The FCA is exploring how open finance could reshape the mortgage journey, including whether verified rent-payment histories could contribute to affordability assessments. This development is particularly relevant to first-time buyers, whose affordability is reported to be at its most squeezed point since 2008, despite some lenders expanding borrowing criteria, including higher income multiples for eligible borrowers.
Open-finance data and AI-based analysis could help turn fragmented transaction histories into a clearer picture of regular housing payments, income and spending resilience. That may improve inclusion for renters and borrowers with less conventional financial profiles, but advisers and lenders will need to guard against poor-quality data, biased models, opaque decisions and inappropriate use of sensitive information. Consent, data minimisation, explainability and a meaningful human route for challenge should be central to any deployment.