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How fintech is moving beyond traditional credit scores towards more intelligent, data-driven financial understanding.
By Richard Eberlein, Executive, Finchoice
A South African can earn a regular income, pay rent, support a household, manage money on a smartphone, and repay previous loans, yet still be difficult for a lender to assess. A conventional credit record may capture only part of that person’s financial life. Limited visibility can easily be mistaken for excessive risk.
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This gap has become harder to ignore as the economy has changed. Stats SA counted about 1.9 million people running informal businesses in 2023, while 74.4% of informal businesses had no bank account for the business. Beyond the informal economy, South Africa’s workforce includes people earning through contract work, digital businesses, side ventures, and multiple income sources. Their financial activity is real, even when it does not produce the neat credit footprint associated with formal, salaried employment.
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The result is a wider challenge for digital financial services. Credit assessment has to become more responsive to how people actually earn and manage money, while consumers need clearer visibility into their financial position and stronger protection against fraud as more of the relationship moves online.
Going beyond the traditional
Traditional bureau information remains essential because it provides a shared record of borrowing and repayment that lenders cannot responsibly discard. Its limitations arise when a thin credit file is treated as a complete account of someone’s ability and willingness to repay.
This is why the term “alternative data” is beginning to feel dated. A joint study by the National Credit Regulator and International Finance Corporation describes it as information not traditionally used in credit assessment that may provide insight into repayment ability or willingness. Much of it is ordinary financial information that conventional models may not see. Verified income patterns, repayment consistency, account activity, and ongoing customer engagement can add context that a traditional credit profile may miss.
The value of richer information lies in more precise assessment under the same responsible lending obligations. Any data used must be lawful, relevant, accurate and secure, with the consumer’s informed consent. Better models should also leave room for changes in a customer’s circumstances rather than assuming that a single decision remains appropriate indefinitely.
Linking access and performance
At Finchoice, this thinking informs our “low and grow” approach. Customers begin with access aligned to what they can afford, supported by buffers intended to reduce the risk of overextension. Credit limits can increase as customers demonstrate sound repayment behaviour. During 2025, our customer base grew by 30%. That experience has reinforced the value of linking access to demonstrated affordability and repayment behaviour.
The wider Weaver Fintech portfolio, which includes PayJustNow’s buy now, pay later platform alongside retail credit and insurance products, reflects the range of financial choices consumers now make digitally. Across these services, payment patterns, customer engagement and responses to financial commitments can provide a fuller view of financial behaviour. Where such information is relevant to a decision, its use must be transparent, appropriately consented to and governed with the same care as traditional credit data.
This approach challenges the assumption that underserved consumers are inherently less responsible. It gives customers a clearer route to establish a record through evidence of affordability and repayment that older models may not have captured.
The relationship also continues after money has been disbursed. Finchoice customers log in to their accounts an average of seven times a month. That level of engagement reflects a wider expectation across digital finance. Consumers want clear balances, timely information, flexible self-service and a direct way to respond when their circumstances change.
A secure foundation
Security is inseparable from that experience. SABRIC recorded 64,000 digital banking fraud cases in 2024, with losses exceeding R1.4 billion. It found that social engineering, rather than technical compromises of banking platforms, drove these incidents. Fraud prevention therefore belongs within the product experience, requiring providers to detect suspicious behaviour while helping customers recognise manipulation.
The wider opportunity is to give more consumers the chance to establish a credible financial record. Responsible borrowing and repayment can make someone easier to understand within the formal system, which may improve access over time to insurance, savings products, larger credit facilities or finance for a small business.
Richard Eberlein
South Africa’s inclusion challenge requires digital financial services that can understand economic life more accurately while maintaining disciplined lending standards. Richer data can improve assessment, but inclusion will be difficult to sustain without secure platforms and clear information that helps consumers understand and manage their financial position. Trust will depend on whether people feel informed and protected throughout the relationship.
Richard Eberlein is Executive for Growth & Engagement at Weaver Fintech, where he leads customer growth, engagement strategy and commercial performance across the company’s fintech ecosystem, spanning lending, insurance and digital platforms.
