Skipton Building Society has adopted Experian’s Open Banking technology to take the hassle out of mortgage applications.

People applying for a home loan will have the option of giving consent for Skipton to securely view their bank account information using the Experian Open Banking affordability solution. Previously, mortgage applicants needed to gather paper copies of statements and wage slips to submit to the lender.

Experian’s Open Banking solution reduces this cycle - which typically could take a fortnight - to just a few minutes, through a secure link shared with the applicant on email. The service uses Experian’s Trusso, which can categorise the transactions on a bank statement in under a second.

Once the information has been shared with Skipton, its staff will be presented the categorised transaction data in a dashboard which shows the applicant’s income and outgoings. They can then make an informed decision as to whether a mortgage would be affordable for the applicant.

Experian’s Open Data platform underpins more than 25 million Application Programming Interface (API) requests each month, and more than 30 per cent of the number made in the UK overall, according to figures from the Open Banking Implementation Entity.

Lisa Fretwell, managing director of data services at Experian, said: “Many of us have gone through the nightmare of trying to find the right paperwork when applying for a mortgage, when all you want is to get a move-in date – it’s not just a time-consuming process for people, but lenders, too.

“Our work with Skipton is an example of how trusted data and insights can allow lenders to make fairer decisions for the people they lend to.”

Alex Beavis, Skipton’s head of mortgages, added: “Combining our human touch approach with the benefits of new digital technology is the cornerstone of our mortgage strategy and we look forward to announcing more exciting enhancements for our customers in brokers in 2019 and beyond.”

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