Zopa expands financial health tool Borrowing Power with credit card integration

• New integration helps Zopa users improve eligibility and reduce their rate of borrowing with Zopa

• Zopa recently won the British Banking Award for ‘Best Credit Card Provider’

• 20% of UK adults don’t understand how the APR they are offered on credit products is calculated, while 11% didn’t know that their credit score affects the APR they are offered on credit cards

• One in three Zopa app users check their Borrowing Power every month

Today Zopa has expanded its credit health tool, Borrowing Power, to include its award-winning credit card.

Zopa users can access Borrowing Power to improve their Zopa credit score and gain eligibility to Zopa’s products, as well as to improve their credit score more widely. Initially launched in late 2019, Zopa’s Borrowing Power tool helps users improve their financial health and gain access to better priced credit with Zopa. By combining an individual’s credit score data from Equifax with Zopa’s in-house affordability checks, the free tool provides simple, personalised actions to help customers improve their Borrowing Power credit rating.

This in turn increases their chances of gaining access to Zopa’s lending products and of being quoted lower rates. The number of Borrowing Power users now stands at more than 110,000, with one in three Zopa app users checking their Borrowing Power every month. Positively, 80% of users rate Borrowing Power actions highly useful in improving their credit health.

When it comes to using their improved score to get a loan or credit card with Zopa, users can clearly see if they are pre-approved for a credit product, and at what price, before a hard search is carried out (which marks their credit file). This gives the customer ultimate transparency over the deal that they are getting.

This transparency is extremely important. Recent Zopa research reveals that 20% of UK adults don’t understand how the APR they are offered is calculated, and 11% don’t know that their credit score affects the APR they are offered on credit cards*.

With Borrowing Power, the customer is in the driving seat of improving their score through often simple, small actions. Over time users can directly see the impact on their access to fairer credit, and cheaper Zopa APRs.

Clare Gambardella, Zopa’s Chief Customer Officer said: “We are proud that our App has helped so many people to improve their credit health and access fairer, better value loans and credit cards from Zopa.”

Since gaining its bank license, Zopa has continuously rolled out product innovation and partnerships to help more people gain access to fair, good value credit options.

Zopa recently launched an industry-first Open Banking partnership with ClearScore to offer users, who may have previously been declined credit products based on their credit record alone, access to a Zopa pre-approved credit card. It also integrated financial inclusion service CreditLadder into Borrowing Power, making it possible for renters to improve their credit score by reporting their rental payments.

Since launch of its bank (June 2020) Zopa has attracted £650m in deposits for its fixed savings accounts, issued 145,000 of its British Bank award-winning credit cards, doubled revenue per customer and became a top 10 credit card issuer. It is currently approving just under 20,000 new credit cards every month.