The service has been developed in response to an increasing demand for more short term credit, which has also increased the challenge for all credit providers, including mainstream lenders, utilities and telecommunications companies, to fully understand the nature of a person's debt and to be able to ensure that they are being treated fairly.

This is a significant development to help people applying for credit. It means greater protection from increasing debt levels, as all lenders will be able to access up to date details of the applicant's creditworthiness and indebtedness before deciding whether is it fair and responsible to lend to them. It will help ensure that any individual in the UK applying for credit has access to the level of credit that is fair and right for them and an amount they can afford to pay back

The RTDS service will see Experian providing more frequent updates on short term loans to its Credit Account Information Scheme (CAIS) - one of the largest sources of information about the credit commitments held by people in the UK.

Not only will the new service address the specific needs of the short term loan sector for a real time view of the credit commitments associated with any individual, it will also give all other lenders, short term or otherwise, access to this more robust picture.

Paul Vescovi, Managing Director of Experian's Credit Services in the UK and Ireland, said: "In order to ensure people are being treated fairly and are protected from increasing debt, all lenders in the UK need to be able to understand exactly what financial pressures a person in under elsewhere in their lives. This new real time service will be the first to enable instant access to this level of information and has been welcomed by all types of credit providers.

"We are now working with a number of short terms lenders to enable them to share their data in real time and we encourage all short term lenders to join the s scheme."

The new information will be live in CAIS later this year.