HM Treasury has launched a competition to find a company which can allow Britain's renters to improve their credit scores and their chances of getting a mortgage.
The scheme will offer £2m to someone who can come up with a way of doing this by recording and sharing rental payment data.
The competition will be launched this morning (6 December) by economic secretary to HM Treasury Stephen Barclay and open to applications early in the new year.
He said: "People’s monthly rent is often their biggest expense, so it makes sense for it to be recognised when applying for a mortgage.
"Without a good credit score, getting a mortgage can be a real struggle.
"Most lenders and Credit Reference Agencies are unable to take rental data into account, because they don’t have access to it.
"The Rent Recognition Challenge will challenge firms to develop an innovative solution to this problem and help to restore the dream of home ownership for a new generation."
Winning bids in the Rent Recognition Challenge will be selected by a panel of figures from the fintech sector, though HM Treasury has not identified who these people are.
The competition will provide an initial round of grant funding to six promising proposals to help to turn the ideas into a workable product.
The judges will then whittle the six down to just a handful of teams who will receive further funding and support to bring their ideas to market.
damian.fantato@ft.com
