More money and innovation continue to pour into credit reporting, with companies raising money to more deeply analyze credit score trends while other innovations are allowing consumers to create their own credit scores.
SavvyMoney, for example, announced this week that it has raised $45 million as part of a new round of funding. The company works with banks and credit unions to provide credit score trends, marketshare analysis, and other tools to help institutions build better relationships with their customers.
TransUnion — already an existing investor in the company — was one of the investors in the new round as well.
SavvyMoney, which has tripled its revenue in the past two years, says it will use the $45 million to expand its operations, human resources, sales, marketing, and engineering teams.
At the same time, Experian is rolling out a product that lets consumers create their own credit scores. Called Go, the product allows consumers to link what it calls “recurring nondebt bills” like cell phone payments and utility payments that provide the foundation on which a credit score is built. Go is an attempt by Experian to build credit and credit scores for individuals who have long been “invisible” to banks because they lack a proper credit history.
Experian started testing Go back in October with 15,000 consumers, who went from having no credit score to an average FICO score of 665, according to the company.
One of the objectives is to allow Experian’s customers to use the Go product to pitch credit cards and other forms of credit to those consumers who might not otherwise have ever received an offer because of their lack of a credit history.
