Credit checker ClearScore tops ten million customers

By Roger Baird on Monday 15 July 2019

Digital Banking

The London-based fintech plans a number of new product launches over the coming months.

Credit checker ClearScore tops ten million customers
Image source: Company supplied

ClearScore said it has topped 10 million users since the credit checking service was founded four years ago.

The fintech start up said it is five times bigger than digital bank Monzo, has twice as many users as money transfer service TransferWise.

The London-based firm, with over 250 staff in offices in South Africa and Mumbai, offers free credit scores and reports to consumers, as well as selling other financial products.

It plans to introduce a number of new features over the coming months.

 

New products

The group said it will launch Resolve in October, a product that warns customers when they are about to go into debt. It is also preparing a soft launch of OneScore, which helps consumers who want to buy a home understand how they should change and improve their financial position.

The business, founded in 2015, added over the last 12 months it has cut a range of home and car insurance partnership deals with Confused.com, Legal & General and Aviva.

Co-founder and chief executive Justin Basini (pictured) said: “When we launched ClearScore four years ago, we always knew free credit scores and reports were just the beginning.”

He added that “by working collaboratively have we been able to develop the exciting new products and innovations that are helping people improve their finances”.

In February, Experian, the world’s biggest credit data firm, abandoned its agreed £275m deal to buy ClearScore, after Britain’s competition watchdog indicated that it may block the deal.   

 

Abandoned merger

The Competition and Markets Authority was concerned that FTSE 100 business Experian and ClearScore were the two top credit-checking firms in Britain, and that a merger would stifle competition.

The move came as a blow to ClearScore’s main backers fintech investor UK-based Blenheim Chalcot and US-based QED Investment.

 

 

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