Toronto-based Borrowell has announced that it will now give Canadians access to their Equifax credit score at no cost.
Through Borrowell’s platform, users can access their credit score and learn about their financial wellbeing, without having to apply for credit. At the same time, users will learn about about the factors that may impact credit scores and recommendations on how to improve an individual’s credit worthiness. Borrowell will provide consumers with an updated score every three months to track their progress.
“It’s an important piece of information that tells people where they stand financially, and most Canadians have never checked what it is.”
– Andrew Graham,
Borrowell CEO
The lending company said that they decided to offer the service after realizing that most Canadians don’t know how to access their credit score — even though it’s how most lenders decide who qualifies for loans and at what price.
“It’s an important piece of information that tells people where they stand financially, and most Canadians have never checked what it is,” said Andrew Graham, CEO of Borrowell. “The best way to raise awareness is to provide something that’s genuinely new and useful, and we believe giving Canadians access to credit scores does this.”
When Wealthsimple and Borrowell announced an RRSP partnership a few months ago, Graham commented that FinTech startups need to make a “compelling proposition” for new consumers accustomed to working with larger banks. For this reason, he thinks that a service like this is key to Borrowell raising its own profile; in an April 2016 Equifax survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, only 27 percent of consumers check their credit score. The majority of those consumers receiving their score for free from a third-party website.
At the same time, the company announced that it would present more personalized offers for third-party financial products on top of its own loan products.
“We understand that not every person who wants to know their credit score will want or need a loan from us. But they may need a mortgage, or want to invest, or want some other financial product,” said Graham. “We think it’s a natural extension of helping people manage their personal finances to help them make good choices, whether it’s about borrowing or something else.”