As spiralling interest rates and inflation threaten to push ever wider swathes of UK consumers deeper into financial discomfort and distress, leading fintech experts and tech-savvy lenders empower millions of consumers to unlock holistic financial data to gain fairer access to the right financial products.   

TotallyMoney, the personal finance app which helps over 5 million UK consumers improve their credit scores and move their finances forward, has selected data intelligence platform Bud Financial (Bud) to power its new service which empowers consumers to proactively stay on top of their finances, using AI models to analyse their full financial data made available by open banking.  

Bud’s deep AI capabilities will enable TotallyMoney to use real-time open banking data to generate predictive insights and arm its customers with proactive bill and payment tracking, helping them stay on top of outgoing and upcoming payments. Using Bud’s AI and data intelligence platform, TotallyMoney will further help its customers stay on top of their bills and payments so they can build, improve and protect their credit score. 

Bud’s AI-trained models take into account 12 months of consumers’ latest banking data, identifying regular payments such as utility bills, subscriptions, rent and so on, and generate a dynamic breakdown of upcoming payments. TotallyMoney uses Bud’s data intelligence services to generate insights which help customers plan ahead and understand in advance the impact of their financial decisions on their credit score. Customers are alerted to how specific payments might influence their credit score, and they can track regular outgoings and avoid slipping into overdraft or missing payments. The new service is offered free to TotallyMoney's customers.

TotallyMoney is a purpose-driven fintech with a focus on the UK's 20 million financially under-served adults. The free app puts customers in control of their own data so it works for them, not against them, offering personalised plans, products and insights to help unlock a life of more choices. TotallyMoney partners with both leading and specialist lenders to offer an expansive inventory of products designed to help the financially under-served access best-matched loans, credit cards and mortgages.

TotallyMoney first integrated Bud’s platform in January 2023, to supercharge affordability and eligibility assessments for pre-approved loans, by taking into account wider, better, and more accurate data. Using Bud's platform and open banking data, TotallyMoney has additionally enabled its lending partners to achieve significant efficiencies in the time to process loan applications: 75% of loan applications are processed in 15 minutes or less (versus 80% of applications processed in 60 minutes or less with credit bureau data alone).

Alastair Douglas CEO, TotallyMoney, says: “For decades, credit report data has remained largely unchanged, having not kept up with social and economic changes. The information is slow to update, and therefore doesn’t provide a fair representation of somebody’s ability to manage and repay what they borrow — having implications for both customers and lenders. By integrating open banking data, powered by Bud, we’re bridging the financial inclusion gap for the 29 million UK adults who are classified as under-served or financially fragile. Banks now have better insights to assess a customer's eligibility, while our latest feature helps customers manage their money and protect their credit score, helping them unlock a life of more choices.”

“AI is enabling businesses and lenders to generate unique customer insight based on their data. Now, by combining a number of models, we’re able to help our clients treat their customers as individuals. At Bud, we bring together data, internal and external, and help our clients understand who their customers are. Whether institutions are looking to create better lending outcomes or make every customer interaction data-driven, we’re here to deliver proven returns. We're proud to enable TotallyMoney to build smart money management tools for their customers. Supercharging affordability and driving financial resilience is what we do,” adds Ed Maslaveckas, CEO and Founder of Bud Financial.