Younited Teams With Tink to Expand Instant Credit Offering

Younited is working with open banking platform Tink to expand instant credit in Europe.

The partnership, announced Wednesday (April 26), uses Tink’s data integration and connectivity across Europe to give Younited up-to-date financial data within sectors for instant processing of credit applications and faster decisions.

“Traditionally, credit applications can take days and sometimes even weeks to process, leaving applicants in the dark when a quick decision is needed most,” Tink said in a news release. “Younited, with the support of Tink’s products, are tackling this outdated process head on, using years of local and international experience as well as deep risk assessment knowledge.”

The company argues that data-driven lending simplifies affordability assessments while also making sure better credit can be offered to customers by using bank account data to get a clearer notion of an applicant’s finances.

“Moreover, the usage of open banking connectivity allows a much simpler experience for the customers, with fewer documents to share and a much faster process overall,” said Tink.

According to the release, the two companies are also expanding their collaboration to offer financial coaching through Younited Coach, which offers users free personalized analysis of their financial situation plus advice on how to manage their budgets.

The partnership comes on the heels of a record year for instant disbursements, as PYMNTS noted recently.

“Nearly half of all consumers wish to receive disbursements instantly, and two-thirds of customers who tap FinTechs as their financial institutions (FIs) would be very or extremely willing to pay extra specifically for instant loan disbursements,” we wrote. “For consumers, there is a clear demand for faster lending options and not enough supply.”

That report says that banks are increasingly working with FinTechs to bring new innovations to lending, such as automation with enhanced data and analytics.

PYMNTS took a closer look at Younited’s business last year in an interview with Charles Egly, the company’s CEO and co-founder, who talked about the difference between his firm and legacy credit providers or buy now, pay later (BNPL) players in the region.

“It’s a credit [product] to buy electronics or other goods and it’s always a regulated solution. So, in that sense, we are very different from the BNPL providers which most of the time propose unregulated solutions [to consumers],” Egly said.

He added that his company values responsible, ethical, and transparent lending, using the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) regulation and open banking application programming interfaces (APIs) to make its offerings are set to an amount users can afford.

“With the login and password of your main bank account, we can retrieve your banking history [of up to 12 months and] this information will allow us to score you precisely in two seconds. This is the instant credit product we’ve invented with virtually no limit on amount or maturity,” Egly noted.

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