RateSetter partners with Experian to boost business credit assessment
RATESETTER has teamed up with Experian to boost its credit decision-making process as it expands its commercial finance division.
The peer-to-peer lender, which recently gained full authorisation from the City regulator, said that the tie-up “will ensure that RateSetter continues to deliver an excellent speed of service while maintaining a rigorous approach to assessing creditworthiness”.
Under the partnership, Experian is providing credit reference data and analytical services to RateSetter. This helps the ‘big three’ platform to assess the potential credit risk of business applicants by obtaining a detailed breakdown of their payment performance history and their ability to repay finance.
This has enabled the P2P lender to increase the number of business loan applications it processes each month from 150 to more than 600.
Read more: RateSetter: SMEs are ignoring their credit score
The firm has already used Experian’s services as part of the credit assessment process to provide finance to Oxfordshire-based marketing agency Purple Frog earlier this year.
RateSetter, which launched in 2010, originates consumer, business and property loans. Around one third of its active loans are to businesses, with a maximum loan size of £750,000 and a current average loan size of £70,000.
“Speed and accuracy are right at the heart of what we do – when a business approaches RateSetter for finance, they want an answer quickly so they can put their business plans in place,” said Paul Marston, RateSetter’s managing director for commercial finance.
“Working with Experian means that we have been able to greatly increase the number of applications that we can process each week without compromising on our credit processes nor our quality requirements.”
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“Looking at the increase in applications RateSetter has been able to process over a short period of time, and the role Experian has played in helping them, is particularly satisfying when you remember it’s helping small businesses to grow,” said Max Firth, managing director of business information services at Experian.
“It’s vital that smaller enterprises have as many routes to funding as possible, and our work with RateSetter broadens their options.”