RENT joins Fair Go to give renters more flexibility

• Rent.com.au has entered into a joint venture agreement with Fair Go Finance
• The agreement will extend RENT’s finance product range beyond RentBond
• RentBond product changes provide customers with greater flexibility and broader appeal
• Fair Go’s consumer focus improves customer experience and rewards quality renters

Rent.com.au Limited has entered a joint venture agreement with Fair Go Finance to develop and fund products such as RentBond and RentPay. RentBond will provide customers with more flexibility, whilst RentPay will allow renters to access loan budgeting and financial management products best suited to them. Both these products will be accessible to over 600,000 renters.

“We’re seeing significant changes occurring in the financial products market with new and convenient solutions demanded by millennial consumers. Half of all Australian renters are millennials and the convenience and simplicity offered to them by our RentBond product have driven much of its recent growth.,” RENT’s CEO, Greg Bader said.

The JV agreement will facilitate the expansion of the Company’s core product RentBond. This product will allow for a longer loan repayment duration as well as greater loan amounts of up to $10,000 to assist the renter with paying the four-week rental bond and two-week upfront deposit – a scheme which has already seen the average loan size increase by 25 per cent. Funding of furniture and moving costs is also an option

“Some of these features have already been rolled out to customers, generating significant interest. In fact, this month (May) has seen our highest ever number of RentBond applications over 80 per cent increase on the same time last year,” he said.

Fair Go Finance and RENT are currently in the process of developing two additional features. One will operate in a way where customers can finalise their RentBond approval long before finding their property, rather than needing to have their lease approved before applying for RentBond.

The other feature involves variable pricing where renters in good standing can be offered lower rates as an award.

“We look forward to delivering a better RentBond experience in the short term and bringing other exciting FinTech solutions to the rental property sector in the future,” Fair Go Finance, CEO Paul Walshe said.