Curve, the ultimate digital wallet today announced a strategic partnership with Infact, the UK’s fintech credit bureau, to report usage on its Flex product in real-time through Infact’s Reporting API.
This collaboration represents a significant advancement over industry standard monthly reporting cycles offered by legacy credit bureaus.
With 20 million Britons in financially vulnerable circumstances, the stakes of accurate credit reporting couldn’t be higher. Yet a nationally representative Which? survey reveals that one in three (32%) consumers who check their credit files discover errors - mistakes that can lead to declined applications and, in worst-case scenarios, drive people toward unregulated lenders. Traditional credit reporting systems, operating on monthly cycles with outdated information, are exacerbating this crisis by presenting lenders with an incomplete and often inaccurate picture that may be up to 90 days behind a person’s current financial reality.
Thanks to the groundbreaking partnership between Curve and Infact, this critical roadblock is being dismantled. Curve Flex, an instalment-linked revolving credit line, will now have transactions reported in real-time through Infact’s API-based system - uniquely suited to represent Credit Card and BNPL activity accurately. This enables customers to build credit profiles instantly while giving lenders a true, current picture of creditworthiness.
“This partnership demonstrates the benefits to lenders and consumers of accurately representing interactions with financial products on a credit report. Say goodbye to confused consumers missing out on the tangential benefits of positive credit information and look to the future of lending where a significant amount of the risk is removed from the system because of incomplete, and inaccurate data. Infact is leading the charge in the modernisation of the UK’s credit information market, and this partnership with Curve is a vital step forward,” said Will Mason, CEO of Infact.
Shachar Bialick, Founder & CEO of Curve added: “We’re committed to using data more intelligently in order to unlock the most rewarding way to pay at Curve and curate financial products that work for everyone. Partnering with Infact removes one of the largest blockers for our customers when it comes to assessing creditworthiness, while ensuring we’re lending responsibly. The ability to report credit information in real-time is another huge benefit we are providing Curve customers, as well as a signal to the industry more generally; that this is the beginning of significant, necessary institutional change in expanding access to credit.”
Legacy credit bureaus have historically been the only gatekeepers to consumer credit information, but with this information updated in fixed formats and inflexible processes every 30-90 days, there is a significant delay between financial actions and being reflected in credit profiles. Credit reports are saturated with inferior or inconsistent data and do not take into account other indicators of creditworthiness, which reduces chances for economic mobility.
Consumers attempting to build or improve their credit must wait for their credit report to update, which can delay major financial activities like securing a mortgage. This limited reporting approach also leads to systemic bias which disproportionately impacts the financially underserved, perpetuating a cycle which impedes these individuals from building credit, resulting in exclusion from financial opportunities.
For lenders, reliance on inadequate credit information results in suboptimal decisions — turning away creditworthy applicants or taking on unnecessary risk. A more dynamic, real-time credit reporting system ensures consumers have greater access to financial opportunities faster while helping lenders make more accurate, informed decisions. The Infact and Curve partnership is setting the standard for fairer, more accurate credit reporting, and the first major step to revolutionise the credit reporting system to make it more inclusive.