Experian and Housing Partners, a home swapping provider in the social housing sector, will continue their collaboration in the social housing sector with a few added services.
Housing Partners has extended its support of the Rental Exchange, a partnership between Experian and Big Issue Invest. Inclusion of rental payment data in the Rental Exchange enables social housing tenants with good payment records to build a stronger credit history and helps boost their credit scores in the same way that mortgage-holders currently enjoy.
Experian and Housing Partners which have been working together for a year now will also expand the services provided to social housing landlords. Housing Partners has included Experian’s Tenant Sustainability product in its Insight service, which provides landlords with information about the financial circumstances of their customers.
The Insight service allows providers to offer early support and advice reducing the risk for both customers and landlords. As Welfare Reform changes put more pressure on customers and landlords, the ability to identify and help people in or near, financial hardship is critical. The analysis this initiative provides enables positive assistance at an early stage.
Jonathan Westley, managing director of Experian’s consumer information services, commented:
“Housing Partners is an organisation that is passionate about helping tenants and landlords in the social housing sector and we’re pleased to be able use our expertise and insight to support their ambition to make it easier for those living and working in the sector to achieve their goals.
“Our research shows that over a quarter (28%) of social housing tenants in the UK pay bills in cash rather than direct debit[1], generally as a result of financial exclusion and an inability to build up a good credit history. Thanks to this partnership, Housing Partners will be able to help social housing tenants to build a credit history, while also better helping landlords with their ongoing tenancy management.”
Housing Partners is a software business offering cloud-based solutions to the social housing sector, working with more than 700 social housing landlords. By sharing the rental payment records and history of tenants from landlords who use its Insight service with the Rental Exchange, Housing Partners will help Experian and the Big Issue Invest play a key role in strengthening the credit histories of social housing tenants.
The information on tenants’ payment history submitted into the Rental Exchange is used by credit providers to allow them to factor rental payments into credit decisions. It significantly improves the level of information available to help lenders assess risk and affordability and ultimately opens up access to more affordable credit for tenants by allowing them to more easily demonstrate their creditworthiness.
Housing Partners works with social housing landlords covering 2.9 million homes in the UK to provide tenant mobility and tenant management services. Its Insight service draws on Experian data to allow social housing providers to predictively model rental risk. It provides up-to-date information on household composition, highlights tenants who would benefit from setting up direct debits, and importantly identifies those who are in financial distress in other areas of their lives to allow the right support and assistance to be offered. It then supplies case management tools that help housing officers to proactively support these tenants.
Simon Hollingsworth, Chief Operating Officer of Housing Partners, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Experian’s Rental Exchange. As the leading information services group in the UK, Experian is the perfect partner for Housing Partners’ Insight service. We are confident that this new partnership will bring further value to the service to provide social housing landlords across the country with the insight they need to support their tenants and ultimately develop effective, sustainable tenancies.
“We work closely with over 700 social landlords every day and we know just how significant the impacts of Welfare Reform are and will continue to be for them and their tenants. By working with Experian we hope to play a part in supporting landlords and tenants, in particular those tenants who do fall into financial difficulty, before it becomes too late.”
[1] Social Housing Tenants Study – Research carried out on behalf of Experian by Opinium Research between 22 July and 22 August 2014 among 1,000 social housing tenants via a national telephone survey.
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