There are millions of people in the UK who are struggling to obtain affordable credit or secure a rental property without a credit history.
Big Issue Invest (part of the Big Issue Foundation) has joined up with Experian in an innovative partnership called The Rental Exchange which aims to tackle social, digital and financial exclusion faced by those who cannot access affordable credit due to a lack of a mainstream credit history.
They have worked with registered social housing providers to include payment of rent by tenants in their credit history (without any charges to landlord or tenant). This should help a tenant to build up a credit score, in the same way as people with mortgages are able to do.
Building up a good credit history and score will prove to companies that you’re a reliable potential customer by proving who you are and where you live. And with that information on your credit file it should, according to Experian, be quicker and easier to:
- Open a new bank account
- Get a new credit card
- Have a loan application approved
- Shop online
- Arrange a better utilities tariff, or qualify to pay for gas/electricity via a non-prepay tariff
- Receive better mobile phone rates
- Apply for a mortgage
According to the Big Issue Foundation Newsletter, as at April 2016 over 1 million tenants had signed up to the scheme.
The scheme is available for council or social housing tenants, and also private tenants of landlords who own more than 100 rental properties.
But tenants of smaller or individual private landlords aren’t excluded, and can join up to the scheme via the Credit Ladder platform, again at no cost, with the information then being shared into the Rental Exchange.
Here is more information on the Rental Exchange via Experian’s website.
Don’t forget that I Am The Agent does not charge tenant fees, making it much cheaper for tenants to rent a new place and use their hard-earned money for the important stuff, like the deposit and the move-in drinkies. Check out our rental listings.