Open banking platform Tink is rolling out its Expense Check product to provide lending firms a seamless and simplified approach to affordability verification.
Powered by open banking tech, Expense Check looks to provide real-time data for a quicker, accurate and reliable customer affordability assessment, accurately identifying an applicant’s income and expenditure in minutes.
Tink’s latest offering links bank accounts which in turn allows lending companies a foresight of up-to-date verified view of fixed and discretionary consumer spending.
“Having an up-to-date, holistic picture of someone’s financial situation is vital when it comes to making an accurate risk assessment,” said Tasha Chouhan, UK & IE Banking Lead at Tink.
“Not only does Expense Check streamline the way lenders process data, it also heightens user experience, with applicants benefiting from a simple, automated application process that doesn’t require any paperwork – and brings near-instant results.”
During a time of economic turbulence against the backdrop of surging gas prices, Tink is banking on Expense Check to become a vital tool for lenders pertaining to accessing real-time insight into applicant’s affordability limits on costs such as housing, insurance, utilities and transportation.
By handing lending firms a more accurate view of an applicant’s outgoings it can help increase finance for those who are struggling during the cost-of-living crisis, particularly when it comes to customers displaying their creditworthiness through more traditional checks.
According to a Commons Parliament report, it indicates that CPI has increased by 10.1% as of July 2022. This is a startling rise in figures as CPI had not risen above 3.5% in the last six years.
Research also found that gas prices and electric prices increased 96% and 54% respectively from July 2021 to this year, a spike that has been central to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis which according to financial experts, is expected to worsen.
Chouhan added: “At the same time, because access to data enables lenders to make more accurate affordability decisions, it can help to make financial services more accessible, particularly for those with fluctuating incomes or thin credit history.”
Expense Check will initially launch in the Nordic region and the UK, as Tink eyes a broader European roll-out in the future.
