Launched last October, BuildMyCreditScore provides a Mastercard debit card connected to a user's current account via open banking technology.

While the debit card works instantly like a regular bank card, the money - up to a daily cap of £30 per day - is collected via Direct Debit by BuildMyCreditScore around two working days after, allowing it to be reported to credit reference agencies. As a result, cardholders are able to build their credit score by demonstrating their ability to manage rolling outgoings and repay credit promptly.

The startup says that one in 10 people improved their score by over 100 points whilst for the 50% of cardholders who saw the highest uplift to their credit scores in the first three months, the average score increase was 76 points.

According to PwC, there are 20 million financially underserved people across the UK with fair or poor credit scores. With a quarter of Brits denied credit due to their poor credit score and over four in ten wanting an easier way to build their score that doesn’t involve taking out new lines of credit, BuildMyCreditScore is targeting a significant market,

James Lynn, CEO, BuildMyCreditScore, says: “Millions of people across the country have a low score and thin credit file, and this is leaving them with less fair, less affordable options when it comes to accessing credit. They need a simple solution which allows them to effectively build their credit score in a safe, low-risk way through their everyday spending.

“Traditional credit builder products typically rely on someone making prompt repayments on credit they’ve taken out. If they fail to do so for any reason, they risk falling into debt and harming their credit score further. BuildMyCreditScore disrupts this model by leveraging open banking to integrate seamlessly with a user’s usual spending habits to empower them to improve their scores without changing spending behaviour or taking out new lines of credit.”