Given the ongoing transition to Comprehensive Credit Reporting (CCR), the first app of its kind to launch in Australia has been timed to help consumers “make proactive decisions that will improve their appeal to lenders.”
The Credit Health app, developed by online comparison site Credit Card Compare, allows borrowers to monitor their personal credit health in real time and aims “to help Australians take advantage of the changing way in which credit scores are determined.”
The free app allows users to check their credit score as often as they need, track its trajectory over time, and get notified when it changes. Additionally, it contains resources to help educate users on how credit scores work and how they can be improved.
The goal is to make it so “Australians can ensure their current spending behaviours and financial decision-making will leave them best placed for borrowing down the road, and see the effect those decisions are having in real time.”
Co-founder of Credit Card Compare, Andrew Boyd, led the development of Credit Health and believes that the app is going to contribute to the transformation occurring in the way people think about credit scores in Australia.
“We know there are major changes coming to the role credit scores play in people’s financial lives in Australia, as CCR continues to roll out. But we also know that most Australians do not know about their credit score, let alone the role it plays in their lives,” he explained.
“We think the near future will see people actively tracking their score on their phone, and the Credit Health app allows them to make tactical decisions around how they manage their finances to maximise their results.”
According to Boyd, the app development was guided by a desire to create an “experience as easy and frictionless as possible” for the consumer.
“A good UI should make it easy to do things that are difficult. The complexity should be hidden, especially for a consumer-focussed app. We wanted Credit Health to feel instantly familiar to users, so it uses native UI elements such as tab bars, views, and controls,” he concluded.
