Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Executive Councillor (Economic Development & Regeneration)

An initiative known as the Rental Exchange has been developed by Big Issue Invest (the social investment arm of the well-known Big Issue Group), in association with the credit referencing agency Experian. The initiative involves Registered Providers (RPs) providing tenant rental payment records to Experian on a monthly basis so that tenants are recognised for paying rent on time, similar to how homeowners are recognised for paying their mortgage each month.

Stockport Homes has been approached by Experian to join the Rental Exchange. This report provides some background to the project and details the results of some initial ‘proof of concept’ analysis carried out by Experian to demonstrate how Council tenants would benefit if we were to start sharing their rent payment data on a regular basis. The report seeks approval from the Council Executive to participate in the project.

The Council Executive is asked to note the content of this report and approve Stockport Homes to participate in the Rental Exchange Project with the credit reference agency, Experian.

Officer contact: Andy Kippax, 0161 474 4319, andy.kippax@stockport.gov.uk

The Executive Councillor (Economic Development & Regeneration) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Executive to consider a proposal for Stockport Homes to enter into an arrangement with the Experian Credit Agency to provide them with rental payment records for tenants in order for them to be recognised for their payments and to improve their credit rating. The arrangement was known as the Rental Exchange and had been developed in conjunction with Big Issue Invest (the social investment arm of the Big Issue Group).

The Executive Councillor (Economic Development & Regeneration) confirmed that the report had been considered by the Adult Care Services & Housing Scrutiny Committee and that members had been broadly support of the aims of the project but had raised concerns about data privacy. The Executive Councillor confirmed that tenants would be given the option to ‘opt-out’ of the arrangement and that this would be an option whenever a new tenancy was entered into.

RESOLVED – That approval be given to Stockport Homes to participate in the Rental Exchange Project with the credit reference agency Experian.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration.

The report details an initiative known as the Rental Exchange which has been developed by Big Issue Invest (the social investment arm of the well-known Big Issue Group), in association with the credit referencing agency Experian. The initiative involves Registered Providers (RPs) providing tenant rental payment records to Experian on a monthly basis so that tenants are recognised for paying rent on time, similar to how homeowners are recognised for paying their mortgage each month.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to comment on and note the report.

Officer contact: Andy Kippax on 0161 474 4319 or email: andy.kippax@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Chief Executive of Stockport Homes submitted a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration (copies of which had been circulated) detailing an initiative known as the Rental Exchange which had been developed by Big Issue Invest (the social investment arm of the well-known Big Issue Group), in association with the credit referencing agency Experian.

The initiative would involve Registered Providers providing tenant rental payment records to Experian on a monthly basis so that tenants were recognised for paying rent on time, similar to how homeowners were recognised for paying their mortgage each month.

The Executive Councillor (Economic Development & Regeneration) (Councillor Patrick McAuley) attended the meeting along with Vicky McNab (Head of Strategic Markets, Experian) and Christian Hartley (Customer Finance Manager, Stockport Homes) to answer members’ questions.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Appropriate safeguards for the transfer of any data between Stockport Homes and Experian needed to be secure and robust.  In response it was stated that the same industry standards that applied to the 500 million records currently held by Experian would similarly apply to the data transfers with Stockport Homes and which would be regulated by a data processing agreement drawn up between the two parties.

·         Tenants would have the opportunity to opt out of the scheme if they wished to do so including new tenants in the future.  The experience from similar projects elsewhere had been that the number of opt-outs was relatively low and lower still in those area where communication with tenants about the scheme had been good.

·         Concern was expressed that the projected number of tenants who would have their credit score negatively impacted by the scheme seemed low in the light of the number of tenants who were known to be in arrears.

·         Stockport Homes already proactively supported those tenants who were falling into arrears with their rent payments.

·         There needed to be support available to those tenants who were negatively impacted by these proposals to ensure that they were not forced into obtaining credit from illegal money lenders.

RESOLVED – (1) That the Executive be recommended to give approval to the proposed Rental Exchange Project with the credit reference agency, Experian.

(2) That the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration be requested to submit a report to a future meeting of this Scrutiny Committee in twelve months’ time detailing how the scheme had operated in practice and what impact there had been on those tenants whose credit score had been negatively impacted by the scheme.