Billeo, PRBC Give Consumers New Way to Build Credit

Murali Subbarao, founder and CEO of Billeo said, “As the credit crisis intensifies, money is tighter and consumers are faced with the challenge of working with lenders that are reluctant to lend. Consumers are stuck in the middle—how can you build a positive credit history when it is significantly more difficult to get credit? By linking PRBC’s innovative alternative credit bureau to Billeo’s Bill Pay Assistant, we’re providing consumers with a way to begin building or improve their credit. This ultimately means they will have access to mortgages, auto loans and other services at significantly better rates than they could have gotten otherwise.”

Billeo is a popular web-based tool that streamlines the online bill payment process by giving consumers complete control over when and how they manage, organize, pay bills and shop online. Billeo offers one-step password log-on to one-click completion of online shopping and bill pay forms. With Billeo, payments are made directly at billing company and shopping websites, payments are instantaneous, and electronic receipts are automatically captured, saved and filed. Additionally, the Billeo Biller Directory has nearly 6,000 billing companies across 26 categories, including utility, cable and credit card companies—the largest Biller Directory available.

Historically, payments for rent and other recurring bills have not been tracked by traditional credit bureaus. In contrast, PRBC now accumulates bill payment histories from Billeo members who opt into the payment reporting service. PRBC uses the data to build a credit file for people lacking a traditional credit history or hoping to improve their credit.

“Young people just starting out, and others who have not yet established a credit history but have taken the proactive step to pay bills regularly using a service like Billeo, all deserve to be able to show that they are financially responsible,” said Corey Stone, PRBC’s CEO. “Now they can choose to document their bill payments for utilities, wireless, cable, rent and other basic financial obligations automatically; with PRBC, Billeo lets them build a positive payment history faster and to do it without necessarily going into debt.”

PRBC recently announced that it is offering its credit reports along with the FICO Expansion Score to mortgage lenders to better assess the credit risk of nearly 50 million adults who have little or no credit history on file. The FICO Expansion score uses non-traditional credit data to create a score that aligns with the FICO Score used today by most lenders and credit card companies using the same 300-850® score range. Businesses can use PRBC Credit Report with FICO Expansion Score to make more financial services available to more people who have missed out on opportunities simply because they lack a traditional credit history.

To begin building positive credit, Billeo members simply choose the PRBC option on the Billeo website and pay a one-time, $5 set-up fee. As an introductory offer, the companies are waiving the monthly fee for a limited time.

Billeo’s award-winning toolbar for managing and tracking bill payments and online purchases recently received the Editor’s Choice award and a Four Star rating from PC Magazine, and is available to anyone online for free at http://www.billeo.com.