Emcredit to offer risk assessment services to Better Homes

Under the terms of the agreement, Better Homes will benefit from the Emcredit's cheque-reporting solution, emBounce, which will provide in-depth insight into the cheque-honouring and repayment habits of potential and existing tenants in the UAE. This, in turn, allows Better Homes to better assess its customers and offer faster and more efficient processing of sales and tenancy agreements.

Better Homes is the first non-financial business entity to adopt Emcredit's advanced information services. Better Homes will provide this value-added service to their registered landlords and home sellers. Through emBounce, Better Homes will also be able to customise its sales and tenancy agreements, offering greater flexibility to customers based on their background in honouring cheques. This move also underlines the industry-wide significance of risk information solutions in the burgeoning UAE economy.

"The scope of credit reporting operations is far reaching; primarily supporting the financial industry and also playing a vital role across other sectors of the economy. Our partnership with Better Homes, demonstrates that the property sector can gain better perspective into the payment and repayment habits of customers, in order to make more informed business decisions," said Zaid Kamhawi, Business Development Director of Emcredit. "The availability of such accurate and timely information forms the foundation of a mature economy, empowering businesses with clearer insights into customer behaviour, in order to make business decisions accordingly."

The emBounce service offered by Emcredit is based on clear, comprehensive and
up-to-date records of cheque-honouring behaviour on individuals and companies.

Billy Rautenbach, Director - Operations at Better Homes, believes that the new agreement will help provide greater value to clients and the industry as a whole. "Our partnership with Emcredit allows us to adopt international best practices to better support our clients and further enhance the service offering within the UAE real estate market." She added: "Cheque payments are integral to everyday operations across all service divisions, and as such, the ability to assess the financial credibility of our clients is a huge step forward.

"We are confident that through emBounce, we can offer landlords working with Better Homes a clear assessment of customers in advance, which will in turn, reduce the incidence of non-payment and the subsequent legal and collection costs." She added that the partnership with Emcredit will facilitate Better Homes to provide tailored value-added services to clients based on their individual needs.

Kamhawi of Emcredit highlighted: "Assessing the cheque-honouring behaviour of individuals will enable the industry to offer competitive services to worthy customers. It also promotes prudent financial habits among consumers."

Recently, Emcredit signed an agreement with Amlak Finance, the UAE-based Islamic finance provider. The company has also signed a MoU with Dubai e-Government for access to relevant business information from government departments. Together, the data forms a powerful component of Emcredit's reporting base.

Emcredit is based in the Dubai International Financial Centre and operates in line with the DIFC's Data Protection Law, ensuring the confidentiality and security of collection and usage of its credit information database.