Basini takes on credit ref giants

Not content with taking on PayPal, Justin Basini is now taking a pop at CallCredit, Experian and Equifax with the launch of a new free online credit referencing service, ClearScore.com.
The former Capital One marketer took up the role of chief marketing and product officer at mobile payment start-up Zapp in 2014 but is also now CEO of ClearScore.
The company is being backed by three venture capitalists, Bright Bridge Ventures, Blenheim Chalcot and QED Investors, and is currently on a major recruitment drive. The senior team already includes former Unibet and Betfair executive Klaus Thorup as chief technology officer; UX / UI designer Frank Sedivy and client-side developer Antony Cooper.
According to the firm’s website the plan is to allow consumers to get hold of their credit report for free. It states: “Currently the world of credit reporting and scoring is complicated and untransparent. Nearly a quarter of people in the UK have experienced being rejected for credit or ‘downsold’ (being told that they can’t be given Product A but offered, a generally more expensive Product B). When this happens most often people are told ‘your credit score isn’t good enough’ and guess what they then want to see their credit score and report.
“At this stage they have two choices: either pay £2 and go through a pretty tortuous process to get a print out or XML version of their credit report (they won’t be told their score) or pay around £15 a month for access through a paid for service. We are working hard to make this opaque, complicated and difficult process, much, much, much easier… and free!”
Callcredit launched a ‘free for life’ credit report service called Noddle in 2012; it recently reached the 1 million-mark in terms of consumer sign ups.
Exact details of how the ClearScore scheme will work are patchy, although Basini does hold a comprehensive customer database from his previous start-up, Allow, which was a joint venture between him and Howard Huntley.
It offered to remove consumers from marketing databases and register them with opt-out services such as the Mail Preference Service (MPS) and Email Preference Service.
The firm then sold a customer’s data back to companies once they had chosen which brands they wanted to receive mail from. However, the scheme was mothballed in 2013.