capexpand Use Social Media to Underwrite Online Businesses

LONDON, January 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

capexpand, one of the UK's fastest growing providers of fast working capital to online sellers, talks about how big data can lead to better lending decisions.

Academics call it the "Lemon Gap", it's the difference between the perceived and actual risk of small business loans and it has always been a problem for lenders. capexpand is looking to squeeze this gap with superior class leading credit decisioning.

"We're a technology business first and a finance business second," said Mark Hannay, capexpand's Chief Operating Officer. "When making a loan application, our decision engine uses thousands of bits of data to assess an application; however, quantity of data is only part of the story. You have to know what to do with it to make the best lending decision."

The application process is built on the philosophy that encouraging a potential applicant to share as much data about themselves and their online business reduces risk.

If a merchant sells on eBay then linking their capexpand account to their PayPal and eBay account via an API allows capexpand to crunch all trading history, customer feedback and financial data of the business. If the business owner also adds their personal Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profile then a more complete picture can emerge reducing uncertainty and potentially improving the amount and or terms capexpand can offer.

Other pieces of data that flow into the algorithms the business has built include traditional credit reports and online ID verification from the major credit reference agencies as well as more niche data providers. In the future the firm plan to give customers the ability to link their business current account to increase the power and speed of underwriting.  

About capexpand (http://www.capexpand.com)

capexpand was established in late 2012. Based in central London the founding management team are all self-confessed geeks passionate about technology and how it can make things work in the simplest most straightforward way. The team has been active in the personal finance space since 2009 and have built a good blend of disruptive technology and superior class leading credit decisioning to give choice, control and flexibility to online sellers looking for credit.

For further media information contact:

capexpand press@capexpand.com +44(0)20-7183-0433