ClearScore

ClearScore is a British financial technology business that provides credit scores, reports and affordability scores for individuals at no cost to its users. |t also provides a marketplace in which people source credit cards, loans and car finance. ClearScore earns commission from the financial services providers to which it refers individual clients that have used its services.

It was founded in July 2015, by Justin Basini (b. June 1974), Nigel Morris and Dan Cobley (b. June 1967). It claims that it was the first company in the United Kingdom to provide free credit scores and credit report. ClearScore then expanded to include increased visibility of affordability, using current account spending patterns via Open Banking. As of 2024, the company had over 20m users and operates in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.

ClearScore has partnerships with over 150 financial institutions around the world.

History

ClearScore launched on 15 July 2015. It was the UK's first service giving consumers access to their credit score and report. Its initial offering provided credit scores and reports, and in July 2015 the company added credit card offers to its site, and in September 2015 it added personal loan offers. In December 2015 it launched the UK’s first credit checking app.

In July 2016 the company added a credit history feature called Timeline to its site. In November 2016 it added car finance offers, and in February 2017 launched a chatbot to help users improve their credit.

The company launched in South Africa in June 2017, India in August 2018, Australia in February 2020 and Canada in September 2022. ClearScore India closed in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

In September 2018, the Advertising Standards Authority received 35 complaints that a ClearScore TV advert aired in June "trivialised" domestic violence. The ad was cleared by the ASA.

In March 2018, Experian announced plans to acquire ClearScore for £275 million ($366 million). The acquisition was abandoned in February 2019 after the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) indicated that they considered that the acquisition would reduce competition in the UK market.

In April 2020 it launched a Dark Web Monitoring service called ClearScore Protect.

In 2021 the ClearScore Group launched a second app using telematics technology to give drivers data on their driving performance so that they can save money on car insurance if they choose to share the data.

In 2022, the ClearScore Group acquired Money Dashboard, a provider of open banking technology and opened a secondary UK technology and data science hub in Edinburgh.

In 2023, the ClearScore Group announced a partnership with illion in Australia. As part of the partnership, illion will be retiring its Credit Simple consumer proposition and Credit Simple users will be able to continue to access their credit scores and reports through the ClearScore app.

Products and services

ClearScore provides credit scores and credit reports from credit bureaus Equifax (in the UK) and Experian (in South Africa and Australia). Most of ClearScore’s services are free to consumers.

ClearScore Protect provides dark web monitoring for users.

ClearScore offers an ‘Affordability Score’, characterized as guidance as to what a user can afford to borrow.

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