Totally Money: Shifting Focuses

In recent months and times, well-known credit eligibility and checker brand and company TotallyMoney have been transforming and adapting their business model and how they work, moving comfortably to the future. TechRound sat down with TotallyMoney to hear more about what they are doing and why they are doing it.

How has the company progressed in the last few years?

We’ve changed the culture and focus of our business quite significantly. A few years ago, TotallyMoney’s main focus was to let customers compare different credit products. This was better for customers than applying for credit products in the dark, but it didn’t go much further in terms of offering customers lifetime value — not until they needed another credit card, at least.

Now, having launched our Free Credit Report, we’re on a mission to improve the credit scores of five million people by 2022.

It’s only been through understanding our customers’ goals, challenges, and frustrations with consumer credit that has let us deliver a truly customer-focused service — one our customers can use on an ongoing basis.

 

We did this by launching a service that makes it as easy as possible for customers to understand their credit position and what it means for them. This isn’t just about giving them a Free Credit Report and score — although, of course we do that. It’s also about creating features and developing our technology to address specific problems they face. Some of these features include:

Borrowing Power: This is the best way to understand how you stack up against the market in terms of what kinds of credit offers you’re eligible for. Our customers want to know what offers they’re eligible for and how good these offers are — which is exactly what Borrowing Power does.

It’s different to a credit score which, although useful, is mostly a simple calculation based on the contents of your credit file and how well you’ve managed credit in the past. Borrowing Power is based on real-world, market-wide lending decisions, as well as your own credit behaviour, and therefore gives you an idea of what credit products are available to you. And since it’s live, our customers get a real-time view of their options whenever they log in.

Match Factor: This takes many factors into account to rank credit products based on how relevant they are to you and your credit file. It replaces the over-simplified, one-dimensional rankings of the past.

Credit report analysis: This recently launched tool analyses six years of your credit history, and lets you know what it means for your credit present and credit future. It draws out key insights and actions that can help you improve your credit eligibility and rating.

Disputes: 1 in 4 people find something wrong on their credit report, which has traditionally been hard and time-consuming to sort out. This was a problem, because errors can affect your ability to access credit (which also includes things like mobile phone contracts). We’ve created a feature that talks directly to the credit bureau, meaning customers can correct credit report errors easily. All they have to do is click on the relevant part of the credit report, write a brief note about what’s wrong, and hit submit to have the error investigated.

What are your plans for growth? What is your vision?

Our recent £29 million investment from SEP and Elliott cements our intentions to grow, and means we can hit the ground running when it comes to scaling the business — so much so we’ll effect positive change in the consumer credit industry. Namely, our mission to improve the credit scores of 5 million people by 2022. We’re moving towards a world where everybody can confidently take their next step in life, thanks to embracing the opportunities presented by the technology industry.

What will the investment be used for?

A few years ago, most people didn’t know what their credit score was or why it was important — and if they did, they were paying £15 per month for the privilege. Shockingly, some people still pay this fee. But, now that we’re moving towards a world where consumers expect to see, control, and understand their data, we’re seeing a huge increase in demand for services like ours.

That’s why we’ll be investing heavily in marketing our service, to make sure as many people in the UK get the chance to discover TotallyMoney for themselves. We’ll also be expanding the TotallyMoney team — primarily in product, development, and data roles — so we can continue to improve our product as fast as possible. We’re only at the beginning of a wave of innovation that will deliver value to customers for years to come.

Which products will you be prioritising?

Our focus will remain on using our customers’ credit report data to build a more relevant, personalised, and helpful service. Our recently launched credit report analysis is just the start of the types of things we have in the pipeline to help our customers improve their credit eligibility and achieve their financial goals.