Infact and Curve partnership: Credit reporting in real-time

In a significant step forward for the UK's credit information market, Infact is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Curve, the ultimate digital wallet. This collaboration will enable real-time credit reporting for Curve's Flex product through Infact's Reporting API, marking a substantial improvement over the industry's standard monthly reporting cycles offered by legacy credit bureaus.

The problem with traditional credit reporting

The stakes of accurate credit reporting couldn't be higher, especially when considering that 20 million Britons are currently in financially vulnerable circumstances. Yet our current credit information system is failing consumers and lenders alike.

A nationally representative Which? survey revealed that one in three (32%) consumers who check their credit files discover errors – mistakes that can lead to declined applications and potentially push people toward unregulated lenders. This is a systemic failure that needs addressing.

Traditional credit reporting systems operate on monthly cycles with outdated information, exacerbating this crisis by presenting lenders with an incomplete and often inaccurate picture that may be up to 90 days behind a person's current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.

A new solution

Through our partnership with Curve, we're dismantling this critical roadblock. 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 innovative approach 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."

– Will Mason, CEO of Infact

The limits of legacy systems

For decades, legacy credit bureaux have been the sole gatekeepers to consumer credit information. Their approach presents several critical problems:

• Information is updated in fixed formats and inflexible processes every 30-90 days
• Credit reports are saturated with inferior or inconsistent data
• Traditional reports don't account for alternative indicators of creditworthiness
• The resulting system creates systemic bias that disproportionately impacts the financially underserved

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 perpetuates a cycle that impedes individuals from building credit, resulting in exclusion from financial opportunities.

Benefits for consumers and lenders

Our partnership with Curve represents the first major step toward changing the credit reporting system to make it more inclusive. The benefits are substantial:

For consumers:

• Instant reflection of positive credit behaviour
• Faster ability to build and improve credit profiles
• Greater access to financial opportunities
• Reduced likelihood of credit report errors

For lenders:

• Real-time, accurate credit information
• Improved decision-making capability
• Reduced risk of declining creditworthy applicants
• Enhanced ability to assess creditworthiness accurately

"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."

– Shachar Bialick, CEO of Curve

The future of credit reporting

At Infact, we believe that credit reporting should be accurate, fair, and accessible. Our partnership with Curve is just the beginning of our mission to change the credit information market in the UK.

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. Through technological innovation and strategic partnerships, we're setting the standard for fairer, more accurate credit reporting.

The future of credit reporting is real-time, and that future starts now.