Credit awareness, preference for instant online transactions on the rise amongst Indians
National, March 07, 2018: Partnership between Experian®, the world’s leading global information services company, and BankBazaar.com, India’s leading financial marketplace reaches a significant milestone of one million. Within a year of the partnership, there has been a surge in the number of consumers availing their Experian credit reports on the fintech’s platform. At the moment the total number of consumers pulling their reports online, per month, stands at one million and is growing. The number only includes the enquiries that are made by the consumers themselves and does not include the hard queries raised by financial institutions in response to credit application.
Over the last few years, the personal finance landscape has seen a significant shift to the online space backed by the rapid adoption of mobile internet. In January 2017, Experian and BankBazaar joined hands, to offer free credit monitoring services to customers with their consent. This partnership with BankBazaar—a financial marketplace that sees more than 23M visitors per month—has strengthened customer adoption through a real time service delivery. Together, the companies have been able to provide a seamless and instant online process for consumers to get their credit scores within a few minutes compared to paper-based applications that take a longer time. The partnership has helped to build consumer awareness about the importance of credit report and score amongst consumers, especially digital savvy millennials in the country.
Commenting on the partnership, Vaishali Kasture, Managing Director Experian Credit Bureau and Country Head, Experian India said, “In 2017, India stood amongst the top four countries in the Asia Pacific region with the highest digital adoption. Through our tie-up with BankBazaar, we want to cater to this audience and help them avail credit easier, faster and cheaper. It is encouraging to see that consumers are not just aware but are also becoming conscious about their credit behavior to maintain a healthy credit profile. This is in concurrence to the vision of financial inclusion and empowers consumers with a good credit profile to avail cheaper credit. It also helps lenders to acquire and maintain customer portfolio that has low probability of default. Experian is committed in supporting businesses to make smarter decisions, lenders to lend more responsibly, and help consumers to avail credit easily while onboarding them in the mainstream credit system”.
As part of the credit report, Experian offers not just the credit score but the complete details of the applicant’s financial history. This is supplemented by detailed analysis and recommendations by financial experts at BankBazaar for improving and maintaining a good credit score. The complete package has played a crucial part in convincing customers of the merit of keeping track of their credit score at no extra cost.
Commenting on this development, Adhil Shetty, CEO, BankBazaar.com, said: “Both customers and financial institutions have accepted the online paperless model in a big way as shown by the 1M+ requests in a month for the Experian credit report online. It has been a great journey with Experian so far, and we take pride in achieving this milestone together. BankBazaar has single-mindedly focused on becoming the #1 marketplace for all financial products through its online paperless channel. Our partnership with Experian will help us accelerate our direction towards this goal.
Navin Chandani, Chief Business Development Officer, BankBazaar.com, adds, “Our integration with Experian has widened our portfolio of offerings, empowering customers with increased awareness about their credit score to make informed decisions about financial products. This is a very strong partnership, as both Experian and BankBazaar bring unique strengths to the table. We are growing on a very strong base, and the expectation is that we will continue to grow our contribution to Experian at 50% year-on-year. BankBazaar, with its vision to deliver paperless finance, plans to on-board 100 million visitors per quarter in 2018, and we believe our partnership will surpass this milestone in a couple of quarters.”
About Experian
Experian® is the world’s leading global information services company. During life’s big moments – from buying a home or a car, to sending a child to college, to growing a business by connecting with new customers – we empower consumers and our clients to manage their data with confidence. We help individuals to take financial control and access financial services, businesses to make smarter decisions and thrive, lenders to lend more responsibly, and organizations to prevent identity fraud and crime.
We have 17,000 people operating across 37 countries and every day we’re investing in new technologies, talented people and innovation to help all our clients maximize every opportunity. We are listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and are a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Learn more at www.experianplc.com or visit our global content hub at our global news blog for the latest news and insights from the company.
About BankBazaar
BankBazaar, ranked as the best financial website in India by the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and the best emerging brand in Asia by CMO Asia, is India’s first neutral online marketplace that gives you instant customized rate quotes on loans, credit cards or any other personal finance products. It simplifies the loan application process. Anyone can instantly search for tailor-made offers, compare, customize it as per his or her need or profile and apply for their finance products. It is designed with smart technology capabilities and over 75+ of India’s leading financial institutions and insurance firms have chosen to integrate themselves with the platform. For the online consumer today, banking is as easy as shopping for anything online. What’s more, BankBazaar’s services are completely free!
BankBazaar services are available through the web-portal, made-for-mobile web service, or the BankBazaar app available on the Android play store and iOS app store. It helps consumers compare best offers across various banks and NBFCs. Apart from these, it gives the consumer the latest news/trends and insights into managing finances better. The consumers can track their application and troubleshoot issues in the process through a host of channels like the BankBazaar app, WhatsApp, Email, Voice-support etc.