The UK’s largest digital identity verification app has begun offering tens of thousands of people who sign up to its service every month the opportunity to report their rent payments to the big four credit reference agencies.

Digital ID Connect is a joint venture between Yoti, the Post Office and Lloyds Bank and is the leading app for those seeking to prove their identity and age, particularly in bars and restaurants.

It has inked a deal with London-based CreditLadder, which to date has reported some £1 billion in rent payments.

These payments appear on credit files and therefore allow lenders to see that on-time rent payments have been made by those applying for credit including mortgages.

Renters can sign up to CreditLadder using any one of the Digital ID apps within the Digital ID Connect network to securely provide personal details, prove age and identity.

Users then provide details of their bank account, rent amount and tenancy information, enabling CreditLadder to capture and track rental payments automatically, via Open Banking.

Age verification

John Abbott, Chief Commercial Officer for Strategic Partnerships at Yoti, says: “The vision for Digital ID Connect is to provide faster and more secure ways for people to share their information with valued services that need identity or age verification.

“I am delighted to be working with CreditLadder so that the tens of thousands of people installing our app each month have extended partnerships available at their fingertips.”

Sheraz Dar, CEO at CreditLadder, adds: “At CreditLadder, our sole mission is to help UK tenants access fairer finance. By enabling Digital ID Connect users to report their rent payments we move another step closer to helping every single tenant improve their access to credit and accomplish their financial goals.

“With lenders in the UK factoring in rent payments when making credit decisions, including beginning to consider on time rent payments when looking to assess mortgage applications, it’s yet another reason why reporting rental payments is so important.”

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Two proptech leaders, Acaboom and Dataloft by PriceHubble, have announced a new integration which focuses on improving the content of Market Update Reports, which are sent to homeowners as part of their nurture journey.

Stay-subscribed rates from homeowners are already at 94% for the Market Update Report, credited to the content’s informative and personalised nature, steering clear of being overly “salesy” or self-promotional. The addition of Dataloft’s locally-focused data and market analysis will further enhance an agent’s profile, keeping them front of mind with prospects.

Tangible value

Brian Farrell, Managing Director of Acaboom (pictured), said: “We are very proud of the tangible value Acaboom allows agents to deliver to their database – and our new partnership with Dataloft is a huge complement to the Acaboom Market Update Reports.

“Now, even more personalised and eye-catching data can be delivered by the Acaboom system. It’s a huge win for mutual clients.”

Local content

Rory Black, Director at Dataloft added: “An integration with Acaboom was long overdue and we love the way agents can get more from their Dataloft by PriceHubble subscription with their Acaboom Market Update Reports.

“We are committed to providing the best local content and making it as easy as possible for agents to make the most of it. This integration will give our subscribers yet another competitive edge.”

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In a sea of misinformation, concerns about Open Banking are on the rise. Estate agents and conveyancers want to know whether this technology is a Pandora’s Box or a secure vault for financial data.

But, while some misconceptions are prevalent, Open Banking is a robust security measure and helps property professionals meet regulatory requirements.

What is it?

Open Banking is a system that allows consumers and businesses to share financial data with an authorised provider. When consumers use the tech to share their financial data, access is ‘read-only’, meaning the provider can only view the data, not control it. Through their bank’s mobile app or online banking, consumers grant permission.

All apps and services that use Open Banking are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This means those apps and services must follow strict and stringent rules and standards to keep consumer data secure.

What are the concerns?

Despite this, our support team hear from many consumers that they are reluctant to use it as they don’t know what it is or understand how it works.

Consumers are often misinformed that it provides more data or information, leading them to view it as invasive.

This means property buyers and sellers may instead use traditional paper routes or email. However, sending information via email or post poses a higher risk, where statements may be tampered with or incepted during transit.

Are there any benefits?

Open Banking reduces the risk of any data breaches because of hacking and poor security. It also works to keep consumer data safe and protects firms against fraud and anti-money laundering.

First, secure data access and transmission: Open Banking uses secure and proven technologies and consumers will never be required to give access to their bank login details, PINs or passwords to anyone other than their bank.

Second, consumer-led access: the consumer chooses when, with whom, and for how long they have access to the data.

Third, one source of truth. Open Banking enables one-source of data truth. It allows multiple accounts to be linked together. It provides evidence that financial records are genuine and obtained from source.

Fourth, extra protection. The consumer’s bank account or building society refunds money if unauthorised payments are made. This is only applicable if the service utilises Open Banking for payments.

To help ensure estate agents and conveyancers are aware of these benefits, Thirdfort continues to update the materials we provide to our clients including a video explaining more.

Also, any agents or clients concerned can check that the provider requesting permission to use Open Banking is authorised by the FCA. This is before permitting that provider to view financial data. Agents and consumers can do that by checking the FCA Register or Open Banking Directory.

 Harriet Holmes is AML Services Manager at client compliance platform Thirdfort

Read more about the tech and its challenges for the property industry.

The post BLOG: Will home movers ever widely adopt Open Banking? appeared first on The Negotiator.

The continuous rise in demand for rental properties has led to a massive growth in the proptech industry. This demand has also served as a catalyst for the adoption of technology to automate processes and increase efficiency.

However, while the sector continues to be rife with innovation, most proptech companies face a common problem – the banks they work with lack compatible technology.

INNOVATION

Can banks deliver the innovation that proptech needs? What are the industry pain points and how should forward-thinking banking partners work to address them?

Traditional banks rely on legacy systems and make up for the shortcomings of these systems with a lot of manual processes. This creates a huge mismatch with the highly automated technology used by letting agents.

A common example is providing data on client money accounts by sharing files with proptech companies once a day. This type of data exchange results in a highly manual process to open and review these files daily. New client money accounts will also take weeks to open, an inefficient and costly process for a company needing to open hundreds or even thousands of these accounts.

MISMATCH

Ultimately, the mismatch between the technology used by letting agents and their banking partners hinders efficiency, scalability, and automation in the sector.

Proptech is considered high risk and banks need to effectively assess the risks associated with their customers in the sector.

This includes KYC on individuals, KYB and customer due diligence. Unfortunately, while the expertise and knowledge required for risk management is evident in the professionals most banks employ, it is lacking in their technology and makes it hard to scale.

Risk management in most banks is a heavily manual process and the volumes required in the proptech sector make it even more costly to implement.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Banks need to embed their risk management capabilities and processes into their technology to keep up with the demands of proptech. This means incorporating risk assessment and management functionality into the same platforms that are used for processing payments and opening accounts. While this represents a significant shift from current practices, it is essential to drive efficiency.

There is a knowledge gap in proptech about the banking sector. For example, we’ve seen suggestions that banks should apply simplified due diligence (SDD) when onboarding or assessing risk in proptech.

In reality, it is not that simple. Banks cannot apply SDD to onboard customers classed as high risk. This is just one of the many challenges that exist.

BOLTED ON

Another reality is that new technology cannot just be bolted on. You cannot just take existing systems and say, ‘Hey, we’re just going to improve the integration of this data.’ It requires taking all your processes on board and an end-to-end replacement of technology to address all the gaps. It is a hard process and has to be designed from the bottom up.

Ultimately, when there are challenges in any industry, those involved need to have an open dialogue and try to work together to solve the problems. This is the approach that banks and proptech companies must take. If we are unable to solve the problem in the short term, this continuous, open and honest dialogue will help us find alternative solutions in the long run.

By embracing innovation and collaboration, banking partners and proptech companies can unlock a new era of efficiency, scalability, and mutual benefit.

This will not only streamline operations and reduce costs but also empower proptech companies to deliver enhanced services to their customers.

Adam Moulson (main picture)‍ is Chief Commercial Officer of Griffin

The post Proptechs being let down by UK banking partners – claim appeared first on The Negotiator.

A tech-based service has launched that protects homeowners and landlords from the growing threat of property-related fraud.

Title Guardian does what is says on the tin, monitoring people’s homes by ‘watching’ a variety of digital sources that are often augurs of criminal activity.

This includes the Land Registry, Companies House, the main property portals and other Government databases.

If suspicious activity is detected, the homeowner receives instant alerts via text, email and app notification so any potential fraud threat can be stopped.

Law firms, estate agents and mortgage lenders can embed Title Guardian into their own offerings and provide protection both for their clients, and themselves.

Fraud

Scams that the service is designed to stop include title fraud and also people who use real addresses to set up fake companies – a technique often used in rental and other frauds.

Title Guardian is the first solution on the market to proactively protect homeowners and landlords against these threats and alert them at the earliest opportunity.

The firm says HM Land Registry’s property alert service, which is free and sends home owners an email if someone tries to register their property in another name, is often too late to stop the fraud taking place.

There is a risk to all property owners.”

The risks increase where property is not mortgaged, is rented out or is empty – these circumstances can increase the opportunity for criminals to access materials that lead to property fraud.

“Today marks an important development for property owners – and the industry as a whole” says John Daw, Title Guardian’s CEO. “It’s widely known that the industry’s processes require significant modernisation and digitisation. One key area requiring action is to address how unsecure the property market is.”

“The availability of homeowner data on the government’s open register naturally creates risks, as that data can be sold to anyone, including those with criminal intent.

“Government organisations like Companies House and the DVLA can also unintentionally assist frauds, where checks on activities are not robust.

“So, after a successful beta phase, we’re pleased we can now bring this important technology to market, to provide much needed protection against these threats”.

Property fraud hit the headlines recently when a church minister had his property stolen by his tenants while he was away.

Title Guardian is available to all homeowners and landlords in England and Wales via its mobile app, with the desktop version online from 1^st January 2024.

The post Agents asked to help shield home owners from property fraud appeared first on The Negotiator.

Two of the UK’s biggest proptech names have merged, funded by a big US private equity firm, it has been announced.

Reapit and PayProp are joining forces and the move is being funded by a ‘substantial’ investment from Accel-KKR, which has already sunk millions into Reapit. It in turn bought PayProp earlier this year but has only now decided to merge the two businesses. The Neg also understands that the two firs will be integrated over time.

The announcement means customers of both firms will get access to the merged entities’ wider capabilities and have a single provider that delivers across sales, lettings, property management, client account management, and secure, automated payments.

PayProp reported annual revenues of £9.6 million earlier this year, while Reapit’s most recent accounts show a turnover of £19.3 million. Despite their different turnovers, both firms reported similar pre-tax profits of approximately £3 million.

Mark Armstrong, CEO of Reapit (pictured), says: “Our two companies are both highly oriented around service and customer success. Our combined path is clear: to lead and drive digital transformation of the property sector, which is a huge asset class.

“PayProp has a loyal customer base that benefits from efficient and secure payment, reconciliation and settlement.

“Many PayProp customers, I am sure, will be keen to discover the end-to-end functionality and support that Reapit offers.”

Inefficiencies

Johannes van Eeden, CEO, PayProp put the emphasis on growth opportunities. “Both of our companies have an excellent reputation for eliminating back-office inefficiencies and lowering administrative costs. Together, we will provide a premium end-to-end service with the goal of enabling our customers to do business more efficiently, remain compliant with the latest regulations, and grow profitably.”

The merger means the two brands will have customers in the UK but also eight other countries including the US, Canada, UAE, New Zealand, Denmark, Australia, Ireland and South Africa.

Park Durrett, MD at Accel-KKR (pictured) and a board member of both Reapit and PayProp, adds: “Reapit and PayProp coming together creates a major force in the PropTech sector and provides a springboard for further growth of the combined entity, which already has a significant footprint in four continents with considerably more than a million properties under management.”

The post Two of UK’s biggest and most profitable proptechs reveal merger appeared first on The Negotiator.

Alto, the leading cloud-based software system and part of Houseful (formerly the ZPG Group), will share an update with agents on what it has delivered in 2023 in a special edition of its Insider webinar series.

Taking place on the 7th of December from 10:00am – 10:45am, the webinar will look back on the 125 improvements that have been made to Alto this year – with highlights including new diary details for agents on the go, a better way to publish listings on Alto and the ability to enrich the platform with listings data from sister companies Zoopla and Hometrack.

SEAMLESSLY INTEGRATE

This is in addition to the launch of Alto Marketplace which now provides customers with the ability to seamlessly integrate with almost 20 leading proptechs across a range of categories including Goodlord, Vouch, Fixflo and Bamboo Auctions.

The webinar will be hosted by James Dolan, Solutions & Training Manager – who will be joined by various software experts from across the company as well as the Chief Executive of Bamboo Auctions, Robin Rathore.

Robin Rathore, Bamboo Auctions

He says: “We’re looking forward to sharing how agents can get the most from Bamboo’s one-click integration with Alto on the webinar.

“Bamboo’s platform is designed to give agents more control over their own listings and sales and this integration continues that ambition.

“We’ve been delighted to work with the whole Alto team to bring this integration to market and we’re already full steam ahead on plans for 2024.”

RECORD YEAR

Riccardo Dawson, Chief Operating Officer at Alto, says: “This has been a record year for Alto in terms of improvements and innovations shipped – but we’re only getting started with lots more on the horizon for 2024.

Ricardo Dawson, Alto

“We’re looking forward to sharing the highlights of what we’ve delivered in the past year with estate and letting agents later this week.”

The Neg revealed last week how Alto had integrated with Bridge AI – a system designed to streamline communication with applicants through their preferred channels like WhatsApp or email and identifying qualified applicants while automatically scheduling them for viewings.

Agents interested in attending the webinar can sign up HERE.

The post Alto to reveal its biggest product upgrade during live webinar appeared first on The Negotiator.

The number of house sales hit by a ‘cyber incident’ at conveyancing tech firm CTS are in the thousands with one leading lender reporting 600 property purchases stuck in limbo following the attack last week.

CTS remains tight lipped about what the problems are or how many vendors are affected, but comments by the Nationwide to the BBC on Friday would suggest that several thousand are involved, with 90 conveyancing firms involved.

The firm’s clients list includes O’Neil Patient, which uses the CTS platform to process 88,000 home sales every year.

Last week CTS released a statement saying it had experienced an outage caused by a ‘cyber incident’ and that “we continue to work around the clock with the assistance of third-party experts.

“Whilst we are confident that we will be able to restore services, we are unable to give a precise timeline for full restoration. We will continue to communicate directly with those of our clients which are impacted by the service outage, providing regular updates on the status of our work to restore services and our investigations into the incident.”

Reinstate

The software firm has revealed that its client services are up and running again but that ‘client environments’, which are the various network connections it operates, are taking longer than expected to reinstate during the final and ‘complex’ process to restore its service fully.

This cyber attack has been crippling for many conveyancers because, without the CTS platform working correctly, they are unable to process key documents that lenders require to release funds in order for sales to complete, leaving many vendors and buyers in limbo.

The BBC’s Money Box programme spoke to one vendor who had been forced to move into temporary rented accommodation after selling her home but being unable to complete on her next one, reporting that she had received no communication from CTS on the status of its system reboot.

The property market was hit by a similar attack in August 2022, albeit on a big council’s property search IT platform, which took more than eight months to fix.

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