be the first agent with national reach to do so. The London-based online hybrid agency says it wants to help the tenants who live in the properties it manages to improve their chances of getting on the property ladder and create a level playing credit score playing field for both tenants and home owners. No Agent will be reporting its tenants ‘one-time’ rent payment though Experian’s Rental Exchange initiative, which enables larger agents, landlords and social housing providers to record tenants’ payments in large volumes. “Rent is usually the largest regular payment in a household and should be the main indicator of creditworthiness,” says No Agent CEO Calum Brannan (pictured, left). “Yet tenants paying rent regularly don’t see this reflected on their credit scores in the same way homeowners do with their mortgage payments. “It’s making it even harder for them to get on the ladder and it’s simply not fair. So we are partnering with Experian to change things for Generation Rent.” Experian’s Rental Exchange system doesn’t require the permission of landlords to pass on their…
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Latest property news
Bird’s bill to make rental payments part of tenants’ credit histories
Big Issue founder Lord Bird’s Private Member’s Bill to compel lenders to take council tax and rental payments into account when making lending decisions has passed its second hurdle within the House of Lords. The Creditworthiness Assessment Bill will now proceed to the committee stage for further scrutiny, although the government has indicated it does not think adding additional regulatory burdens on lenders is a good idea. Lord Bird is seeking to compel financial regulator the FCA to force lenders to take both rental payments and council tax payment histories into account when calculating credit worthiness. Supported during the reading by several heavyweights, the Bill received considerable support following opening remarks by Lord Bird. During it he made an impassioned speech for the aims of the bill, which are to lower the costs and barriers to credit faced by many of the UK’s tenants and make tenants as ‘bankable’ as mortgage holders in lenders’ eyes. “The Creditworthiness Assessment Bill is an attempt to change the way the credit agencies look at this social morass, this social gap, this representation almost of a class line that is drawn between those who are in luck and those who are not in luck,”…
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Latest property news
Mandatory adding of rental payments to credit scores takes a step further towards reality
The mandatory adding of tenants’ rental payments to their credit histories took a step further today. A Private Members bill introduced by House of Lords cross-bencher Lord Bird (pictured, right), who founded the Big Issue magazine and homelessness charity, is to get its second reading on 24th November, it has been announced. His Creditworthiness Assessment Bill – if it becomes law – will require mortgage lenders to take into a tenant’s rental and council tax payment histories into account when calculating credit scores. Credit score rise Lord Bird is not alone in his endeavours. An e-petition signed by over 147,000 people was discussed last month in Westminster Hall and addressed by several key MPs including Economic Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Barclay and Labour spokesperson Jonathan Reynolds. He said 80% of tenants who had already signed up to one of the services that reports rental payments to the credit agencies saw their credit score rise. “Crucially, it has added a digital footprint, which is so important these days, for many people who simply did not have one before,” he said. Also, the Financial Conduct Authority has only just finished a consultation on assessing creditworthiness, and is due to issue a…
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