CreditLadder has won a place in the next round of a high-profile £2 million government-backed competition to help tenants get onto the property ladder and help fix the ongoing housing crisis.

HM Treasury has given CreditLadder £100,000 to further grow its platform and help tenants prepare for home ownership.

Six tech companies in total have made it through to the second round and each has been given the same amount of money.

In July a finalist or finalists will be picked from this list and a further £1.4 million will be made available. CreditLadder was the first provider to launch a rent recognition platform in the UK and remains the largest. To date we have processed over £14 million of tenants' rent.

The competition's second-round money will be used to establish a wider home-ownership support tool that, HM Treasury hopes, will bring together all the available financial tools for tenants onto one online platform.

Access to credit

The government says it wants to use the £2 million to kick-start more tech development to help the millions of people “in rented accommodation in Britain today [who are] not getting access to credit”.

The competition - which is called the Rent Recognition Challenge - is part of a strong government drive to help more people into home ownership and follows an e-petition last year that was signed by nearly 150,000 people. It called for lenders to 'make rent count' when lending money.

Also, a Lords bill currently passing through the Houses of Parliament sponsored by Big Issue founder Lord Bird shares many of the competition’s aims.

Next level

“We are delighted that the judges recognised the work CreditLadder has made towards adding tenant rental payment to credit histories, and that we now have chance to really take this to the next level,” says CreditLadder CEO Sheraz Dar.

“CreditLadder has the technological expertise - and now the extra funding - to help HM Treasury achieve its goal of enabling more renters to take their first step on to the property ladder.

"We are hopeful of further success in the next round of the Rent Recognition Challenge, the results of which are due later this summer."

CreditLadder can help you improve your credit score

If you want to improve your credit position by reporting your rent payments, CreditLadder is the only way to improve your credit score and position across all four of the main Credit Reference Agencies in the UK, namely Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and Crediva. Building up a high credit score has a lot of benefits, including helping you access finance at better rates - this can also help save you money.

CreditLadder also runs a free mortgage application service in partnership with Tembo which will tell you how much you could borrow.

Remember the information provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice.