How Digital Data Is Reshaping Access to Fair Credit

By: Sarika Shetty, CEO & Co- Founder, RentenPe

Sarika Shetty, a seasoned social entrepreneur with over 20 years of leadership in the luxury automobile sector, now leads rent payment platform, RentenPe. Her vision is transforming urban renting through digital innovation, transparency, and empowerment, driven by a mission to simplify rental experiences and build trust across the ecosystem.

In an engaging interaction with Woman Entrepreneurs Review Magazine, Sarika shares her insights on how digital tools, open banking, and rent reporting services can enhance consumer transparency, control, and credit access especially for non-traditional borrowers, highlighting their potential to democratize financial inclusion.

How can emerging digital tools and platforms give consumers greater transparency and control over their financial data and credit profiles?

Emerging digital tools are making credit and financial data more transparent, accessible, and user-driven. Open banking, account aggregators, and alternative data platforms allow consumers to leverage their own data like rent payments or utility bills—to build credibility through such recurring monthly expenses, without the need of having to take a debt or a credit card to build credit history.

We’re using this very model to help tenants turn timely rent payments into a Rent Credit Score (R Score™) empowering users, particularly new-to-credit individuals, to gain access to credit, better rental terms, and eventually home ownership.

What role do you see open banking and data-sharing frameworks playing in democratizing access to financial information for consumers?

Open banking and secure data-sharing frameworks help with financial inclusion and give consumers direct control over their financial data. Traditionally, loan products are restricted to those with formal credit histories. But with open banking, consumers can now authorize the sharing of alternate data—like rent payments, or utility bills—to build a more holistic and fair credit profile.

We leverage this shift to help renters—especially those new to credit—build anR Score™ through their monthly rent payments. This enables them to access loans, rental benefits, and eventually transition toward homeownership.

Rent reporting services have gained traction as a way for renters to build or improve credit scores. How effective are these services in bridging the credit gap for non-traditional borrowers?

Approximately 35 percent people in India stay on rent, shelling out 30-40 percent of their income as rent. However, rent payment does not account for in the credit ecosystem. Platforms like RentenPe are bridging this gap by usingtech to structure the unorganised residential rental market. When one pays their rent through RentenPe, it builds their R Score™ – it’s an alternate credit score. A higher R Score™ showcases you as a responsible renter. By sharing the payment data with financial institutions, RentenPe ensures that tenants also come within the formal credit ambit, get access to loans including home loans, and rent is finally counted. This is especially important for people who are new tocredit or have a thin credit history. They will benefit from such alternate scores as these help banks evaluate such people from a different parameter.  Internationally too, rent is becoming one of the parameters in credit profiling. It’s time the same was introduced in India.

What challenges and opportunities do rent reporting solutions present to both consumers and financial institutions?

For consumers, the biggest opportunity is visibility. Rent is one of the largest monthly expenses, and turning it into a credit-building tool empowers renters—especially those without credit histories specially for single women/ bachelors, migrants, and younger earners.

However, challenges include awareness, consent-driven data sharing, and ensuring timely landlord reporting. There’s also the need to educate consumers that rent reporting is a benefit, not a risk.

For financial institutions, the opportunity lies in tapping into an invisible customer base. But they must evolve their underwriting models to integrate structured data sources like rent.

We’re working to bridge this gap—offering verified, structured rental data that benefits both sides, while ensuring transparency, consent, and trust throughout the process.

How can financial startups leverage technology to create more inclusive credit-building products for underserved populations, such as renters and gig economy workers?

Financial startups have a unique opportunity to rewrite the rules of credit by using technology to serve populations that traditional banking often overlooks—like renters, gig workers, and first-time borrowers. By leveraging data from recurring spend behaviours—such as rent payments, digital transactions, or utility bills—startups can create inclusive, alternative credit-building products that reflect real-world responsibility.

Looking ahead, what innovations in digital finance do you believe will most significantly empower consumers to better manage and improve their creditworthiness?

Looking ahead, I believe the most empowering innovations will be those that put real-time, personalized financial insights directly into the hands of consumers. Tools that track rent, utility, and digital payments to build dynamic credit profiles—beyond traditional scores—will redefine access to credit.

AI-powered credit coaching, embedded finance within everyday apps, and account aggregators will give users visibility into what’s helping or hurting their creditworthiness and actionable steps to improve it.

Ultimately, the next wave of innovation will not just rate financial behaviour—it will guide and reward it, making creditworthiness more inclusive, adaptive, and fair.

We’re pioneering this shift by turning rent payments—a previously invisible behaviour—into a powerful credit asset. The future lies in data ownership and transparency, where consumers can choose what financial behaviours to share and how to use that data to unlock loans, housing, or business capital.