10097739Enhanced AI-driven risk-engine for world’s first open-banking credit-builder debit cardClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKBuildMyCreditScore is the debit card that works with your bank to build your credit score through everyday spending, the world's first to combine Open Banking & ultra-short-term credit (24-48 hours) for credit building. We've leveraged Open Banking technology to enable a seamless connection between our debit card and existing current accounts, offering a hassle-free solution which will revolutionise the credit-building marketplace by transforming those seemingly insignificant purchases into significant credit score boosts. Subscribers just sign-up and use our card for small daily purchases, and BuildMyCreditScore handles the rest: we process payments a few days later using direct debit, and each month we report purchases and payments to credit agencies to build your credit. To launch BuildMyCreditScore, we've developed a new, proprietary risk-engine, which captures a range of data from customers during sign-up, including transactions from open banking links, to assess their eligibility for ultra-short term debt. No one has ever built a model for establishing creditworthiness in this way, and we've now confirmed the feasibility of such a tool. The primary output of this next phase is to establish if we can replace our risk engine, Proteus, by taking it to the next level of AI-driven sophistication. Only then will we have a viable product we can offer nationwide, ensuring BuildMyCreditScore is available to those it will benefit most: financially-challenged or excluded individuals and communities. The potential of this innovation cannot be overstated: a poor credit score could lead to borrowers paying an extra £2,319 in interest charges on a £3,000 personal loan over 3 years (MoneyComms.co.uk, 2022). Improving this to even a fair score could result in saving £1,253\. The impact on a personal level for some of society's poorest, particularly during this cost of living crisis, is self-evident, and on a macro-level the cost of servicing unsecured debts taken out to cover rent, utilities and food bills has been estimated at £3.9 billion per annum (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2023).