Lending Loop and Equifax launch free credit scores for businesses

CANADIAN peer-to-peer lender Lending Loop has partnered with Equifax Canada to launch the country’s first free credit health and monitoring platform for small businesses.

The platform gives businesses and entrepreneurs access to free personal and business credit scores, reports and resources.

Lending Loop, which was Canada’s first-ever P2P lender, says the aim of the platform is to educate small business owners on the value of improving their financial health.

“By coupling a business credit score with a consumer score, we are able to give small business owners a holistic view of how their business is doing and resources to help them improve,” said Cato Pastoll, co-founder and chief executive of Lending Loop. 

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“This P2P lending platform from Loop is a great example of how fintechs are empowering small businesses and contributing to the growth of the Canadian economy,” said Chris Briggs, chief marketing officer of Equifax Canada. 

“Small businesses take risks, are inventors, community leaders, and most of all help create more new jobs than that of large enterprises. Education, especially around their personal and business credit, allows small businesses to more clearly understand the impact of the key growth decisions they are looking to make.”

Read more: Equifax Open Banking alliance to smooth loan applications

Lending Loop is Canada’s first fully regulated P2P lender. It was founded at the end of 2015 and to date it has provided more than $30m (£23m) in small business funding with more than 4,600 active retail investors.

To use the platform, business owners will first need to enter details about their firm to confirm their identity. They will then be able to access a personalised dashboard with their business and personal credit scores.

The platform will send quarterly updates to members about their credit score along with advice and information on how they can improve it.