Resimac tweaks credit assessments

From Monday, is moving to a "credit event" assessment policy. The lender will group previous credit issues into "life events", rather than treating each listing as a separate issue.

The move is set to make it easier for customers with previous credit issues to take out a loan. It will also help the non-bank grow its specialist lending book.

The announcement comes as the firm makes a number of key policy changes to its specialist product.

Adrienne Church, general manager of Resimac, explained: "Assessing an application using the ‘Credit Event’ approach rather than looking at individual listings, better reflects our focus on genuinely understanding our clients – their history, profile, and the all important ‘life context’.”

Church added: “One life event that knocks someone’s finances around for a period of time can result in multiple listings, and that can have a dramatic impact of their credit profile. By understanding what that event was, and grouping any related listings into one credit event, we expect that we’ll be able to support more borrowers that need Specialist home lending. And what’s more, be able to offer a significant proportion of these borrowers lower interest rates.”

The move was flagged recently at the TMM Annual Conference. Church said the move would help borrowers access more competitive interest rates.

Resimac also unveiled a host of changes to its Specialist product.

Individual credit 'listings' less than $2000, more than two years old, or paid more than a year ago, will not affect customers' assessments from Monday, Resimac added.

Remaining listings will be grouped into credit events and allocated one of Resimac's specialist products:

Customers with no credit events will be able to access Resimac's most competitive specialist 'Clear' product, those with one credit event will be allocated the 'Plus' product, while those with more than one credit event will be given the 'Assist' product.