Bud powers TotallyMoney’s new payments tracker feature

UK-based personal finance app TotallyMoney has chosen to partner with data intelligence platform Bud for the launch of an AI-powered payments tracker.

The new service will be available free to customers of TotallyMoney.

Through Bud’s AI capabilities, TotallyMoney will have access to real-time Open Banking data to generate predictive insights, enabling its customers to keep track of their bills and payments, and in turn, helping them to build, improve and protect their credit score.

Bud’s “AI-trained models” take into account 12 months of consumers’ recent banking data, identifying regular payments such as utility bills, subscriptions and rent to generate a breakdown of upcoming payments.

TotallyMoney’s customers will be alerted to how specific payments might influence their credit score, and can track regular outgoings to ensure they avoid their overdraft or miss payments.

Purpose-driven fintech TotallyMoney first integrated Bud’s platform in January this year, to improve affordability and eligibility assessments for pre-approved loans by taking into account a wider and more accurate range of data.

Since it began using Bud’s platform and Open Banking data, TotallyMoney has enabled its lending partners to reduce the time it takes to process loan applications, with 75% of loan applications now being processed in 15 minutes or less, versus 80% of applications processed in 60 minutes or less with credit bureau data alone.

Alastair Douglas, chief executive officer of TotallyMoney, said: “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.”

Bud CEO Ed Maslaveckas

Douglas added that by integrating Open Banking data, powered by Bud, it is “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,” he said.

Ed Maslaveckas, chief executive officer and founder of Bud Financial, added: “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.”

In June, embedded consumer lender Fluro selected Bud Financial’s AI capabilities to power its decisioning engine and affordability assessments.

Earlier this year, Maslaveckas spoke to Open Banking Expo about its launch in the US, as well as technology “breakthroughs”.