Rental platform Canopy has launched a subscription service aiming to assist renters in growing their credit score.

The service, called CanopyGrow, is priced at £7.99 per month and features a number of tools designed for credit score building.
These include ‘rent tracking’, which allows renters to report their monthly payments to credit reference agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

‘Clever credit’, meanwhile, allows renters to view insights on their credit profile, such as what they are doing well and what needs improving. The tool also offers access to personalised advice, powered by Equifax, on actions to improve the renter’s credit score.

Chris Hutchinson, Canopy CEO, said there was a “common misconception” that a credit score takes years to build.
“This is simply not true any more,” he added. “We have identified ways to uncover and provide additional information to credit reference agencies that allow people to prove that they are trustworthy borrowers who deserve a higher score.”

Canopy said the subscription service could help aspiring homeowners improve their mortgage potential by boosting their credit score, citing a statistic from the government’s English Housing Survey showing 71% of renters in the UK are building towards homeownership.

Mark Bratley, sales director at Equifax, commented that renters in the UK are feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis “now more than ever”. He added that tenants’ ability to see the improvements that positive behavioural changes make to their credit scores could potentially help to save them money in interest payments when applying for credit in the future.