Author: Sam Begley

Why business credit risk scores are so important

Posted on by Sam Begley


Why business credit risk scores are so important

credit risk scores

Business credit risk scores allow brokers, lenders and other financial institutions to accurately judge the creditworthiness of companies. A good business risk score allows businesses to agree more flexible credit terms, borrow more capital or win new and better business. A low score, on the other hand, could seriously limit the options available to businesses looking to borrow money or expand their business.

For lenders and brokers, having the technology available to perform fast, accurate business credit checks to assess potential risks is essential. But for many financial institutions, the risk assessment process can be arduous.

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How to run a business credit risk score

When providing financial services to businesses, being able to assess their creditworthiness and potential risks is a must. There are plenty of providers out there that provide standardised business credit risk scores, including major credit checkers like Creditsafe and Experian.

As a broker or lender, you can utilise the data from these credit checking platforms in a variety of ways. You’ll be protecting your cash flow, avoiding fraudulent companies and – more generally speaking – be making better choices for your business.

Actually processing the data, however, can sometimes be a time consuming process. Manually checking business credit risk data involves looking into how long they have been operating for, whether they have any CCJs, bankruptcy information and even who the directors are and how long they have been with the company. Depending on the services you offer, the data points used to determine a company’s risk could vary wildly. Naturally, this kind of manual analysis can be time and resource intensive and may not be conducive to the efficient scaling of your own business.

Automated business credit risk scoring

Fortunately, the days of manually scoring the credit risk of businesses is coming to an end, with technology making the process faster, simpler and entirely bespoke becoming more and more accessible.

Utilising the vast resources held by major credit checking agencies, credit risk scoring automations is a huge asset for any industry dealing with other businesses from a financial standpoint. However, until now, it has still been a time-consuming process, leaving underwriting teams and business owners with less time to spend on what matters: building their businesses.

Our own LendTech platform is a powerful AI-driven credit decisioning tool that gives brokers, lenders, underwriters and almost any business offering financial services or products to businesses to automate the entire risk scoring process. With LendTech, businesses are able to choose from a spectrum of data points to ensure that any potential applicant is fully scored against a custom risk criteria. The entire process is incredibly easy-to-use and the risk scoring is completed in seconds.

The future of business credit risk scoring

With a rise in technologies like LendTech, performing risk scoring against businesses will get easier and easier for business lenders. But it is only by adopting automated scoring and similar AI-led technology that lenders, brokers and underwriters will be able to stay ahead of the curve. 

By adopting automated business credit risk scoring, your business will make better financial decisions, expand the number of applicants you are able to onboard and, most importantly, give business owners the time and resources to focus on expanding and growing their business to increase profits without increasing headcount.

To find out more about how an automated decisioning platform could transform your business, get in touch with us today.

AI and business finance: How it affects you

Posted on by Sam Begley


AI and business finance: How it affects you

AI in finance is a growing trend, wherein artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are able to mimic the decision making skills of humans to enhance the workings of financial institutions and businesses.

The rapid growth of AI technologies is hugely important for businesses in all sectors, but particularly in finance. As with most other industries, the ability to adopt AI and to adapt your business to scale from it will ensure that you can futureproof the work you do, while keeping ahead of the competition. In this article we’ll be looking into what exactly the relationship between AI and business finance is going to be in the near future, and how you can become an early adopter to make it work for you.

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AI and machine learning in business finance

The business finance sector is one of the industries set to be most heavily impacted by the growth of AI and machine learning. Two of the most prominent problems faced by business finance companies are the issues of the time taken to complete processes, and the human error that may have a detrimental effect on the work being undertaken.

With AI, any fears of processes taking longer than necessary or being performed incorrectly are eliminated. Whether in credit decisioning, risk management or fraud prevention, a great artificial intelligence can provide businesses with a far superior outcome. 

In terms of credit decisioning, using AI technology to automate the credit scoring process can be very valuable. In utilising APIs from top credit checking companies such as Creditsafe or Equifax, AI technology can assess any applicant based on criteria set by a lender or finance broker to make underwriting decisions in a matter of seconds. With highly sophisticated rules systems, lenders can use AI to assess applicants far quicker and more accurately than they could with manual checks.

When risk management and fraud prevention are bolstered with AI, they become far more powerful. The complex cognitive computing systems that form the backbone of AI mean that the analysis of real-time trends and activities of financial markets, organisations, environments or individuals are faster and more accurate. With AI, businesses can create situations in which risks are highlighted early, and fraud detection systems can catch and prevent fraud before it happens.

AI and lending go hand in hand

The lending industry, in particular, could be set to be revolutionised by the introduction of AI technology. As mentioned before, AI is a revolutionary tool when it comes to credit decisioning. However, many of today’s AI lending platforms take the great results of AI tech even further, allowing lenders, brokers and other finance professionals to automate their entire processes with AI and machine learning.

For instance, with an AI-enhanced lending process, a business finance company could automate their entire underwriting process with only minor human input. This allows businesses to increase the speed through which deals, applications and qualifications are processed, drastically reducing the time spent without losing any of the quality. Speed aside, this would also free up the underwriting team from time and resource incentive work, allowing them to focus on areas to directly grow the business.

AI-driven lending platforms

With the growing prominence and importance of AI in business finance, it’s never been easier for business owners to get started with integrating AI into their own processes. With platforms like our own LendTech Decision Engine, business finance companies can have the full power of AI-powered decision making and automation with no experience required.

Automation platforms like this are designed to assist financial businesses with the most time intensive aspects of their business so that business owners can spend time doing what matters: building a great business. Whether automating credit checking, onboarding, the KYC process or any aspect of underwriting, an AI-driven lending platform could be the next step for your business.

To find out more about what LendTech could do for your business, get in touch with the Venture Motion team for a free demo.

AI and the future of SEO: How ChatGPT and Google Bard will disrupt the industry

Posted on by Sam Begley


AI and the future of SEO: How ChatGPT and Google Bard will disrupt the industry

By now, almost everyone online is aware of the huge uptick in AI technology we’re all experiencing. Whether you’ve seen an out-of-this-world AI-generated artwork from Midjourney, been fooled into believing Prince Harry said something completely outrageous in his autobiography thanks to ElevenLabs or read an eyebrow-raising poem from ChatGPT, AI is here, and it’s here to stay. Nowhere, however, is it more discussed than within the tech space itself.

Is ChatGPT going to kill SEO?

As a technical SEO agency, the question of whether or not ChatGPT – or AI in general – is going to be replacing SEO is a frequently asked one. Many clients could be wondering if new AI technology could totally replace an agency’s years of experience, but would they be right to think that? Well, let’s get an answer straight from the horse’s mouth.

“No, AI technology is not going to kill the SEO industry. AI can be used to assist with certain aspects of SEO, but it will not replace the need for human expertise in creating and implementing a comprehensive SEO strategy. AI can help with tasks such as keyword research, analysing website data, and identifying technical SEO issues, but it cannot fully understand and cater to the nuances and complexities of search engine algorithms and consumer behaviour. The SEO industry is expected to evolve and adapt to the use of AI, but not to be replaced by it.”

There we have it, ChatGPT gives a pretty succinct answer to the query. However, it’s worth expanding on some of the points the AI gives us to help us understand why SEO isn’t going anywhere. For most digital industries, AI technology will be highly disruptive to existing processes, making certain aspects far more simplified than ever before. But that is far more likely to result in better, more efficient output, rather than total replacement.

Our agency founders have gone through dozens of big updates and new technology releases that have been considered everything from minor disruptors to full-on SEO killers. But whenever a new technology is released, we notice that the cycle is the same. Whether it be the switch to mobile-first indexing, the introduction and growth of voice search, or even just a Google update, the reactions follow a pattern:

Step 1:

Both clients and industry experts overreact, insisting that this is the end of SEO as we know it.

Step 2:

The industry begins to make the most of, or adapt to, the new technology.

Step 3:

The SEO industry thrives using the new technology, providing better results for agencies, clients and searchers.

Step 4:

A new technology is released.

Innovative tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard are going to revolutionise the way in which SEO work is conducted for the better. Keyword research will be streamlined, minor tweaks and content optimisation will be done faster and minor hiccups could be made obsolete. This is all good news for both those working in the industry, and clients who are seeking a more efficient service from their SEO providers.

As an example, we’ll be able to analyse website data more efficiently than ever before. That means SEOs will be able to offer a faster service while attaining the same results. However, the AI is highly unlikely to be able to understand and implement the exact changes required that vary due to an innumerable number of factors on a case-by-case basis. The human element of creative problem solving, lateral thinking and ability to constantly change methodology to fit the situation are likely to always be necessary in the industry. On top of that, the kind of unspoken, human element of explaining issues in a way that everyone can understand in a consultancy setting is absolutely essential. It’s never enough to simply state what is wrong, you also need to be able to analyse the behaviour of the client to help them effectively understand why there is an issue, the implications of the issue and how to avoid it in the future.

There are two main areas in which we can focus to explain how AI technology can be incredibly useful, without it being seen as a tool that’s going to irrevocably change SEO. The first is to examine what ChatGPT can’t do that a human SEO expert can. The second is to speculate – which is, unfortunately, all we can do for now – on how the behaviour of a searcher is likely to change with the integration of ChatGPT into Bing and Google Bard into Google search.

What can’t AI do?

Offer variety

Search engines offer great variety in their results pages, allowing searchers to make their own decision when making a query. Humans like to research, assess and compare before reaching a decision – particularly when that decision is a purchase.

While ChatGPT’s technology may be excellent when users are in the research stage, being able to answer questions instantly and with detail, it’s highly unlikely that that use will follow all the way through to the purchasing stage. For example, if you were searching for “What are the best headphones for under £200” would you simply believe the robot? Deciding to buy there and then based on the description it offers you? If you’re anything like me, the answer is an obvious no.

The same fear came about with the rise of voice search and digital assistants such as Alexa, Siri or Cortana in our devices. And while ChatGPT has improved dramatically on their capacity to answer questions, as it stands it’s far more useful for helping people cheat on their homework or reciting a concise biography of Henry VIII than it is for overhauling the way SEO will be conducted on ecommerce sites.

Be creative

Creativity is still the cornerstone of SEO, and is one of the most difficult areas for companies to focus on when they choose not to outsource to a team of experts. Whether writing relatable and engaging content for specific audiences, interacting in the correct way when link-building or being able to think laterally when determining why a site may have lost rankings, traffic or conversions, creativity is essential to the process.

AI is a long way from being able to truly replicate the human experience, and while it may be able to write a conventional formal email or short explanation, the creativity to write in an engaging and human manner is still a long way off. If anything, the rise of AI is more likely to ensure that websites who don’t harness creativity in their SEO campaigns will suffer, making the work of the highly creative lateral thinking people in SEO far more valuable and far more effective.

Monitor trends

AIs work by pulling knowledge from existing data sources. While machine learning will ensure these sources are always updating, the dataset is unlikely to be as quick to understand why something has happened, rather than simply that something has happened.

The SEO industry is ever evolving and moving forward, and there are currently no AI tools available that are able to constantly analyse, understand and act on totally new trends.

How will search behaviour change with the introduction of AI?

We are likely to see some search behaviour change as ChatGPT and Google Bard are rolled out into search engines. Consumers, whether they’re looking to purchase a product, find a recipe or answer a question will always be seeking the most straightforward and streamlined route to their destination.

While AI technology will be more than adept at providing these snappy answers – the kind we already see in rich snippets like FAQs and People Also Ask – when it comes to buying a product or service, the user is still very likely to look deeper. As long as businesses continue to provide interesting, useful and creative content on their websites, they’ll continue to see customers arriving. One could predict that some organic traffic drop off may occur, but with the current state of ChatGPT and Google Bard, this will most likely be for informational searches made by users who would never have converted in the first place.

So what should we do?

This level of AI technology is, for now, nothing more than a very interesting new tool in the arsenal of business owners and professional SEOs. Now that it has been invented, it won’t be going away. For SEOs, businesses and searchers, adaptation in how we all use the internet will no doubt occur, but it’s unlikely that this next big thing will totally wipe out any industry. With more new consumer AI technology hitting the market, it’s up to agencies and SEOs to embrace new tech, harnessing its power to help grow the industry. We’ll be able to offer higher level consultancy solutions, with new AI technologies supporting us.

The kind of AI technology we’re seeing be deployed by Microsoft and Google is still very new and moving at an incredibly rapid pace. As such, we’ll be continually updating this article with new information as and when it comes to life.

Who are the top credit checking agencies in the UK?

Posted on by Sam Begley


Who are the top credit checking agencies in the UK?

Credit checking is perhaps the most prominent aspect of the modern lending industry. Accessing and reading credit scores is an essential part of the underwriting process for lenders in all sectors. Whether B2B or B2C, having instant access to accurate credit information is extremely important.

Whether lending is the primary driver of your business, or just a small component of your wider business offering, knowing where to go to credit check your customers is incredibly important. In this article, we’ll look into who the best credit checking agencies are for both business and consumer and business credit reports, and how they can fit into your processes.

Creditsafe

Creditsafe is an Ireland-based provider of company credit scores and other credit data. The company is the world’s most widely used provider of online company credit reports and an essential resource for organisations looking to offer business loans.

As one of the world leaders in the provision of company credit data, we chose Creditsafe to power our own company credit decision engine, LendTech. With the CreditSafe API, we’re able to check company credit data in real time, dramatically boosting your underwriting capabilities. With a great well of business credit data to pull from, Creditsafe is an almost essential resource for business lenders.

Find out more about our LendTech offering here.

TransUnion

TransUnion is a leading provider of credit information based in the US. Offering a wide range of services including credit reports, credit scores and a myriad of other credit data and information, TransUnion’s data is used by organisations around the world.

The company’s vast data resources, analytic capabilities and real time access to credit information make it an incredibly powerful tool for anyone looking to make accurate, informed credit decisions.

Experian

Headquartered in the UK, Experian is a leading provider of credit information and analytics across the globe. With a wide range of credit data at their disposal, Experian is a useful source for lenders, insurers and other businesses looking to perform both personal and business credit checks. Experian provides organisations with detailed information on the creditworthiness of people around the world. As such, it’s a very useful tool for businesses everywhere.

Equifax

Based in the USA, Equifax is a renowned provider of global credit information and analytics. Boasting a range of data, it’s a go-to source for all types of businesses looking to conduct credit checks on personal and commercial clients. Providing in-depth insights into a variety of credit information, it’s a highly valuable tool. 

Automating credit checking

At Venture Motion, we understand the importance of credit checking for businesses of all sizes. Our state-of-the-art LendTech Decision Engine is powered by CreditSafe and uses advanced algorithms to analyse the credit data of your customers in real time, making creditworthiness decisions instantly.

Meanwhile, we utilise data from multiple credit agencies in our custom development work to build credit decisioning technology that fits your business needs perfectly. So whatever industry you’re in, if automating and streamlining your credit checking process would benefit your business, get in touch with us today and see what we can do for you using the form below.

SME lenders are revolutionising business finance with automations

Posted on by Sam Begley


SME lenders are revolutionising business finance with automations

In 2021, the number of SMEs operating in the UK plummeted to its lowest level since 2015. This was, of course, a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic and now, more than ever, UK businesses are in dire need of financial support. 

While it was active, the government’s Coronavirus Loan Scheme provided almost £80 billion of loans to over one and a half million UK businesses. With the wholesale and retail sector receiving the highest proportion of these loans. This scheme is now over, and as we emerge on the other side of the pandemic, more and more SMEs will be seeking loans to help kick start their businesses.

We live in a digital age that has only been accelerated since 2020, with more and more businesses and consumers looking to new, innovative, online resources to suit their needs. As with almost all aspects of business in 2022, SME lending is changing too, with more and more options for businesses outside of traditional banks. Here’s how digital-first fintech is on track to disrupt the SME lending landscape and provide UK SMEs with a better, simpler way to finance their business goals.

5 Blue Cylinders of varying sizes with 3d money and debit/credit card graphics

SMEs borrow less than you think

Research from the Bank of England in 2020 showed that of the business owners that consider a loan, 60% choose to use their personal funds to finance their venture. On top of that, of those businesses that took out a loan, 50% went with the first provider they considered.

With the majority of SMEs set up on the back of personal funds, it is likely that a substantial number of businesses never get off the ground, purely because they don’t want to apply for a loan. With more than a quarter of business owners saying that they are put off by the hassle of applying, something needs to change.

The Bank of England’s data highlights a very important issue that alternative SME lenders should consider: many business owners are put off by the difficulty of applying for a loan, and if they do apply, it’ll almost always be with a big bank they trust. In fact, non-bank lending only makes up 16% of all business loans in the UK. 

With such a reliance on established high street banks customers are, more often than not, faced with long-winded and complex application processes. As such, there is a gap in the market for forward thinking SME lenders to utilise cutting edge fintech platforms to eliminate the hassle that goes into the business loan application process.

How SME lending technology will change the game

Writing for Finextra, Francois Levy highlighted that traditional banks had struggled to service the lending needs of SMEs even before Covid. This was only exacerbated by the introduction of the aforementioned government loans, with many banks prioritising their own customers. This left many SMEs in the lurch, struggling to find a lender that could provide loans quickly and effortlessly to help them bounce back from the pandemic, or even give their burgeoning business the cash injection it needed to start.

Fortunately, in many cases, there are ways for business owners to acquire financing in a far quicker and simpler manner. Today there are a range of fintech SME lending platforms out there designed to provide the best service possible for lenders and borrowers. Two of the most important fintech products available in this space are business credit checking platforms and open banking technology.

2 blue cylinders 2 stacked blue cubes with floating financial graphics including a card machine

Business credit checking platforms

Many of the largest company credit check providers offer APIs that can be seamlessly worked into an SME lender’s existing processes to offer instantaneous credit checking capabilities. With nothing but a simple form-fill from the potential borrower, the result of a credit check from the likes of Creditsafe, Equifax or Experian can be pulled through instantly.

Rather than rifling through reams of paperwork and the financial history of every applicant manually, the APIs will automatically use the data from some of the world’s largest credit agencies. Having the ability to check businesses with this technology allows every SME lender to more efficiently distribute their time spent on a loan application.

Open banking technology

Similarly to business credit checking APIs, open banking APIs can be seamlessly integrated into a lender’s processes to gain a comprehensive understanding of an applicant’s financial history. Open banking platforms link into the bank statements of applicants, giving you the ability to view bank statements digitally in real time. 

Lending decision engines

To make the loan approval process even more efficient, credit checking APIs and open banking technology can be combined and cross-referenced. The open banking data and credit check results can then be automatically entered into a lending decision engine that will streamline the entire application process. 

Decision engines like our own LendTech platform utilise custom criteria set by the lender, combined with the results of the credit check, to approve or deny a loan in principle in seconds. Not only does this save the lender time and effort, but it also allows borrowers to apply for loans more quickly than ever before, with instant results that improve the entire borrowing experience.

1 blue cylinder, two stacked big blue cubes, and four haphazardly stacked blue cubes, hovering above is online currency graphic in the middle and two online banking phone graphics on either side

The future of SME lending

As SMEs continue to bounce back after the pandemic with a more digital mindset, it is only more likely that we will see a rise in alternative lending solutions. Traditional banks will likely adapt in time, but it is up to smaller SME lenders to set the standard for business loans to come.

We hope to see a continued growth in the use of new developments in the fintech lending space that will allow innovative small businesses to thrive, without business owners having to rely on their own capital or the traditional high street banks.

For more information on how you can bolster your SME lending business with cutting edge automation technologies, get in touch today.

How you can use technology to grow your small business in 2023

Posted on by Sam Begley


How You Can Use Technology To Grow Your Small Business 2023

Owning and successfully running a small business can be difficult at the best of times, but in a rapidly changing world it can be even more challenging. With technology constantly progressing at an unprecedented rate, businesses need to constantly be aware of how they can use technology to keep up with both the competition and the consumers. Of course, many businesses are aware of the modern physical technology required for their industry to succeed, but many business owners fall down on the digital front.

A few years ago, simply having a Facebook page and a website was all the digital consideration most businesses needed to make. But, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the remote working boom and the huge rise in ecommerce, business owners need to fully embrace digital technology to stay ahead of the curve. So what can the average business owner do to embrace digital technology? And what impact will that technology have on the business? In this article we’ll show you that you don’t need to be a tech genius to grow your business with modern technology.

How you can use technology to grow your small business in 2022 IMG 1

How Technology helps businesses growth 

 
Technology has always driven the growth of businesses. From the invention of the wheel to the industrial revolution to the creation of the internet, new advances in technology have always impacted business owners. The most important thing for businesses is understanding how to adopt that technology into their own business, with early adopters almost always seeing the best results.
 
New technology trends have consistently catapulted small businesses into the big time, especially in the internet age. You only need to look to companies like Amazon or Netflix, to see how an effective digital presence at the right time can help launch a business to new heights. A lack of digital presence is often a significant factor in the failure of small businesses, but without the marketing budgets of larger organisations, many business owners need to think outside the box when it comes to using the right technology to help their business grow.
 
As we’ve discussed, a website and presence on the major social media platforms are essential aspects of any business’ digital marketing strategy. However, the average small business owner needs to be constantly on the lookout for new technology that can benefit their business – ideally without breaking the bank.

So, what are the biggest technology trends small business owners should be keeping their eyes on in 2023?

How you can use technology to grow your small business in 2022 IMG 3 Updated

What technology trends can we expect to see in small businesses in 2023?

 

Cybersecurity

As the digital world becomes more and more prominent in our daily working lives, never has cybersecurity been more important. Defending against targeted hacks and data breaches should be one of the foremost concerns of small businesses, as a cyber attack could have very serious repercussions.

With more and more sophisticated hackers out there, and tight data protection regulations such as GDPR in place, protecting your customers’ data is essential. If your cybersecurity is lacking, not only could you be found to be in breach of these regulations, but a data breach could lead to a lack of trust in existing customers, and negatively impact your attempts to bring new clients on board.

Hybrid working apps

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an already growing trend towards hybrid working. With thousands of employees now spending their working hours between their home and office, staying connected through novel technologies is only going to become more important. While the likes of Zoom saw shares skyrocket, there are plenty of opportunities for your business to utilise a range of hybrid working apps.

Cloud-based technology will almost certainly be a major trend for small businesses to look out for and adopt in 2022. From sharing work across cloud drives, to planning schedules and workflows with cloud-based platforms, this technology allows businesses to transition into the hybrid space without taking a hit to productivity.

Freelancing technology

The so-called gig economy is another trend that will only grow in 2022, with more and more workers seeking work on their own terms. Utilising technologies that allow your business to connect quickly with freelancers and on-demand workers is a surefire way to ensure that your business has access to a broad workforce when you need it, without breaking the bank.

Automation & AI

AI-based automation technology may sound futuristic, but it is at the core of the success of many small businesses today. Today, business automations are all-encompassing covering a great range of features essential to the running of a small business.

From marketing outreach to internal stock taking to assessing and approving potential customers and clients, there are a huge number of ways small businesses can use automations to grow and scale. Many modern automation platforms are incredibly easy to use, seamlessly blending into the existing digital workings of the business. 

Using automations to grow and scale your business

Automations will undoubtedly be one of the biggest small business trends of 2023, primarily due to how quickly they can help businesses grow and scale. But why are automations so effective at helping small businesses to grow?

As mentioned above, some automation platforms today can seamlessly integrate into existing business processes. This means that, with little effort, these platforms can automate everything from the most benign to most complex processes – saving business owners time and money, while producing instant, accurate results with no drop in quality.

Our own LendTech platform is an example of one of these easy-to-use tools. We connect your business processes to the platform, which then gives small business owners the ability to check bank statements, credit scores, Companies House records and more in seconds. If you’re a small business offering financial services, the LendTech platform is the perfect automation tool for your business.

The primary factors for the success of automations in helping small businesses to grow and scale is their time-saving and cost-cutting capabilities. Employing automation technology effectively in your business can cut the time of many tasks down to mere seconds. Meanwhile, you’ll be able to position your team more efficiently, ensuring man hours aren’t wasted on less profitable tasks by automating them.

For more information on how to automate your small business, get in touch with our team of digital automation experts today by clicking the button below.

The AI Banking Revolution Is Here: Open Banking APIs Explained

Posted on by Sam Begley


The AI Banking Revolution Is Here: Open Banking APIs Explained

AI banking, it sounds like a concept pulled from the pages of science fiction, but it’s very real. If you’re using any form of digital online banking, whether in your personal or professional life, you’re using AI banking. Artificial intelligence in banking comes in many forms, from fraud prevention to tracking your spending habits for loan applications.

With AI being so ubiquitous within the banking world, it should come as no surprise that you can harness some of that power within your own business. One of the most obvious ways to incorporate banking AI into your own operations is through the use of an Open Banking API.

Open banking is a fantastic addition to the arsenal of any business operating within the digital finance space. From loan providers to landlords, open banking APIs are easy to use, and can fit seamlessly into your systems as a key feature of your business. But what is an open banking API and how can you use one in your business.

The AI Banking Revolution Is Here- Open Banking APIs Explained img

What is an Open Banking API?

An open banking API is an application that can be integrated into your business processes that allows you to pull essential information from an applicant’s bank statement in real-time. It can sound like an invasive process, but as we’ve discussed in a previous post, it’s completely safe and won’t affect the user’s experience of your website at all.

APIs are applications that are fully packaged for out-of-the-box use as a part of your online offering as a business that can give you access to very impressive technology without having to have a team of expert developers on your side. Our Open Banking API, for instance, is available as a part of our LendTech platform; once you’ve signed up you can easily set up open banking on your website and start assessing applicants almost instantly.

Open banking is great for businesses working with any kind of financial service. When used effectively, an open banking API can help you automate the entire applicant approval process. Simply combine the bank statement checking capability of an open banking API with a rules-based decision engine and you’ll be able to let your application process run itself. But how can you harness this technology?

Integrating Open Banking into your business

Setting up complex, effective APIs to work seamlessly with your business isn’t always easy, especially if you don’t have an in-house tech team. On top of that, if you’re paying freelancers for custom development work, the bills can rack up quickly. With the potential cost and complexity, it’s no wonder so many companies stick with old-fashioned processes that often keep them playing catch-up with the competition.

At Venture Motion, we’ve built the LendTech platform to help solve this. Our platform is really easy to use, giving you an intuitive dashboard that allows you to integrate a range of automation apps into your systems, allowing users to be approved or declined for your services almost instantly.

To integrate open banking into your business offering, simply click the button below to start building your own automation platform for your business.

How to check company credit scores

Posted on by Sam Begley


How To Check Company Credit Scores

Checking credit scores through agencies such as Experian, Equifax or Creditsafe is often an essential part of the operation of many different businesses. When most people think of credit scores, however, they likely think of the individual credit checks required before taking out a loan or financing a product. However, company credit scores are just as, if not more, important.

In this article we’ll be looking at why offering excellent company credit check services is so important and how you can easily check company credit scores with our fully integrated LendTech platform.

Company credit checks useful

Why company credit checks are so useful

As a company operating in the B2B lending sphere, understanding your consumers is essential. Before offering financial services to the businesses you work with, it’s imperative that you have an idea of their financial histories. That’s where company credit checks come in.

Company credit checks are often even more important than personal ones, primarily due to the generally higher value of loans being offered to companies. But with these larger loans, even more accuracy is required during the approval process.

Company credit checks provided by major credit agencies give you the ability to perform highly accurate checks on the financial history of any company. With this highly accurate data at your disposal, you can approve or deny applications for your financial services with confidence.

Company credit checking agencies

The top company credit agencies in the UK include the likes of Experian, Equifax and Credit Safe. All of these companies have access to millions of records of highly accurate, up-to-date company financial data accessible through their APIs.

Once the value of the company credit data held by these agencies is recognised, implementing them into your own loan approval process becomes almost essential. Full API integration is the best way to ensure your business can effectively perform Equifax, Credit Safe or Experian company credit checks.

Once integrated, the APIs will allow your existing loan application approval systems and underwriters to easily access the company credit data necessary to make informed lending decisions.

Decision Engine for company credit checks

How to perform company credit checks with Venture Motion

Integrating and utilising company credit check APIs within your systems can be a daunting task. But when you work with Venture Motion, we guarantee that the process is entirely seamless, while also providing you with an easy-to-use dashboard, putting the power of the APIs directly into your hands.

When integrated as part of our LendTech automation platform, you’ll actually be able to automate the entire company credit check process. LendTech allows the APIs we integrate to automatically acquire the credit checking data you need. This data is then put through our decision engine to produce full reports that can automatically approve or deny applicants.

Click the button below to start building your own company credit checking solution today.

Why automation is the future of mortgage underwriting

Posted on by Sam Begley


Why automation is the future of mortgage underwriting

In the mid-19th century, the UK’s very first building societies were formed, and with them came the modern mortgage as we know them today. For years, the mortgage industry relied on manual underwriting to approve people looking for mortgages, with brokers up and down the country spending hours upon hours on researching the financial risk that an applicant would be when applying for a loan.

In recent years, however, mortgage application automation software has become more and more popular, with industry experts believing that it is having one of the biggest impacts on the entire mortgage brokerage landscape. With almost every big bank and building society out there using automated underwriting, many smaller brokers are starting to feel cut out and irrelevant. However, if brokers make use of automations themselves, they’ll be futureproofing their mortgage brokering business.

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Why automation is the future of mortgage underwriting

Traditional mortgage applications are full of excessive paperwork, making manual underwriting an incredibly time and manpower intensive process. To make it worse, many brokers across the country are still using outdated processes for applicant data collection and mortgage approval. Meanwhile, the modern customer exists in a digital world, and is crying out for streamlined processes that allow them to quickly and simply apply for loans.

This brings us on to mortgage underwriting software and the power that it puts into the hands of brokers to deliver a better experience to applicants. Automating mortgage workflows revolutionises the entire lending process. With access to an automated underwriting solution such as our own LendTech platform, brokers have full control over custom application forms, open banking tools and can give applicants the ability to upload documents for processing by an automated mortgage underwriting decision engine.

Automated underwriting makes the entire application process far simpler for applicants, and far more efficient and profitable for brokers and lenders.

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The benefits of automated mortgage underwriting

The key benefits of automated mortgage approval in contrast to traditional manual underwriting can be broken into two areas: the benefits for the lender, and the benefits for the applicant. For brokers, the efficiency brought by automations is most important. Once automated, underwriting teams will see an inevitable boost to productivity, being able to focus on only the most important areas, rather than spending hours on paper documents. 

Automation systems like LendTech also eliminate possibility for human error when scanning for errors. Based entirely on your own criteria, our automation platform scans applicant bank statements with either open banking technology, or through digitised document uploads, to highlight any potential issues with an application.

On the other side of things, customers will come to appreciate the offerings of brokers utilising automated underwriting. The entire application process will quickly become a seamless process for any applicant, with easy-to-understand custom forms and open banking technology reducing the amount of effort required from the applicant to apply for a loan.

Once all necessary customer information is acquired, our decision engine reduces the time the customer has to wait for approval or denial down to mere seconds. Based entirely on criteria that you set, the decision engine analyses all data to provide your customers with a clear approval or denial in just seconds.

How you can automate mortgage underwriting

As a mortgage broker, you’ve no doubt been made aware of mortgage automation software in the past, but the idea of completely revitalising your existing processes can feel overwhelming. That’s where we come in.

At Venture Motion, we aim to offer easy-to-use automations at an affordable price point. Our LendTech platform is suitable for any mortgage brokers or lenders looking to take their application process to the next level. Using a module-based series of solutions, we provide an entirely bespoke automation solution that allows you to cater the automations you’re using to your business and customer base.

For more information, click below and start building your new automation solution today.

Enhancing tenant credit checks with automations

Posted on by Sam Begley


Enhancing Tenant Credit Checks With Automations

As a landlord, understanding all of the options available to you when it comes to credit checking a prospective tenant is incredibly important. But, for years, a fast, reliable and affordable tenant credit checking platform was almost impossible to find. There is hope however, with the best tenant credit checks for landlords and letting agents now taking the form of fully automated systems. But how are automations used within the letting sector? And, more importantly, are they accessible and affordable? In this article, we’ll be taking a look at how automations are giving a big boost to anyone looking to credit check a prospective tenant.

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What is automated credit checking?

 

Credit checking prospective tenants is an essential aspect of business for a range of letting agencies and landlords. But it can be a time consuming process, especially if you’re setting up every check individually.

Automated credit checks do pretty much what they say on the tin; automation of the credit checking process. They allow landlords and letting agents to learn all the information they need to approve a tenant in seconds, without having to do any of the hard work themselves. Once integrated into the business, it’s simply a case of letting the automations do their thing while new, credit-checked tenants come rolling in.

With automated credit checking, however, landlords have access to the best tenant credit check tools on the market. Many landlords and letting agencies are already using the likes of Experian or Equifax to perform tenant credit checks and the best thing is that automated credit checking platforms make use of these too, so the person doing the checking doesn’t have to worry about changing their existing processes when they upgrade into automations.

 

Why use automated credit checks for tenants? 

 
With the speed and efficiency of using automated tenant credit checks, it’s a no-brainer for any landlord to work them into the business. You’ll find yourself able to completely switch off when it comes to the approval process, giving you time to focus your time and money into other areas of the business.

Not only that, but fully-integrated automations provide a very fairly priced way of performing automated credit checks too – especially for landlords and agencies receiving a high volume of applicants. Once integrated, each automated check can often cost far less than performing individual manual checks.
 

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How to automate tenant credit checking

Most automated credit checks involve the use of an API that integrates into your existing systems, making it pretty seamless to upgrade to the best tenant credit checking method out there. In the case of our own automated applicant decision engine, LendTech, the installation process is almost instantaneous.

Once you have access to the LendTech platform, you have access to our easy-to-use dashboard, from which you can see the status of any application. You can even go beyond basic credit checks, utilising custom application forms and open banking technology to get an even more in-depth insight into the tenants. Plus, this information is fed into our decision engine, which allows you to automatically approve or deny just about any tenant application automatically.

For more information on how automation can help you with your prospective tenant credit checks, fill in the form below and start building your solution.

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