MOGOPLUS launches Hardship Management Solution to the Australian lending market

With the recent unprecedented shift in the financial landscape for many Australian consumers and businesses, lenders are currently facing crippling workloads in both assessing hardship applications and also the subsequent management of their customers through these unchartered waters.

Accessing and analysing transactional data will be key to providing both pro-active customer support services and reducing the incidence of customers moving to positions of default.

To assist in this challenge, MOGOPLUS today launched their “Hardship Management Solution,” a new set of data analytics designed specifically for lenders to manage hardship journeys for the growing number of Australians most effected in this time of crisis.

The solution uses the existing MOGOPLUS Feed Data API or electronic data capture methods to receive customer transaction data which is then fully categorised and structured by the MOGOPLUS analytics engine. Outputs include a range of key insights and hardship ‘flags’ enabling customer support teams to view and track income, expenses and liabilities both when hardship is requested and at regular stages of the hardship journey.

The Analytics also provide early indicators and transactional ‘triggers’ where customers may be trending towards potential hardship so a highly pro-active prevention based position can be taken by the lender.

Example hardship analytics include:

• An automated and instant Statement of Financial Position
• Validation of lost income and new Government payments
• Detailed breakdown of expenses with full trend analysis at set points during the hardship journey
• Identification of additional undeclared income and liabilities

Mike Page, MOGOPLUS Country Manager for Australia and NZ commented, “Traditional hardship is often a ‘set and forget’ process with limited pro-active and on-going engagement from the banks to monitor transactional behaviour and prevent hardship escalating to default. With the use of real time data and our ability to structure it into meaningful hardship insights, we can now enable a new approach which reduces operational cost and risk for the lender whilst also opening up opportunities for increased levels of customer experience and engagement.

By using real time transactional data, within the hardship journey, the lender can provide a personalised hardship program for each individual customer based on their unique circumstances and changing financial position.”

The solution adheres to the key elements of the ABA’s Financial Hardship Guidelines and Principles and is fully supported by MOGO’s PCI-DSS attestation and comprehensive data security architecture. Lenders can be assured that all sensitive data is protected at the highest level.

The solution is fully modular with a range of different units which can be tailored to the specific use case and type of hardship program. “Whilst the solution can be used for initial assessment of hardship applications, we understand that lenders are accepting the vast majority of current applications with low levels of assessment as the impact of COVID-19 on many customers lives has taken hold so quickly. This means that there will be more emphasis on the effective management of those in hardship over the coming months and this is where we believe we can also help.”

As a SAAS solution, it can be easily integrated into an existing hardship workflow or platform or can be used as a stand-alone product for any lender or credit provider. The solution can be up and running within a day with the full hardship analytics suite available via API or alternative outputs.

“Early discussions with MOGO’s existing lending customers have been overwhelming and we are already integrating into two existing hardship workflows via one of our key strategic partners,” Page commented.

“Lenders are telling us they have experienced up to a 2,500% increase in hardship applications over the last few weeks so we are making the solution available for free from today for any lender to use for the first 60 days as part of the MOGOPLUS COVID-19 Industry Support Initiative”.