Many people worry about revealing their banking log-in details to a third party such as CreditLadder.

We get it. Every year half a billion pounds is scammed from bank customers via various email, online and phone-based criminal schemes.

So says banking industry group UK Finance, which always reminds people that they should be ultra careful about who they reveal their log-in details to.

There are times when it is OK to provide your log-in details including when asked to by companies you trust and have signed up to before, as long as you're careful. For example, always ensure you are being asked to log-in to an account you recognised, and that you have verified it to be the website address you always use to log-in.

Because CreditLadder does need your banking log-in details in order to 'see' your bank account transactions so that we can confirm that your rent is being paid on time every month.

By 'read' we mean our systems look for the amount of rent you've told us is paid to your landlord every month, and check in 'read-only' mode that it was paid on time and was the correct amount.

So why trust us?

CreditLadder partners with Barclays, one of the UK’s best-known high street banks, and our processes are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Also, our platform recently won financial backing from HM Treasury after a lengthy period of scrutiny by them.

Bank-grade security

Also, your information is protected by our banking-grade security systems. None of our team see your login details; we use them via a protected automatic log-in system that only accesses your account to read the rent payment.

Through Open Banking, we are able to recognise the rental payments of tenants who bank with most of the high street giants including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Natwest, RBS, Santander, Nationwide, The Co-Operative Bank and First Direct.

What is Open Banking?

On the face of it, Open Banking sounds odd to most people because it enables banking customers to share their payment information with third parties such as CreditLadder.

But not only is Open Banking secure, it has kicked-off a burst of innovation that is enabling millions of people to take greater control of their personal finances.

It's a Europe-wide initiative that most UK banks have signed up to which enables their customers to give services like CreditLadder read-only access to their banking information in order to gain a benefit.

In our case, that means us helping you improve your credit score, gain access to more affordable credit and be offered the best mortgage deals.

“We can expect to see a growing number of new products and innovations appear as Open Banking gains traction,” as John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said recently.

CreditLadder can help you improve your credit score

If you want to improve your credit position by reporting your rent payments, CreditLadder is the only way to improve your credit score and position across all four of the main Credit Reference Agencies in the UK, namely Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and Crediva. Building up a high credit score has a lot of benefits, including helping you access finance at better rates - this can also help save you money.

CreditLadder also runs a free mortgage application service in partnership with Tembo which will tell you how much you could borrow.

Remember the information provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice.