Tymit and Equifax UK Form Partnership for Credit Card Transparency

Tymit, a forerunner in the instalment credit card sector, and Equifax, a prominent credit reference agency, have announced a new Open Banking collaboration. This partnership aims to enhance affordability decisions and ensure transparency for Tymit’s credit products in the UK.

Enhancing Affordability Decisions

Equifax’s Open Banking solutions will be harnessed in this partnership, allowing Tymit to refine the accuracy of affordability decisions with real-time insights and detailed transaction data. This collaboration stands to benefit Tymit customers directly, particularly those with a ‘thin’ credit history. It will enable them to exhibit their financial resilience and gain access to finance while concurrently safeguarding vulnerable consumers from untenable debt.

Pioneering BNPL Best Practices

In 2019, Tymit became the first credit card company to incorporate Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) functionality into its offerings through its instalment credit card. It was also one of the initial BNPL providers to report borrowing data to all three major credit reference agencies in the UK, an initiative that Equifax supported to protect consumers from problem debt and enhance financial inclusion.

As Equifax’s BNPL Barometer reveals, almost half (48%) of UK adults are now using BNPL. With the average monthly payments having increased by nearly half (46%) in the past two years alone, despite the escalating use of BNPL, regulatory uncertainty still exists.

Promoting Responsible BNPL Practices

With increasing demands for stricter regulations, the collaboration between Equifax and Tymit illustrates an active approach to address industry concerns and encourage responsible BNPL practices. This move towards greater credit decision transparency also aligns with the UK’s new Consumer Duty framework. This framework, which came into effect last year, mandates financial services providers to actively promote good outcomes for consumers.

Equifax UK’s business development manager, Richard Seal, remarks that Tymit’s commitment to improving the transparency of its affordability decisions represents best practice in the BNPL industry. He also pointed out that this sets a precedent for other providers.

Bis Das, VP of Risk at Tymit, expresses excitement about the partnership with Equifax. He believes that by combining their innovative instalment credit card offering with Equifax’s Open Banking solution, they can help people achieve their financial goals and build a healthier credit history.