TotallyMoney integrates open banking with Bud to unlock customer data for better borrowing

By Joy Dumasia

TotallyMoney, the credit app focused on the ‘under-served’, has chosen Bud‘s open banking platform for a partnership that will help improve access to credit approvals for its customers as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies. 

The partnership will harness live open banking data, bringing it together with a credit report, eligibility and TotallyMoney’s product data. With inflation at its highest level in 30 years, causing millions to eat into their savings and at risk of missing payments, this will help customers understand their affordability position and what makes them attractive to lenders. 

TotallyMoney customers are already able to benefit from its Dynamic Actions, which show them precisely what they can do next to improve their eligibility for credit, intelligently ranked by impact. This means completing the actions at the top of the list will be the fastest way to improve the credit offers. Now, Open Banking data will supercharge this personalisation with better insights and analysis, showing them what might be holding them back from receiving better offers. 

Alastair Douglas, CEO of TotallyMoney, said: “We’re at a really exciting tipping point. Too often in the credit market, data works against people, so they are matched with the wrong products or declined altogether. Open banking is a huge opportunity, and our partnership will bring this data into the lending ecosystem, enabling deeper insights for customers into their financial position and enabling better borrowing habits. This will empower our customers to step from ‘just about managing’ to moving their finances forward.” 

Ed Maslaveckas, CEO of Bud, said: “When we founded Bud, it was because we thought being great with money should be easier than it is. Enabling fair access to credit is a crucial part of that process and is one of the many areas where Open Banking will fundamentally change the way we think about our finances.”

IBS Intelligence reported that TotallyMoney is based in London’s Old Street tech hub; they build a product that helps its customers improve their finances. Liz Afolabi joins TotallyMoney’s management team from Unleashed, where she spent two and a half years building productive, engaged and high-performing teams for the several UK and international businesses.