One step forward towards becoming debt-savvy

• Financial literacy crucial as 52% of Malaysians are unaware of factors affecting credit scores
• No plans to start licensed financial advisory firm despite opportunity afforded by new tool

INTELLIGENT Money Sdn Bhd (iMoney), the fintech platform which offers online financial product comparison and application services, on Aug 23 launched the iMoney CreditScore, a digital tool for Malaysians to check their credit score and better understand their financial health.

Since 52% of Malaysians do not know what factors affect their credit score, iMoney CEO Lee Ching Wei explained the relevance of the online tool, “The idea is to help users take actionable steps to improve their credit score before applying for financial products.”

In collaboration with credit reporting agency RAM Credit Information Sdn Bhd (Ramci), a weighted calculation is done to arrive at a three-digit score ranging from 201 to 781 (weak to strong).

The five underlying factors are payment history; credit mix and loan amounts owed; length of credit history; new credit applications; and legal track record.

Ramci CEO Dawn Lai, stressed the importance of checking one’s credit health regularly.

“This is especially important in the long-run when seeking additional lines of credit or loans. The iMoney CreditScore avails financial literacy as consumers can objectively understand how to better manage their credit.”

iMoney however, has no plans to venture into licensed financial advisory services to further monetise itself.

“As of today we don’t have plans beyond trying to get consumers to obtain their free credit score. I think it does open us up to opportunities to help consumers better, but in the short term, there are no plans to become a licensed financial institution,” said Lee.

Although the iMoney CreditScore only serves as a snapshot of financial health and banks may interpret the score differently, RHB Bank’s head of Group Retail Banking, Nazri Othman said, “As far as banks go, we have our own internal processes but I can assure you there is a huge correlation with the credit score.”

At the same event, Nazri also explained RHB Easy – Pinjaman Express to offer fast and seamless personal loans digitally of up to RM150,000 (US$36,585).

“The consumer now has more choices in terms of how they can apply for these facilities compared to before. With this in place, customers will be able to obtain results of their loan application the next day via SMS.”

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