Callcredit brings affordability to one of the UK's largest lenders

The customer

Our client is one of the largest financial institutions in the country, providing mortgages, loans, credit cards and current accounts to over 20 million people. Our relationship began almost a decade ago, growing over time to include every aspect of their business.

An industry in flux

Since the 2008 financial crash, greater measures have been put into place to protect consumers and help lenders mitigate risk. Following the Mortgage Market Review (MMR), stricter affordability checks were imposed on lenders to ensure that they only lend to borrowers who are able to financially sustain the debt. Alongside this, in recent years our client has been focusing on how to make credit applications simpler and more streamlined for borrowers.

This meant there was a great need to automatically and independently verify income data to improve the customer journey and remove reliance on applicant-provided information.

Making the case for change: the TransUnion Affordability Suite

In the interest of safeguarding its customers, our client had to review and refine the affordability assessments already put in place. However, our Affordability Suite, unique within the industry, brought numerous other benefits to the financial institution.

Our automated affordability solution allows the lender to instantly verify the income of prospects applying for a mortgage, with a variety of metrics including:

Debt-to-Income Ratios – the proportion of an individual’s income taken up by both secured and unsecured debt

Affordability Score – predicts the probability of an individual becoming over-indebted then defaulting

Because applicants going through the Affordability Suite receive a decision instantly, not only is the borrowing experience fast and simpler for the customer, it increases conversion rates for our client. And with independent verification of income, our client can guarantee that all of their affordability decisions are accurate, fulfilling their role as a responsible lender.

A solution that impacts every single customer

Since implementing the solution, 100% of the client’s credit applicants now go through our Affordability Screening. The solution is used for front-end risk assessment, policy rules, application scorecards and lending decisions.

The affordability metrics are used to determine whether the lending is affordable for the customer. Crucially, TransUnion’s affordability assessments now form an integral part of the onboarding process for new customers, to ensure responsible lending. They have become a fundamental part of the way the lender does business.

Find out how our affordability solution can make you a better, more responsible lender.