House:ID: Using bank data to improve homeowner’s control.

Cost of living is just one of many pieces of information, that homeowners can add to House:ID. It is a very important part though, as a lot can be tied to expenses or unnecessary costs that crept in. It helps owners understand the effectiveness of changes made to warming or insulation. If and where they are overpaying for loans or insurance. How their housing budgets can be improved for savings or investments.

In that sense House:ID is not just about documenting your house and housewares, but also about coaching homeowners to choose the best options for their house and economy.

For the app to coach users on how to improve their housing finance, it needs data. The only real way to get it is with open banking. Finshark’s Premium insights allow users to fetch expenses securely and automatically from their bank accounts which are then categorised and analysed.

House:ID describes the process of fetching the data as effortlessly and smoothly, and once it’s set up it automatically refreshes the user’s data for 6 months. After 6 months, users can choose to easily extend the permission for a new period. House-owners could choose to have a huge Excel file with all house expenses, but with House:ID and the automated sync with the banks, they have everything in their app. A popular feature!

Open banking has exploded in the last few years, and of course, it’s a crowded space. House:ID wants to make the most use of that technology, but also acknowledges the fact that not all users feel confident enough to let businesses access their bank data. The users, the market, vendors, and businesses all have some work to do to build up that trust in sharing sensible data.

House:ID means that their users experience insecurity, in general, today around who owns data, what they can do with it and so on. Some feel they have been duped and tricked on our data in the past – especially for advertising purposes in social media platforms, where data has been misused.

For users to trust companies, there needs to be clarity and transparency. So, when partnering up with Finshark, House:ID considered transparency, security, and trustworthiness, ultimately leading to the partnership.

Before the Finshark implementation, House:ID used another vendor to get some information on house loans and interest payments. House:ID was missing a way to get more expense data repeatedly and decided to expand its open banking feature. Consequently, they needed a partner who met the new requirements and someone they could evolve and grow with. Both companies share the same vision. Putting data in to good use and make it accessible and insightful.

House:ID’s whole automation process, builds on different types of integrations, and it’s an understatement to say that they’re good at it. Implementing Finshark’s API was effective and painless, but they are still holding Finshark’s support to very high standards. The fact that developers on both sides talk directly with each other is one of the factors for the success. They speak the same language, as the saying goes.

House:ID are even looking into the possibilities of using open banking for more features in the future. Even if they won’t share any specifics at this point, it’s clear that they see future development for Finshark and House:ID.

With the recently updated open baking integration, and dozens of other similar projects, House:ID has become sort of an expert at planning and executing the integration of various technologies. And they share some tips for businesses looking to invest in open banking projects.